“To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered.”

“Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

“And I wondered if love was too weak a word for what he felt, what he’d done for me. For what I felt for him.”

“Cauldron save you. Mother hold you. Pass through the gates, and smell that immortal land of milk and honey. Fear no evil. Feel no pain. Go, and enter eternity.”

“I found him carefully studying me, his lips in a thin line. “Has anyone ever taken care of you?” he asked quietly. “No.” I’d long since stopped feeling sorry for myself about it.”

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

“I was as unburdened as a piece of dandelion fluff, and he was the wind that stirred me about the world.”

“I love you,’ he whispered, and kissed my brow. ‘Thorns and all.”