"I don't dislike them, nor do I like them. I've never understood why one must love children simply because they are children. I don't love people because they are people; in fact, I rarely like any people at all. If a child is somehow deserving of admiration, I certainly won't deny it, but why hand it out like candy on Queen's Day?"

"I do not take orders from women.'My men do not have a similar problem. Lada lifted a hand. The man fell, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest."

"In the daylight, order ruled, fences stood, how-do-you-do's and polite nods were the recipe. But at night, darkness rendered everything still and hush and secret. Minnie was a curator of secrets."

"Do you dislike Children? I ask, entertained at the little one's cleverness in dodging capture attempts. 'I don't dislike them, nor do I like them. I've never understood why one must love children simply because they are children. I don't love people because they are people; in fact, I rarely like any people at all. If a child is somehow deserving of admiration, I certainly won't deny it, but why hand it out like candy on Queen's Day? I laugh, surprising him. 'Do you think me terribly cruel, then? 'Actually, I agree. It is another great fault of mine my mother endeavored to correct. Children in general I've never cared for, though individual children I love very much."

"What do you think? Does this face make me look fat?"

"I closed my eyes. I used to think I was protecting the world, too. But it wasn't that simple. Nothing was. Who were we to decide that anyone or anything didn't deserve the spark of life they had been given?"

"James is all I have. I chose James. He has to be right. Please let him be right."

"So the question becomes, Daughter of the Dragon, what will you sacrifice? What will you let be taken away so that you, too, can have power?"

"I am a girl in want of complete destruction."

"Those same fists had always defied everything expected of her."

"Silly. Dark isn't scary. Dark is safe.'Why? 'I live in the dark all the time. But when it's dark outside everyone has to be there, too. And if you can't see someone, they can't see you, either. She sniffles a few times. 'So, it's like I'm hiding in the dark?'Yes. You're the secret when it's dark. Dark is safe."

"What would you sacrifice for power?"

"Thank you for giving me another chance.''Thank you for deserving one."

"Clinical, brilliantly medical-minded Adam believes in fate. A fate with Fia."

"I cannot afford to lose you, too''You cannot lose something you do not own. Take me with you."

"Pretending is another way of lying, and I am so good at both."

"Plus as she put it, Prince Eric was far too hairy and peach colored for her taste. I always thought he was pretty hott, but then again, I am a mammal."

"What exactly does a friend do?"

"I am so filled with wrong I don't remember what right is."

"Shadows go in front of you, leading into your future, and trail behind you, leaving a part of you in the past. They are clearest when we are in the light, and disappear when we lose ourselves in darkness."

"Christmas Eve is my favorite... I think the anticipation is more fun than anything else. I kind of lost that. The idea that something - food, traditions, an arbitrary date on the calendar - can be special because we decide it should be. We make it special. Not just for ourselves, but for others."

"It's a lie, but it's the lie he needs. I'm going to hell."

"Belief is not weakness. Faith is the greatest strength we can have."

"There! I can't fix the whole country, and it will only last a few days, but I present you with the sun, on behalf of my dreadfully boring magic.He bows low, holding out his hand. I reach out tentatively, afraid of being burned, but the globe merely hovers above my hand where I slide it on top of Finn's. It's golden and deliciously warm and instantly makes me happier and more at ease than I've been in weeks.I laugh, delighted, and by the look on Finn's face you'd think I was the one who had given him an absurd and wonderful gift."

"You'll be fine, just some minor burns and hypothermia, which was kind of hard to explain."

"This is the tragedy of knowing my fate: I have seen how it ends, and I will walk right into it, and nothing will change."

"What is wrong with you? Radu sounded on the verge of tears. 'Why do you have to destroy everything good we have here?'Because, Lada said, voice flat with the sudden wave of exhaustion pulling her heavily to the ground. 'We have nothing. Can you not see that?'We have Mehmed!Lada looked up. The stars were static, still and cold in the night, all the fire gone from the sky. 'It is not enough, she said."

"Lada had a sense for power--the fine threads that connected everyone around her, the way those threads could be pulled, tightened, wrapped around someone until they cut off the blood supply.Or snapped entirely."

"Best to have only a few absolutely perfect trait - for example, my hair and eyes and sparkling personality - so you don't overwhelm."

"I have to trust that, or I'll lose my mind. Well, lose it more."

"Religion was a means to an end. She had seen it wielded as a weapon. If she needed to use it, she would, but she would never allow herself to be used by it."

"And so she cut out her heart and offered it as a sacrifice. She would pay whatever price her mother Wallachia demanded.'Make me prince, she said without feeling."

"I think happy thoughts and feel happy things and I do not let myself near the swirling black edges of the hole that is my soul when I look at them."

"The last time she was up here, she had been... staring up at the sky and dreaming of stars. Now, she looked down and plotted flames."

"Then the other door opened. I wen't rigid. If I had thought Reth's was beautiful, it was nothing to this soul. It filled the night with light, dancing and rippling like the reflection on a pond. I hadn't seen many souls, but I knew this one was special. I wanted it. I needed it."

"It makes a soul lonely when even your tongue has no home."

"I am yours, she whispered. The words cut like knives, barely out of her mouth before he stole them, sealing them with his own lips."

"I lie constantly. All the time. I'm nothing but one big mass of lies."

"Marry me, Lada. It is the perfect solution.' Lada laughed. Mehmed's smile grew, until he realized her laugh was not a sweet breeze of delight, but a brutal desert wind carrying stinging sand in its wake. 'I will never marry."

"Yo soy carne muerta. Translation: I am dead meat."

"Crazy must run in your family, he says.'You do know Fia! I blurt, then bite my lip."

"There is no such thing as cheating. There is only winning or losing."

"Any other iron on you? he asked impatiently.'Just my tongue stud.His look was a mixture of curiosity and horror.'I'm kidding, you idiot. Let's go."

"My bed is massive (I drown in it, and it doesn't matter how big the bed is, my nightmares more than fill it)"

"On our wedding night,' she said, 'I will cut out your tongue and swallow it. Then both tongues that spoke our marriage vows will belong to me, and I will be wed only to myself. You will most likely choke to death on your own blood, which will be unfortunate, but I will be both husband and wife and therefore not a widow to be pitied."

"What, no flirting? I asked, trying to buy time. 'Aren't you going to at least try to be sexy? Think of all those vampire fans out there-they'd be so disappointed. I pulled out my silver knife. Probably should have paid more attention during my knife training. 'Tell you what. Let me go and I promise not to tell anyone that you aren't suave."

"Lady's mouth tasted like blood and iron all the time now. It tasted like defeat."

"You cannot control faeries. Can. Not. They aren't logical or rational. They don't obey the same laws (physical, social, emotional, traffic - you name it) that we do."

"Weakness is an irresistible lure."

"Jack might look my age, but he was like a little kid on a sugar high --- in need of a good spanking. --- Good heavens, that sounded creepy."