“My head spins as I glance away, refusing to get sucked back into his gaze when so much is at risk.”

“Magnus raised his head and looked up and over at Alec; it was a look that made Clary flush and glance away. There was so much love in it, mixed with exasperation and pride and despair. It was an unguarded look, and it felt wrong to see it.”

“When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of 'No answer.' It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, 'Peace, child; you don't understand.”

“Chased the good life my whole life long
Look back on my life, and my life gone
Where did I go wrong? And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions
I gotta get with it.”

“Bad divorce?" Hardy asked, his gaze falling to my hands. I realized I was clutching my purse in a death grip.

“No, the divorce was great,” I said. “It was the marriage that sucked.”

“I told my brain., said my brain. My brain refused to get out of my head. Inconsiderate brain.”

“I began to back away.
This is how I handle my women. Duck for cover when they get distressed.”

“What if I travel so far away in my dreams that I can't get back in time to wake up?”

“He was waiting for me to say something. He was staring at me. This, I think, is the first time I dared myself to stare back at him. Usually, I'd cast a glance and then look away—look away because I didn't want to swim in the lovely, clear pool of his eyes unless I'd been invited to—and I never waited long enough to know whether I was even wanted there; look away because I was too scared to stare anyone back; look away because I didn't want to give anything away; look away because I couldn't acknowledge how much he mattered. Look away because that steely gaze of his always reminded me of how tall he stood and how far below him ranked.”

“I loved being in my own head so much, it was getting harder and harder being with other people.”