“They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things-if love can ever be called that.”

“I just know there's no way to live without pain - no matter how long or short your life is. People let you down. You get hurt and do damage in return.”

“Good luck, Oretsev. Find the firebird, and when this is over, I'll see you well rewarded. A farmhouse in Udova. A dacha near the city. Whatever you want.""I don't need any of that. Just..." He drop...”

“I've always known that whatever marriage I made would be political. It would be about power, not love. But we might get lucky. In time, we might have both.''Or the third amplifier will turn me into...”

“Hope was tricky like water. Somehow it always found a way in.”

“I was done with hesitation. It wasn't just that we'd run out of options, or that so much was riding on the firebird's power. I'd simply grown ruthless enough or selfish enough to take another creat...”

“I will tell you a story, one I used to tell to a little boy with dark hair. A silent boy who rarely laughs, who listened more closely than I realized. A boy who had a name and not a title”