Kestrel Quotes

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

“I told her that I belong to you, and no other.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“She had done everything she could. And he didn't even know.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“It was an old Herrani flag, stitched with the royal crest.

Arin said, "But the royal line is gone."

"They're looking for something to call you, Kestrel said, nudging Javelin forward.

"Not this. It's not right."

"Don't worry. They'll find the right words to describe you."

"And you."

"Oh, that's easy."

"It is?" It seemed impossible to name every thing she was to him.

Kestrel's expression was serious, luminous. He loved to see her like this. "They'll say that I'm yours," she told him, "just as you are mine.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“I told you everything I know", said the messenger. Arin had gone to his childhood suite, feeling anxiety verging on panic at the thought of not finding the man there, of having to track him down, of time lost…but the man had opened the outermost door almost immediately after Arin’s pounding knock.
"I didn’t ask you the right questions,“ Arin said. "I want to start again. You said that the prisoner reached trough the bars of the wagon to give you the moth.”
“Yes”
“And you couldn’t really see her.”
“That’s right.”
“But you said she was Herrani. Why would you say that if you couldn’t see her?”
“Because she spoke in Herrani.”
“Perfectly.”
“Yes.”
“No accent.”
“No.”
“Describe the hand.”
“I’m not sure…”
“Start with the skin. You said it was paler than yours, than mine.”
“Yes, like a house slave’s.”
Which wasn’t very different from a Valorian’s. “Could you see her wrist, her arm?”
“The wrist, yes, now that you mention it. She was in chains. I saw the manacle.”
“Did you see the sleeve of a dress?”
“Maybe. Blue?”
Dread churned inside Arin. “You think or you know?”
“I don’t know. Things happened too fast.”
“Please. This is important.”
“I don’t want to say something I’m not sure is true.”
“All right, all right. Was this her right hand or her left?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you tell me anything about it? Did she wear a seal ring?”
“Not that I saw, but –”
“Yes?"
"She had a birthmark. On the hand, near the thumb. It looked like a little black star.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“The reason you enjoy my company is because I look like how you feel.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“I won’t play you because even when I win, I lose. It’s never been just a game between us.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“The guard hit Kestrel across the face. “I said, what did you give him?”

You had a warrior’s heart, even then.

Kestrel spat blood. “Nothing,” she told the guard. She thought of her father, she thought of Arin. She told her final lie. “I gave him nothing.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“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

“Once there was a girl who was too sure of herself. Not everyone would call her beautiful, but they admitted that she had a certain grace that intimidated more often than it charmed. She was not, society agreed, someone you wanted to cross. She keeps her heart in a porcelain box, people whispered, and they were right.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“Arin remmembered seeing her hand in Javelin’s mane, curling into the coarse strands. This made him remember the almost freakish lenghth between her littlest finger and thumb as her hand spanned piano keys. The black star of the birth-mark. He saw her again in the imperial palace. Her music room. He’d seen that room only once. About a month ago, right before Firstsummer. Her blue sleeves were fastened at the wrist.
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, The Winner's Kiss

“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, The Winner's Kiss

“What did you tell the queen?"
"I told Inisha about you."
"What, exactly?"
He hesitated. "I'm afraid to say."
"I want you to."
"You might leave."
"I won't."
He stayed silent.
She said, "I give you my word."
"I told her that I belong to you, and no other. I said that I was sorry.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“The sky was a feather blanket of clouds, save for one blue hole in the fabric. A blue cloud in a white sky.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“You talk about her as if she's made of spun glass. Know what I see? Steel.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“It was different to give something up than to see it taken away. The difference, Kestrel said, was choice.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“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, The Winner's Kiss

“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, The Winner's Kiss

“Let the morning keep what belongs to the morning,”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“For a moment she didn't understand what he wanted, then she drew the dagger he'd made for her and gave it to him
Arin looked it over---surprised, pleased. "You take good care of it."
She took it back. "Of course I do." Her voice was rough and wrong.
He peered at her. Friendly, he said, "Yes, of course. Is there a saying for it? 'A Valorian always polishes her blade.' Something like that."
"I take care of it," she said, suddenly both miserable and angry, "because you made it for me.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“You could offer her a seat,' Arin said.
'Ah, but I only have two chairs in my tent, little Herrani, and we are three. I suppose she could always sit on your lap.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“The general's daughter? We'd be fools not to. You talk about her as if she's made of spun glass. Know what I see? Steel.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“¿No es eso lo que consiguen las historias, que lo real sea falso y lo falso, real?”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“He said, "How can the inconsequence of your life not shame you?"
He said, "How do you not feel empty?"
I do, she thought as she pushed through the library doors and let them thud behind her. I do.””
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“A lovely fatigue claimed him. He lay down on the grass and listened. He thought about how Kestrel had slept on the palace lawn and dreamed of him. When she had told him this, he'd wished that it had been real. He tried to imagine the dream, then found himself dreaming.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“She focused on that nothingness, imagined it as ink spilling over everything she could possibly think or feel.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“Arin, you’re not listening. You’re not thinking clearly.”

“You’re right. I haven’t been thinking clearly, not for a long time. But I understand now.” Arin pushed his tiles away. His winning hand scattered out of line. “You have changed, Kestrel. I don’t know who you are anymore. And I don’t want to.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“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, The Winner's Kiss

“Her innocence was maddening. She should know. She should know what her steward had done. She should know it to be her fault whether she’d given the order or not–and whether she knew or not. Innocent? Her? Never.

He did not want her to know. He did not want her to see. But:

Look at me, he found himself thinking furiously at her. Look at me. She lifted her eyes, and did.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“¿No es eso lo que consiguen las historias, que lo real sea falso y lo falso, real?" Kestrel”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse