“ She'd betrayed her country because she'd believed it was the right thing to do. Yet would she have done this, if not for Arin?He knew none of it. Had never asked for it. Kestrel had made her own choic… Marie Rutkoski
“ The sky was a feather blanket of clouds, save for one blue hole in the fabric. A blue cloud in a white sky. Marie Rutkoski
“ She focused on that nothingness, imagined it as ink spilling over everything she could possibly think or feel. Marie Rutkoski
“ Her innocence was maddening. She should know. She should know what her steward had done. She should know it to be her fault whether she’d given the order or not–and whether she knew or not. Innocent?… Marie Rutkoski
“ The guard hit Kestrel across the face. “I said, what did you give him?”You had a warrior’s heart, even then.Kestrel spat blood. “Nothing,” she told the guard. She thought of her father, she thought of… Marie Rutkoski
“ Kestrel's cruel calculation appalled her. This was part of what had made her resist the military: the fact that she could make decisions like this, that she did have a mind for strategy, that people c… Marie Rutkoski
“ Ultimately, when he held your treasonous letter in his hand and saw how you had lied to him, the choice between me and you was the choice between someone who loves him and someone who didn't. Marie Rutkoski
“ Arin, you’re not listening. You’re not thinking clearly.”“You’re right. I haven’t been thinking clearly, not for a long time. But I understand now.” Arin pushed his tiles away. His winning hand scatte… Marie Rutkoski
“ Come closer, and I will tell you."But he forgot. He kissed her, and became lost in the exquisite sensation of his skin becoming too tight for his body. He murmured other things instead. A secret, a wa… Marie Rutkoski
“ It was different to give something up than to see it taken away. The difference, Kestrel said, was choice. Marie Rutkoski
“ He'd believed it. She couldn't believe that he believed it. Sometimes, she hated him for that. Marie Rutkoski
“ She said, I'm going to miss you when you when I wake up.Don't wake up, he answered.But he did.Kestrel, beside him on the grass, said. "Did I wake you? I didn't mean to. Marie Rutkoski
“ Nothing is ever black and white, Nila. You should know that bu now. Its all how you survive the grey." -Kes Pepper Winters
“ She had dreams that shamed her in the morning, dreams where Ronan gave her a white powdered cake, yet spoke in Arin's voice. I made this for you, he said. Do you like it?The powder was so fine that sh… Marie Rutkoski
“ Something tugged inside him. A flutter of unease.Do you sing? Those had been her first words to him, the day she had bought him. A band of nausea circled Arin’s throat, just as it had when she had ask… Marie Rutkoski
“ Arin. I've wanted to do this for a long time."Her words silenced him, steadied him.Antecipation lifted within her like the fragance of a garden under the rain. She sat at the piano, touching the keys.… Marie Rutkoski
“ She said, I'm going to miss you when you when I wake up.Don't wake up, he answered.But he did.Kestrel, beside him on the grass, said. "Did I wake you? I didn't mean to."It took him a velvety moment to… Marie Rutkoski
