“Snow. I wondered what it felt like. Aunt Bernette said it could be both soft and hard, cold and hot. It stung and burned when the wind pelted it through the air, and it was a gentle cold feather when it drifted down in lazy circles from the sky. I couldn't imagine it being so many things, and I wondered if she had taken license with her story as Father always claimed. I couldn't stop thinking of it.Snow.”

“There are no rules when it comes to survival”

“Be brave, be victorious”

“Their voices meld into a cloudy rumble of their own, and I ponder Mira's and Aidan's secrets and imagine the injustice that threads through other lives, injustice that has no face because it is hidden away in a dark, shameful place, hidden for years in hopes of making it untrue.”

“Poetry?"..."No, just thoughts, glimpses, things running through my head.”

“Chance. It weaves through our lives like a golden thread, sometimes knotting, tangling, and breaking along the way. Loose threads are left hanging, but the in and out, the back and forth continues, the weaving goes on. It doesn't stop.”

“The world before us is a postcard, and I imagine the story we are writing on it.”

“I trust you all slept well,” I said, deliberately keeping my tone light. I returned Malich’s glare with a tight-lipped grin.“Yes, we did,” Kaden answered quickly.“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“And all I want is to hold her and make the rest of the world go away.”

“Sometimes there's not a better way. Sometimes there's only the hard way.”

“Who was this girl who thumbed her nose at two kingdoms and did as she pleased?”