Rosamund Hodge

But I can__ . . . I can__ leave anyone to the darkness.

His kindness was only meant to make later torments crueler.

I coudn't be kind to him after what he'd done, couldn't be cruel after what I had done

I never thought that freedom would feel so much like grief.

With every line he teaches her, the world grows a little wider. She had never known before how words could sing,how a turn of phrase could unlock a window in her mind.

You deserve all that and more. It made me happy to see you suffer. I would do it all over again if I could.' I realized I was shaking as the words tumbled out of me. 'I would do it again and again. Every night I would torment you and laugh. Do you understand? You are never safe with me.' I drew a shuddering breath, trying to will away the sting of tears.He opened his eyes and stared up at me as if I were the door out of Arcadia and back to the true sky. 'That's what makes you my favorite.' He reached up and wiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. 'Every wicked bit of you.

They said that love was terrifying and tender, wild and sweet, and none of it made any sense.But now I knew that every mad word was true.

There are a lot of things I want," I say quietly and deliberately. "But I think I will keep what I have.

If I'm damned, what's the point of pretending that I'm not?

Knowing the truth is not always a kindness.

Do you think he would dare half as much for your love as I have?___o,_ she said. __e never could. That__ why I love him.___ou were desperate for me.___esperate. Not happy._ For the first time in all the years she had known him, she truly pitied him. __ou can never, ever make me happy. My heart will never rest in you.

Where you go, I shall go; where you die, I shall die, and there will I be buried.

Rachelle choked on a laugh. __ou were always stronger.___ou,_ said Amélie, __ere always foolish enough to think that mattered.

I remember the hours I had spent in Father's library, drugging myself with books so I could forget my doom for an hour..

I remembered Ignifex's smirk and his confident words: I can wait all I want and still have you. And I thought, Here is one thing he isn't getting. Standing on my toes, I kissed Shade on the lips. It was just a bump of my face against his. Despite Aunt Telomache's lecture, I had no idea how long to prolong a kiss, and his lips startled me, foreign and cool as glass. But then he caught me under the chin and gently kissed my mouth open. Though his lips were still cool, his breath was warm; as he kissed me. I breathed in time to him, until I felt like my body was only a breath of air mixing with his.

He's kissing me and though this is the first time, it feels like recovering a long-forgotten memory. My body seems to say, "Yes, this," and then I'm kissing him back as if I were born to be in his arms. I never realized how tightly guilt and fear had been wound about me until this moment, when they unwind into the air and fly away, leaving me with nothing but this guileless delight.

He stared at her a moment longer, then laughed softly. __ wouldn__ love you if you were any weaker,_ he said, and let go of her.

Study the sky but never love it,_ Father had told Astraia and me a thousand times. __t is our prison and the symbol of our captor.