What you said was true. we don't live or love in a vacuum. There are people around us who care about us who would be hurt, maybe destroyed if we let ourselves feel what we might want to feel.

“Instead of replying, Alec reached down and took Magnus's hands. Magnus let Alec…”

“Shivering, she would lie awake imagining her veins sluggish with frozen blood, …”

“What do you think it would have been like if Valentine had brought you up along…”

“How could you have guessed?” Miserable though Will was, he felt free, as if a h…”