I blew that clay pigeon to smithereens. I don't know why Mum got so upset. According to Uncle Andrew she's a crack shot herself. But she says I'm too….

I will sit here but an hour or two, then leave." I yawn. "So very long as that?" When he answers, there is a wry note in his voice. "I do have my rep….

Perhaps that is because you mistake death for justice, and they are not the same thing at all..

This is what I want to be. An instrument of mercy, not vengeance..

I cannot tell her I have been moping over a broken heart when I have worked so hard to convince her I have no heart at all..

When he laces his fingers through mine, my heart does its now familiar panicked flight, bumping painfully against my ribs. My shoulder twitches as if….

... true faith never comes without anguish..

He barks out a laugh. "My little rebel..

I stare at him coldly. "I do not care for needlework." I pause. "Unless it involves the base of the skull..

I pause at the door, wishing I could find a corner and sleep until my head clears, but the sailor said the abbess is expecting me, and while I do not….

I am a handmaiden of Death. I walk in His dark shadow and do His bidding. Serving Him is my only purpose in this life..

Jewels can be replaced, cousin. Independence, once lost, cannot..

I am sorry,' he whispers. 'I am sorry I treated you so ill. I thought only to protect Duval.' 'It was not I who was poisoning him,' I say. 'No, but y….

It is a good thing I no longer have a heart, because if I did, it would surely break..

You are not my nursemaid. Remember, I am rescuing you..

Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf?.

And so it is with us; we serve as handmaidens to Death. When we are guided by His will, killing is a sacrament..

God's Teeth,' he says. 'I was only trying to wake you. You were crying out in your sleep.' 'I was not,' I say, then look from his neck to my knife. '….

He does not start guiltily, as he should, but frowns in annoyance. "Who are you?" I slip my hand through the slit of my overskirt, and my fingers clo….

I am left with the conviction that an avalanche would be easier to dissuade than that man..

Not all men are the same, you know. With someone such as Gavriel, I would suggest appearing aloof, not chasing too much. He might see that as suffoca….