Claudia Gray

Also, somehow, there doesn't seem to be any old-fashioned gender roles in place, or any gender roles at all. The priest who condemned me to the mob was a woman. I'll cheer for equality later.

_victory that comes from the sacrifice on an innocent isn__ a victory. It__ the end of us.

Only through sacrifice can Genesis survive.

But just because something__ been damaged doesn__ mean it__ ruined.

Sometimes, hope is even harder to bear than grief.

For our kind, death is only the beginning.

Noemy says, __ guess it__ just the idea of love I miss. And, well, it was a good kiss._ Her smile turns rueful. __t least I got some practice._ A wonderful idea occurs to Abel. __o you need more practice?_ __uh?_ __e could practice, if you wanted."He smiles as he starts to explain."Remember what I told you on Genesis? I__ programmed with a wide array of techniques for providing physical pleasure, via every activity from kissing to the more arcane positions for sexual intercourse. Although I__e never performed any of them before, I__ confident I could do so very skillfully._ She stares at him, eyes wide. Since she is swift to voice objections if she has them, Abel takes her silence as an encouraging sign. So he sits up on the bed to explain the further compelling reasons now coming to mind. __umans need a certain amount of physical release and comfort in order to be psychologicallly healthy. You__e been away from your family and friends for some time, and have endured considerable trauma, suggesting you are in even greater need than usual. I have all the information and technique necessary to be an excellent partner, my body is designed to be appealing, and of course I can neither carry disease nor impregnate you. We have total privacy and many hours of spare time. Conditions for intercourse would seem to be ideal.

Where there__ no free will, there__ no sin.

But do you want this? It's not much of a life. Don't you see? It's the first life I've had in four hundred years. With you--in the only way that matters--I'm alive again.

Every single world we've visited isn't just random__t's the result of countless choices, all of them combining to create a new reality. You and I have been given an infinity of chances, and that's so much more than mot people will ever get__ut in the end we get to live in only one world, and that's the world we make. I want us to create that world together.

The universe is in fact a multiverse.

Tell me why._ My voice shook. __ell me right now.

People get stupid when they're in love; people want what they can't have; and the years between ages twelve and eighteen always, always suck.

If you loved someone, you couldn__ let lies come between you. No matter what happened__ven if you__ already lost each other forever__ou owed each other the truth.

We can always hate that which we loved, and with a fire as great as our love once was.