Jenny

“Why don't we play a game of riddles?"
...
Gupta beamed.”
― Roshani Chokshi, The Star-Touched Queen

“Wild birds die in cages.”
― Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale

“Wouldn’t it be easier keep your victim faceless?”
I shuddered. “Not a victim.”
“What else do you call one hemmed in by fate?”
“Human,” I said, bitterness creeping into my voice.
“What about guilt, then? Why open yourself to pain?”
“Guilt is what makes you accountable.”
― Roshani Chokshi, The Star-Touched Queen

“Although I had never envisioned marriage, I had thought of love. Not the furtive love I heard muffled in the corners or rooms of some of the harem wives. What I wanted was a connection, a shared heartbeat that kept rhythm across oceans and worlds. Not some alliance cobbled out of war. I didn’t want the prince from the folktales or some milk-skinned, honey-eyed youth who said his greetings and proclaimed his love in the same breath. 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.”
― Roshani Chokshi, Star-Touched Stories