“Nyx had killed a lot of people. She'd let even more die through neglect. Rhys was just one more. I'm the same person, aren't I? she thought. She had burned herself up, only to come out the other side exactly the same.Taite's signal would get out, Nyx knew. It would be soon enough to save *her*. But it would not be soon enough for Rhys. Nyx hardened her jaw. Her hands and feet were still tied. They'd stripped her of her most obvious weapons. She could just wait this out.She saw Rhys register that. But there was no shock. Just resignation. He knew her for what she was. Butcher. Monster.The same old monster.”

“They'd pay attention to me less. They'd judge me by gender, by looks, by weight before anything else. I automatically started every interaction at a disadvantage.”

“Because until you know what you want to be, other people are just going to keep trying to make you into something useful for them.”

“Nobody really knows what I am,” Nyx said. “Not until I put a bullet in their head.”

“It all came apart once you started caring for something outside yourself.”

“You started caring about somebody, you did stupid things.”

“It was the secret to winning any contest, he said, in life or in the boxing ring – you just had to get up more than you fell down.”

“There was a fine line between madness and intelligence.”

“It was strange how you didn’t realise how much you loved a place until you had lost it completely.”

“What were all of them, really, but bits of something else? Bits of stars?”

“We worship the same God and we carry the same sins.”