“ 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
“ 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
“ 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
“ It dropped ice to the bottom of his stomach. He thought of the ruined bodies he'd seen, including the ones he himself had ruined. He realized that he had somehow expected that he'd never have to think… 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
“ Yet he understood that there are some things you feel and others that you choose to feel, and that the choice doesn't make the feeling less valid. Marie Rutkoski
