I think I’ve been waiting my whole life for the moment someone would see something in me that wasn’t ordinary.”

“I’m bound to you, Stern. To the woman who brought me out of hell. I will serve you ’til the end of days.”

Practical, merciless, a survivor who would keep walking, keep fighting no matter what God, the devil, or Yale threw at her. Was she a knight? A queen? A demon herself? Did it make any difference?

I missed you more than I should have, more than I wanted to. I went to hell for you. I’d do it again.

She was more beautiful than he remembered. No, that wasn’t true. It wasn’t that she had changed or that his vision had sharpened. He was just less afraid of her beauty now.

“Darlington?” Alex stammered. “I … Where are you going?” “To get some clothes, Stern,” he said, climbing the steps and leaving bloody footprints behind. “A man can spend only so much time without trousers on before he begins to feel like a deviant.” Alex stared up at him, one hand on the banister. The gentleman of Lethe had returned.

She didn’t want to relinquish this feeling of power, this elation. He tasted like honey. But she knew better than to get used to a drug like this. She could only hope she wasn’t too late.

Was that why she couldn’t turn her back on the golden boy of Lethe? Because he couldn’t let go of a lost cause? Because he’d thought she was worth saving? But what good had she done either of them?

She’d never liked that phrase, diamond in the rough. All that meant was they had to cut you again and again to let the light in.