Natalia > Natalia's Quotes

“Once upon a time,” she said to him, to the world, to herself, “in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom . . . very much.”

And then she told him of the princess whose heart had burned with wildfire, of the mighty kingdom in the north, of its downfall and of the sacrifice of Lady Marion. It was a long story, and sometimes she grew quiet and cried—-and during those times he leaned over to wipe away her tears.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, so she destroyed them all.”
― Marie Lu, The Rose Society

“His hands tightened around mine. “I love you,” he said. “I love you more than any other creature, because you are cruel, and kind, and alive. Nyx Triskelion, will you be my wife?”
I knew it was insane to be happy, to feel this desperate exultation at his words. But I felt like I had been waiting all my life to hear them. I had been waiting, all my life, for someone undeceived to love me. And now he did, and it felt like walking into the dazzling sunlight of the Heart of Earth.
Except that the sunlight was false, and his love was real.
It was real.
Very deliberately, I pulled my hands out of his. “You’re a demon,” I said, staring at the ground.
“Most likely.”
“I know what you’ve done.”
“The exciting parts, anyway.”
“And I still don’t know your name.” My hands trembled as I undid my belt, then started to unclasp the brooches. It seemed forever since that first day when I had ripped my bodice open so
easily. “But I know you’re my husband.”
The dress slid down to land on the ground about my feet. Ignifex touched my cheek very gently, as if I was a bird that might be startled into flight. Finally I met his eyes.
“And,” I said. “I suppose I do love you.”
Then he pulled me into his arms.”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“Arms around me in the dark. Lips against mine in the sunlight. Do you know why I love you?
He knew me. And loved me. And he had never asked me for anything. Even Shade wanted me to
die for him. Maybe I shouldn’t forgive a monster just because he loved me that way—but—
But loving me that way made him a monster. My doom was the price of saving Arcadia, and only
a monster would care more about me than saving thousands upon thousands of innocents. Shade was
the last prince; of course if he could save only one, he would choose Arcadia. I would do the same.”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“I’m here!” I shouted. “Your bride! Congratulations on your marriage!”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“And he smiled the wild, vicious smile that had made me fall in love.”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“He’s a monster,” I said. “Maybe I’m a monster to pity him. But I can’t leave him.”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“he was a fool for trusting me. i was a fool for caring if he got hurt”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“Then he whispered— so softly I barely heard it— “Please stay.”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“I love you," he said. "I love you more than any other creature, because you are cruel, and kind, and alive. Nyx Triskelion, will you be my wife?”
― Rosamund Hodge, Cruel Beauty

“Isn't that what stories do, make real things fake, and fake things real?”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“Arin wondered if she would lift her eyes, but wasn’t worried he would be seen in the garden’s shadows.
He knew the law of such things: people in brightly lit places cannot see into the dark.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“If you won’t be my friend, you’ll regret being my enemy.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“My soul is yours," he said. "You know that it is.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“She turned to look at him, and he was already looking at her. “I’m going to miss you when I wake up,” she whispered, because she realized that she must have fallen asleep under the sun. Arin was too real for her imagination. He was a dream.
“Don’t wake up,” he said.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“You might not think of me as your friend,' Kestrel told Arin, 'but I think of you as mine.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“She reminded herself bitterly that this was what curiosity had bought her: fifty keystones for a singer who refused to sing, a friend who wasn't her friend, some one who was hers and yet would never be hers.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“Marry him,” Arin said, “but be mine in secret.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“An emotion clamped down on her heart. It squeezed her into a terrible silence. But he said nothing after that, only her name, as if her name were not a name but a question. Or perhaps that it wasn’t how he had said it, and she was wrong, and she’d heard a question simply because the sound of him speaking her name made her wish that she were his answer.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“You don't need to be gifted with a blade. You are your own best weapon.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“She remembered how her heart, so tight, like a scroll, had opened when Arin kissed her.
It had unfurled.
If her heart were truly a scroll, she could burn it.
It would become a tunnel of flame, a handful of ash.
The secrets she had written inside herself would be gone. No one would know”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“Will you come with me?"
"Ah, Kestrel, that's something you never need to ask.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“He changed us both." She seemed to struggle for words. "I think of you, all that you lost, who you were, what you were forced to be, and might have been, and I—I have become this, this person, unable to—"

She shut her mouth.

"Kestrel," he said softly, "I love this person.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“Arin pulled her onto his lap. He held her shaking form, tucked his face into the crook of her cold neck as she sobbed against him. He murmured that he loved her more than he could say. He promised that he would always choose her first.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“So you give me nothing.”
“When have I ever given you anything?”
Softly, Arin said, “You gave me much, once.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“She tried to imagine her former self. Enemy. Prisoner. Friend? Daughter. Spy. Prisoner again. “What am I now?”
Sarsine held both of Kestrel’s hands. “What ever you want to be.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“Kestrel’s laugh was white in the cold. “We could gamble for your coat.”
“Ah, love, why don’t we skip to the part where you win and I give it to you?”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“Later, Kestrel wished she had spoken then, that no time had been lost. She wished that she’d had the courage that very moment to tell Arin what she’d finally known to be true: that she loved him with the whole of her heart.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“I would do anything for you.

She knew exactly who had written them and why. She became aware that she had been pretending to herself when she’d believed her words had been untrue, or that any of the limits she’d set between her and Arin mattered, because in the end she was here and he was free. She had done everything she could.

And he didn’t even know.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss