"Marry me and stay with me and never leave me, for I cannot bear another day of my life to go by that does not have you in it."

"I love you so much, so incredibly much," he went on, "and when you’re this close to me, I forget who you are. I forget you’re Jem’s."

"You found me in the end; that is what matters." "Of course I found you. I promised Jem I would find you," he said. “Some promises cannot be broken."

"All my life, since I came to the Institute, you were the mirror of my soul. I saw the good in me in you. In your eyes alone I found grace. When you are gone from me, who will see me like that?"

“Well, this is all very touching.” It was Will.

"There are others who deserve happiness who have not gotten it." "I know." A sob caught in her throat; they were both talking about the same person, and she did not know if the tears she held back were for him or for Will and herself. "I know."

But it was there, in the touch of his hand on her cheek, in the softness of his voice, in his eyes when he looked at her. It was the way she had always dreamed a boy would look at her. But she never dreamed up someone as beautiful as Will, not in all her imaginings.

"You fool. He's a vampire. You know what it means to bite a vampire." "I had no choice," said Will. "He was choking me." "I know," Jem said. "But really, Will. Again?"

Tessa saw Jem lean in and whisper something to Will, whose mouth quirked up at the corner in a smile. "Indeed," Will said. "How could anyone despise us when we are so charming?"

“He lies consistently. He always invents the story that will make him look the worst.”

Yes, he would have done that for Tessa—died to keep the ones she needed beside her—and so would Jem have done that for him or for Tessa, and so would Tessa, he thought, do that for both of them.

"My name is Herondale," the boy said cheerfully. "William Herondale, but everyone calls me Will."

Where shall I carry it? "Wherever you please. I thought I would walk with you a little way, my parabatai." How far? asked Jem. Will smiled. "Need you ask? I will go with you as far as I possibly may."

How must it seem to Will, who loved them both, that he must go on so far ahead of them? But then, Jem had left Will first, and Will had had to let him go. It would only be fair when, soon, Jem would be the one left behind.

It was Will who spoke next, leaning forward to look intently into her face. "You can keep it a secret," he said softly. "But secrets have their own weight, and it can be a very heavy one."

"I intend to marry Agatha myself. She may be a thousand years old, but she makes an incomparable jam tart. Beauty fades, but cooking is eternal."

Will nodded, blue eyes blazing. Tessa was staring at him in amazement; they all were. She had seen Will many things—amused, bitter, condescending, angry, pitying—but never giddy before.

"All my life, since I came to the Institute, you were the mirror of my soul. I saw the good in me in you. In your eyes alone I found grace. When you are gone from me, who will see me like that?"

"You hurt everyone," said Jem. "Everyone whose life you touch." "Not you," Will whispered. "I hurt everyone but you. I never meant to hurt you."