“Caine might have smiled at her, had his heart not been breaking to smithereens inside of him.” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Better this way, what remained of his battered sensibilities told him. He was no good for her, anyway. She didn’t understand him. She didn’t understand that he was cursed. And, selfish as he was, he’d rather she hate him than… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Just say, dakhilak.” Without hesitation, “Dakhilak.” He nodded. Her accent was getting no better. “Now, you can never take it back.” “Well, what does… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“She was a little thing, too, inciting that basic compulsion in him as a man to protect her in so hectic a place as… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“What she knew was sand and wind and innumerable stars. The rumble in a camel’s throat as it swayed over shifting dunes, its trappings… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He squinted at her. He recalled the tears in her eyes that had not fallen into her teacup. No, it wasn’t a revelation. Not… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He felt, rather than saw, her chin lift toward him. But instead of pulling her hand from his grip and turning away, she tightened… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Somehow, I did not finger you for a treasure-hunter.” “Oh, but I am,” without shame. “Her name is Titianni Aziz.” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“La mu’axsa, but I think I’ll just keep sliding down this greased pole to hell?” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“There will always be another war, Gillia.” He allowed his cynicism to seep through. “Do you know why? Because there will always be bigots… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“It came as naturally to him as breathing or lying, or worse. His mama had only taught her son to be cautious at all… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“She wondered how a man could look into a woman’s eyes and lie so completely, so convincingly. She wondered how he could have looked… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“When silence greeted her question, she looked at Caine—for that was how he saw himself in that moment and in all the moments after:… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“And what was to become of what he had taken from her? He had dashed her heart to the ground and danced on it… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
