Quotes From "The Winners Kiss" By Marie Rutkoski

He told himself a story. Not at first. At first, there wasn’t time for thoughts that came in the shape of words. His head was blessedly empty of stories then. War was coming. It was upon him. Arin had been born in the year of the god of death, and he was finally glad of it. He surrendered himself to his god, who smiled and came close. Stories will get you killed, he murmured in Arin’s ear. Now, you just listen. Listen to me. Marie Rutkoski

People of the hundred, " he said, using an ancient Herrani phrase Arin was surprised he knew, "who leads you?" So many cried Arin's name that it no longer sounded like his name. Marie Rutkoski

A strange feeling: as if filaments trailed from Arin's body. A thousand fishing lines snagging attention. Here and there. Little tugs. People caught on the lines. The way sometimes people couldn't look him in the eye, and when they did they become fish trying to breath air. He wished it weren't like that. He knew it would be necessary. 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 understand that this was real. The air was quiet. An insect beat it's clear wings. She brushed hair from his brow. Now he was very awake." You were sleeping so sweetly, " she said." Dreaming" He touched her tender mouth." About what?"" 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 want, a promise. A story, in its own way. She curled her fingers into the green earth . Marie Rutkoski

Arin, are you all right?"" How?" He managed. "How did her arm break?"" She fell of a ladder." He must have visibly relaxed, because his cousin raised her brows and looked ready to scold. "I imagined something worse, " he tried to explain. She appeared to understand his relief that pain, if it had to come, came this time without malice. Just and accident. Done by no one. The luck, sometimes of life. A bad slip that ends with bread, and someone to bind you. Marie Rutkoski

I want to know everything about you." So he told her. The stars, too, seemed to listen. 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. "Ready?"He smiled. "Play. 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 asked him that question, in part for the same reason. She’d had no trace of an accent. She had spoken in perfect, natural, mother-taught Herrani. Marie Rutkoski

You will be lonely, but you'll become strong. 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

He'd believed it. She couldn't believe that he believed it. Sometimes, she hated him for that. 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

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 want, a promise. A story, in its own way. 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 again about the way people damage other people. The night of the invasion. Kestrel's back. His own. Roshar's scarred face. His own. Marie Rutkoski

A dagger wants flesh, her father would say. Find it. 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 choices. It was unfair to blame him. But she wanted to. 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

When I look at you as if you're crazy it's not that I judge you for your insanity. Marie Rutkoski

Little Fists, what's wrong? Marie Rutkoski

Will you come with me?"" Ah, Kestrel, that's something you never need to ask. Marie Rutkoski