Love versus love. King, you’re comparing infinities. There is no ‘more.’ That’s not how love works. If it’s love, it’s infinite. You can’t count it.

Pourquoi?" Kingsley demanded. "Why? You take her every way you can, every chance you have. Why her and not me?"

Soren hadn't replied, and for that Kingsley had been forever grateful. He knew the answer, but to hear it would have broken the one last unbroken part of his spirit.

You are my heart,” he said. He’d said those very words to her that morning. But that morning, they’d sounded affectionate and playful. Now he said them as if he were stating a fact of anatomy. “I will not lose you. I’m sending you away to keep you safe. Do you understand? Say ‘Yes, sir.’”
Nora nodded and swallowed a sudden lump in her throat.
”Yes, sir.”
Soren bent his head and kissed her long and slow before pulling back.

Once someone loves you that much, loves you more than you deserve, you can’t go back to being loved the normal way.

Hurt but do not harm?” Zach asked. “What’s the difference?”

“Hurt is a bruise on the outside.” Nora sipped her mineral water delicately. “Harm is a bruise on the inside. If you’re a masochist, pain feels like love to you. Not being hurt is what hurts.

I'm no optimist", she said as she opened the cabinet door. " I'm just a realist who smiles too much.