“I know you'll keep going forward, Quinlan- even if it sucks.'

'What makes you so sure of it?'

His feet were silent as he crossed the kitchen. She tipped back her head to hold his stare. 'Because you pretend to be irreverent and lazy, but deep down, you don't give up. Because you know that if you do, then they win. All the asp-holes, as you called them, win. So living, and living well- it's the greatest fuck you that you can ever give them.'

'That's why you're still fighting.'

He ran a hand ver the tattoo on his brow. 'Yes.'

She let out a hmm, stirring the mixture in the pain again. 'Well then, Athalar. I guess it'll be you and me in the trenches for a while longer.'

He smiled at her, more openly than he'd dared do with anyone in a long while. 'You know,' he said, 'I think I like the sound of that.”