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“A lover? Maybe. Something tender, anyway. But tender like a bruise.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“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

“When she saw the opportunity to flee, she would take it. She would bring the hounds of the empire howling down on this city.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse

“She had dreams that shamed her in the morning, dreams where Ronan gave her a white powdered cake, yet spoke in Arin's voice. I made this for you, he said. Do you like it?
The powder was so fine that she inhaled its sweetness, but always woke before she could taste.”
― Marie Rutkoski , The Winner's Crime

“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

“She thought of the hawk, which must have winged its way to her father by now. SHe imagined it slewing aruond trees, dropping down. Talons closing around his upraised fist. Her father unrolling the coded message. The trap she'd set for him.

Walk into it , she willed.

You have a mind for strategy , he'd said once.

Come see, then.

See what I can do to you. See what you have done to me.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“Innocent? Her? Never.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Crime

“Kestrel remembered how it felt to lose to her father at Bite and Sting, at Borderlands, at anything he chose to play. The dig at her pride. A hurt certainty that she'd never be able to prove herself to him. Embarrassment for wanting to prove herself.

She remembered her hands clinging to his jacket, her whole self reduced to two claws as she pleaded with him.

War wasn't a game, but she wanted badly to make her father know how it felt to lose.”
― Marie Rutkoski