“Fate had a cruel sense of humor. It had been all his fault, anyway, whatever Mick or Gillia told him. Careless preoccupation and utter stupidity. Boyhood ignorance and negligence. He was only getting what he deserved, over and over again,… — 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 jingling in time with its steps beneath her. She knew the sting of thirst and the taste of dried fruit, the glare of sun and the frigid, bone-numbing cold of the air when the sun gave… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share
“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 even to him. Yet, this was the same woman who had stolen a camel right out from under the Anti-Zionist army’s nose. She’d taken his hand, thrown herself down a sand dune on a dare, and… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share
“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 and cowards and power-mad devils in positions of omnipotence. Look around you. There has been war here since time began. It’s nature. Animals kill each other for survival, for territory… and for the taste of blood… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share
“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
