"When you spend so long trapped in darkness, you find that the darkness begins to stare back."

"I like music,' she said slowly, 'because when I hear it, I...I lose myself within myself if that makes any sense. I become empty and full all at once."

"Everyone sounded the same when they died."

"Where do men find it in themselves to do such monstrous things?"

"You could rattle the stars,' she whispered. 'You could do anything, if only you dared."

"My name is Celaena Sardothien," she whispered, "and I will not be afraid."

"Where will we go?""I hear hell is particularly nice at this time of year."

"It had filled my time - given me quiet, steadfast company with those characters, who did not exist and never would, but somehow made me feel less ... alone."

"Why bother? Maybe the world's not worth saving. She knew he meant it, too. Those lifeless eyes spoke volumes."

"And then things would be fine. Then I'd be fine."

"There had once been a time when I'd dreaded the end of summer, had prayed it would hold out for as long as possible. Now the thought of endless warmth and sun made me . . . bored. Restless."

""Very well." "Say it." "Say what?" "Say my name. Say, 'Very well, Dorian.' "She rolled her eyes. "If it pleases Your Magnanimous Holiness, I shall call you by your first name.""

"If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it- to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger."

"Celaena peered in the mirror-and stopped dead.The somewhat shorter hair was the least of the changes.She was now flushed with color, her eyes bright and clear, and though she'd regained the weight she'd lost during that winter, her face was leaner. A woman-a woman was smiling back at her, beautiful for every scar and imperfection and mark of survival, beautiful for the fact that the smile was real, and she felt it kindle the long-slumbering joy in her heart."

"You could be great. You could rattle the stars. You could do anything if only you dared."

"A life of open skies and roads, of wandering where the wind takes you, answering to no one and nothing? A life of freedom. She shook her head. "What more could I ask than to live a life unchecked by cages"?"

"Kaltain unleashed the last of her shadowfire, tipping her face to the ceiling, toward a sky she'd never see again. She took every wall and every column. As she brought it all crashing and crumbling around them, Kaltain smiled, and at last burned herself into ash on a phantom wind."

"The girl was alluring. Like wildfire, or a summer storm swept off the Gulf of Oro."

"There is the darkness that frightens, the darkness that soothes, the darkness that is restful."

"Aelin sighed. 'This place has been shut down for months, and yet I swear I can still hear the music floating in the air.'Rowan angled his head, studying the dark with those immortal senses. 'Perhaps the music does live on, in some form.'The thought made her eyes sting."

"He'd known, since the moment he figured out who she was, that while Celaena would always pick him, Aelin would not."

"I didn't think saying good-bye would be so hard. And with everything that's to come-We'll face it together. To whatever end."

"I love you. There is no limit to what I can give to you, no time I need. Even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will love you."

"One second, he was in my mouth, my tongue flicking over the broad head of him; the next, his hands were on my waist and I flipped onto my front. He nudged my legs apart with his knees, spreading me as he gripped my hips, tugging them up, up before he sheathed himself deep in me with a single stroke.I moaned into the pillow at every glorious inch of him, rising onto my forearms as my fingers grappled into the sheets."

"Say that you don't love him! Amarantha shrieked, and the blood on my hands became the blood of that rabbit-became the blood of what I had lost.But I wouldn't say it. Because loving Tamlin was the only thing I had left, the only thing I couldn't sacrifice.A path cleared through my red-and-black vision. I found Tamlin's eyes-wide as he crawled toward Amarantha, watching me die, and unable to save me while his wound slowly healed, while she still gripped his power.Amarantha had never intended for me to live, never intended to let him go."Amarantha, stop this, Tamlin begged at her feet as he clutched the gaping wound in his chest. "Stop. I'm sorry-I'm sorry for what I said about Clythia all those years ago. Please."

"Saying those words made a sharp, quick panic rise up in her, an aching pain that had her throat closing. "You left me, she repeated. Maybe it was only out of blind terror at the abyss opening up again around her, but she whispered, "I have no one left. No one."

"In saving Tamlin, I was to damn myself."

"I threw myself into that fire, threw myself into it, into him, and let myself burn."

"She would have an adventure. For herself. This one time. She would see her homeland, and smell it and breathe it in. See it from high above, see it racing as fast as the wind. She owed herself that much."

"There was good in people - deep down, there was always a shred of good."

"Ashryver eyes.The fairest eyes, from legends oldof brightest, ringed with gold."

"Rowan considered for a moment, and then said, "I have known many kings in my life, Dorian Havilliard. And it was a rare man indeed who asked for help when he needed it, who would put aside pride."

"He opened his mouth, but stopped as he beheld her smile. Though she had no regrets about her choice, she felt something strangely like disappointment when he said, "As you wish."

"Aware of every breath, every movement, I sat in his lap. His hands gently braced my hips as I studied his face. "And now I want you to know, Rhysand, that I love you. I want you to know..." His lips trembled, and I brushed away the tear that escaped down his cheek. "I want you to know," I whispered, "that I am broken and healing, but every piece of my heart belongs to you. And I am honored- honored to be your mate."

"He didn't know why, but seeing her made him feel like a man. She was something out of a dream - a dream in which he was not a spoiled young prince, but a king."

"You do what you love, what you need."

"We need hope, or else we cannot endure."

"One faerie - and then we were free. Just on more swing of my arm. And maybe one more after that - maybe one more swing, up and inward and into my own heart."

"Are you ashamed of what I've done?" she dared to ask. His brow creased. "Why would you ever think that?"She couldn't quite look him in the eye as she ran a finger down the blanket. "Are you?"Aedion was silent long enough that she lifted her head - but found him gazing toward the door, as though he could see through it, across the city, to the captain. When he turned to her, his handsome face was open - soft in a way she doubted many ever saw. "Never," he said. "I could never be ashamed of you."

"Pity those who don't feel anything at all."

"For long minutes, we stood there. Until I said, "Let's go find somewhere to eat " outside. "Hmmm. He showed no sign of letting go. I looked up at last. Found his eyes shining with that familiar, wicked light. "I think I'm hungry for something else, he purred. My toes curled in my boots, but I lifted my brows and said cooly, "Oh? Rhys nipped at my earlobe, then whispered in my ear as he winnowed us up to our bedroom, where two plates of food now waited on the desk. "I owe you for last night, mate. He gave me the courtesy, at least, of letting me pick what he consumed first; me or the food. I picked wisely."

"She would fill the world with it, with her light-her gift. She would light up the darkness, so brightly that all who were lost or wounded or broken would find their way to it, a beacon for those who still dwelled in that abyss. It would not take a monster to destroy a monster-but light, light to drive out the darkness.She was not afraid."

"If you were going to die, I was going to die with you. I couldn't stop thinking it over and over as you screamed, as I tried to kill her: you were my mate my mate my mate."

"They had survived, when so many had not. And no one else could understand what it was like to bear it, unless they had lost as much."

"Been eating candies, have you?""You sent those?" She kept her mouth closed as much as possible."Of course." He picked up the brown bad of candy on the table. "What's your..." He trailed off as he weighed the bad in his hands. "Didn't I give you three pounds of candy?"She smiled impishly."You ate half the bag!""Was I supposed to save it?""I would have liked some!""You never told me that.""Because I didn't expect you to consume all of it before breakfast!"She snatched the bag from him and put it on the table. "Well, that just hows poor judgement on your part, doesn't it?"

"To listen to what I'd heard - as if I'd already learned everything I needed."

"Females and males watched Rhysand throughout the hall-and the shadowsinger and I made a game of betting on who, exactly, would work up the nerve to invite the High Lord home."

"The magic was boiling her blood. The darkness-it would be a relief compared to the hell smoldering in her veins. The Valg prince advanced, and part of her was screaming-screaming at herself to get up, to keep fighting, to rage and roar against this horrible end. But moving her limbs, even breathing, had become a monumental effort.She was so tired."

"She should not remember what it was like to be free."

"Let me give you a bit of advice.' the girl said bitterly, 'from one working girl to another; life isn't easy, no matter where you are. You'll make choices you think are right and then suffer for them.' Those remarkable eyes flickered. 'So if you're going to be miserable, you might as well go to Antica and be miserable in the shadow of the Torre Cesme."