I swear to God, if he's hurt you, Amani, I will make him suffer for it." "You don't believe in God." "Then I swear to you.

I'm not good at losing people, Amani, and you know I don't give a damn about this country." The rest of him was still now, something solid to hang on to. But his fingers were sliding into my hair, making me shiver. "I give a damn about you and you are this place. I thought I had to do without you if you were so determined to leave the world. But then you were gone and I would have torn the desert apart looking for you.

Is there a reason you keep coming back injured when I leave you for five seconds, or is it---" His voice carried too loud, and I clapped a hand over his mouth, shutting him up."Don't flatter yourself," I said quietly. "I'm always getting injured when you're around, too.

My knuckles skimmed over the edges of the sun tattooed over his heart. That was the last thing I noticed before I kissed him. His jaw tensed in surprise for a moment; his hand gripped my arm hard enough to hurt. And then his body was flush against mine, pushing me back against the wall of the train.I was a desert girl. I thought I knew heat.I was wrong

Besides, if I let everyone I found annoying die, we'd be mighty thin on allies.

You're wrong, you know. I'm not with you because of who you became. I fell in love with you when I was bleeding under a counter at the dead end of the desert and you saved my life. Back when we were both who we used to be.

And just like that, everyone was looking at me. If I'd known I was doomed to get this much attention, I might've brushed my hair.

I put a knife in your hand and your first instinct was to stab me.""You tried to stab me first," I objected without thinking.

You almost died," Mahdi said again, like we might be too stupid to understand. "You say that like it's the first time I've ever had a gun pointed at me," I retorted as Shazad rolled her eyes. "It's not even the first time this month.