Richelle Mead

Forcing five-year-olds to spell Vasilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway was beyond cruel, and we'd-or rather, I'd-responded appropriately. I'd chucked my book at our teacher and called her a fascist bastard. I hadn't known what those words meant, but I'd known how to hit a moving target.

“Go find your pacifier, and shut the hell up.”

My heart shattered. My world shattered. You will lose what you value most It hadn't been me Rhonda was talking about. It hadn't even been Dimitri's life. What you value most It had been his soul.

You can't force love, I realized. It's there or it isn't. If it's not there, you've got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you've got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.