From the Bookshelf of Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn…

...They were supposed to age together, he and Clara, step in step, man and wife, a lifetime of love and friendship.

Instead, she was in the ground and he was left with half a life at best.

A life that was now permanently entangled with Margaret's.
- p. 74

"I ... I'm sorry, " she stuttered. "I didn't mean to give you the impression that I was pretending you were Roger. I wasn't. It's just that what we did seemed like a betrayal of him. I didn't want to lose him any more."

Her lips parted, but nothing more emerged because it had finally dawned on her whom she'd actually been betraying.

"Don't you think I might've felt the same way about Clara?" he asked low "Don't you think I had to sacrifice something to give you what you wanted?"
- p. 244

...there was no clear lines in St. Giles. No true black and white. Yes, there were murderers and thieves, those who preyed upon the weaker ... but those same murderers and thieves often sought to feed themselves or others.

One never knew.
- pp. 135-136