Russell Kitchen

“I’m here. I had the world in my palm, and I found it wanting. I’m a greedy creature, Priya. I came here for you. There is a flower in my heart, and it grew for you.”
― Tasha Suri, The Lotus Empire

“It almost sounded like I want you to help me. It would have been better, Mahit thought, if she’d actually said that. But Mahit hadn’t particularly left her any room to do so, had she. She’d said, When you know why I had to come with you, then we can talk. And she hadn’t meant, When you figure out the political situation on Lsel Station, she’d meant—

She’d meant, When you understand that when the Empire commands, I can’t say no. She’d meant, When you understand that there’s no room for me to mean yes, even if I want to. She’d meant, You don’t understand that there’s no such thing as being free. Free to choose, or free otherwise.”
― Arkady Martine, A Desolation Called Peace

“Crux advanced on her like a glacier with an agenda”
― Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth

“If Mani Ara comes out of the water wearing my face—Malini, you won’t even know.”
“If Mani Ara comes from the waters wearing your face, I will know.”
― Tasha Suri, The Lotus Empire