Immanuel's Veins

"Four years had passed, and Lucine longed to be romanced by a true man who would win her for only one kiss if that’s all she would give him. A man who would die to protect her."

"Looking back now, I can say the series of incredible events that forever changed my understanding of this ordered world began in earnest in that moment. Though I did not recognize or embrace it then, the axis of this planet surely shifted. The stars reversed their course and sent a spell of love and anguish, tears and laughter into the valley, and I was too thickheaded to yet see it."

"“Beauty,” he said. “Beauty like this is absolutely maddening.”"

"Where all was once unseen, now it is seen. What was done in spirit will be done in the flesh, so all men will know that evil walks and speaks and that the Maker’s great romance is a kiss of love, an offering of blood."

"I could say nothing that I had not already said, and I didn’t want to breathe a word that might upset the moment. We clung to each other for a long time, and although I was weak she seemed to have the strength for both of us."

"I had never aspired to be a king, and I had no mortal enemies save myself. My vice was honor: chivalry when it was appropriate, but loyalty to my duty first."