1
Her power was a wrenching thing, starless black and sorrow, but my magic was something more...it was hope.Roshani Chokshi
2
And in such bliss does devastation grow.Roshani Chokshi
3
Who wanted to be smiled at by the girl that trailed shadows like pets, conjured snakes and waited for Death, her bridegroom, to steal her from these walls?Roshani Chokshi
4
I love you, " he murmured into my hair. "You are my night and stars, the fate I would fix myself to in any life.Roshani Chokshi
5
I wanted a love thick with time, as inscrutable as if a lathe had carved it from night and as familiar as the marrow in my bones. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind.Roshani Chokshi
6
Neither the secret whirring song of the stars nor the sonorous canticles of the earth knew the language that sprang up in the space between us. It was a dialect of heartbeats, strung together with the lilt of long suffering and the incandescent hope of an infinite future.Roshani Chokshi
7
I know your soul. Everything else is just an ornament.Roshani Chokshi
8
You know nothing about me." "I know your soul. Everything else is an ornament.Roshani Chokshi
9
My joy was ghostly, like something not quite realized.Roshani Chokshi
10
He loved her. And she loved him. And in such bliss does devastation grow.Roshani Chokshi
11
A memory is a fine legacy to leave behind.Roshani Chokshi
12
I promised you the moon for your throne and stars to wear in your hair, " said Amar, gesturing inside. "And I always keep my promises.Roshani Chokshi
13
Father once said the real language of diplomacy was in the space between words.Roshani Chokshi
14
Ruling Akaran is a strange task. In many ways, it is like balancing an illusion. You must separate the illusion of what you see and the reality of its consequences, " he said. "Tell me, my queen, are you ready to play with fate?Roshani Chokshi
15
Where are we going?" I asked. "The main road leads to all of the major kingdoms."" Not all of them, " said Amar.Roshani Chokshi
16
The worms do not take heed of caste and rank when they feast on our ashes, " the Raja said. "Your subjects will not remember you. They will not remember the shade of your eyes, the colors you favored, or the beauty of your wives. They will only remember your impression upon their hearts and whether you filled them with glee or grief. That is your immortality.Roshani Chokshi
17
Night coaxed out the stars, my jailers.Roshani Chokshi
18
I would rip the stars from the sky if you wished it. Anything for you. But remember to trust me. Remember your promise.Roshani Chokshi
19
I will not let us be beings of regret. I know my past. What I want is my future.Roshani Chokshi
20
Guilt is what makes you accountable.Roshani Chokshi
21
His smile banished my loneliness and limbed the hollows of my anema with starlight, pure and bright...his touch hummed in my bones like an aria -- a song to my dance, a beginning of a promise.Roshani Chokshi