Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, #3)

by Jim Butcher

One thing about intimidation is that people can always think up something worse that you could do to them than you can, if you leave their imagination some room to play.

When someone, anyone, says your name, it touches you. You almost feel it, that sound that stands out from a crowd of others and demands your attention.

It’s tough to say no to peace, to the comfort of it. All through history, people have traded wealth, children, land, and lives to buy it. But peace can’t be bought, can it, chief, prime minister? The only ones offering to sell it always want something more. They lie.

I’d hate to find out that the universe really wasn’t conspiring against me. It would jerk the rug out from under my persecution complex.