Chokshi Quotes & Sayings

In the end, no one cared that her freedom didn't look like the freedom of her sisters. 16 THE GATE OF SECRET TRUTHS — Roshani Chokshi

How many years had he spent believing that he was meant for more? Sometimes he thought his head was a snarl of myth and folktales, where magic coaxed ignored princes out of the shadows and gave them a crown and a legend to live in. He used to wait for the moment when magic would drape a new world over his eyes. But time turned his hopes dull and lightless. — Roshani Chokshi

I donned my armor, lining my eyes with kohl until they were dark as death and patting crushed rose petals on my lips until they were scarlet as blood. — Roshani Chokshi

Since you can't respond yet and since you have no claws left, I will take this moment to remind you that you thought eating the demon fruit would be a bad idea. It was not. To which I say - " He drew a deep breath. " - I told you so."

"Fool," muttered the vetala.

I snarled and with one last burst of strength, swiped my paw behind Vikram's knees and sent him tumbling. He gasped.

"I will," he wheezed, rolling onto his stomach, "take your silence as a form of agreement. — Roshani Chokshi

Strange how something that only affected me was decided by you. — Roshani Chokshi

I hadn't known until now, but I saw it, felt it. I came here for her. Because it didn't matter whether I had lived in another realm for years that I thought were mere days. It didn't matter that I had tasted fairy fruit, fallen in love and broken a heart. Some bonds were impervious to all manner of experience. And the truth was that, no matter what happened, we were sisters. — Roshani Chokshi

I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a flicker of envy. But envy did not make one lovelier. Mother Dhina had taught me that. Beauty, coveted though it was, could not outlive you. Only actions would. I never forgot that. In the harem, I might've disliked some girls for the ugliness in their hearts, but never for the beauty of their faces. — Roshani Chokshi

You see, a story is not just a thing told to a child before sleep. A story is control. — Roshani Chokshi

All this time, he thought magic had chosen him. Maybe magic never chose. Maybe it had always been about the fit. A key latching into a hole. Maybe there had been just enough holes in him for magic to slip through and hook him like spurs into cloth. — Roshani Chokshi

When I looked up, I could imagine an existence as vast as the sky. Just as infinite. Just as unknown. — Roshani Chokshi

Are you waiting for the next full moon? You realize the Tournament will be done by then, yes? " called Vikram.
"Calm down."
"I am turning ancient."
I stepped outside. He opened his mouth to speak. Saw me. Closed it.
"Are you so ancient you've turned to stone? "
He straightened. "Are you planning to seduce your way into
winning? "
"Envy doesn't suit you,"
"Not envy. If I could seduce my way into winning, I would. In fact, I considered wearing your outfit, but chest hair
lacks a certain feminine charm. — Roshani Chokshi

The sage smiled. Sometimes a smile was little more than a sliver of teeth. And sometimes a smile was a knife cutting the world in two: before and after. — Roshani Chokshi

Will we see each other again?" she asked softly.
"Yes."
Gauri fell silent. "In this life?"
I turned to face her. "What do you mean?"
"Mother Urvashi says that if I'm bad in this life then I'll come back as a goat in my next life. Which means that there is another life." Gauri didn't look at me, focusing instead on tightly twisting the hem of her gown. "So will you see me again before I'm a goat? — Roshani Chokshi

His smile banished my loneliness and limbed the hollows of my anema with starlight, pure and bright...his touch hummed in my bones like an aria -- a song to my dance, a beginning of a promise. — Roshani Chokshi

I never dared to hope for someone who challenged
and respected me, knew me at my worst and still coaxed out my best. And yet I had found that in the unlikeliest of places and most inconvenient of people. Wasn't that enough to fight for? Could I live with knowing that I'd left him standing in the shadows . . . waiting for me?
I couldn't. And that was all the answer I needed. — Roshani Chokshi

It felt silly to say that he couldn't bear to lose her. He never had her. She was not a thing to be possessed. But her entrance in his life had conjured light. And losing the light of her would plunge him into a darkness he'd never find his way out of. — Roshani Chokshi

I couldn't decide whether I thought reincarnation was a scare tactic or a hopeful message. — Roshani Chokshi

Vicious and sweet," said Vikram, shaking his head. "Beastly girl."
"You like me, don't lie," I teased.
"I couldn't lie if I tried," he said quietly. — Roshani Chokshi

He turned to me, mischief glinting in his eyes. "How
do they celebrate good fortune in Bharata? In Ujijain, we kiss."
"Look elsewhere."
"Are you sure? You spend an awful amount of time looking at my
lips."
"That's only because I'm horrified at the sheer idiocy of the words
leaping out of them. — Roshani Chokshi

What she coaxed out of me was a visceral need to live, and wasn't that what fueled immortality and made it worthwhile anyway? That there were wonders still left to be uncovered? — Roshani Chokshi

I thought you were going to stay away from me," she said.
He looked at her, this princess who seemed so dangerously sharp that he might cut himself just brushing against her shadow.
"I don't know how."
"Then don't. — Roshani Chokshi

Vikram's eyes widened. "What's this? Praise from Her Beastliness in the morning? Are you under a curse that makes you friendly before noon? If so, how do we make it permanent? — Roshani Chokshi

You know nothing about me."

"I know your soul. Everything else is an ornament. — Roshani Chokshi

His hope was cold. Poisonous. Eclipsing. And he
fed it anyway, the way someone feeds something out of habit simply because there is nothing else in their life worth growing. — Roshani Chokshi

I take inspiration where I can, and devour it in one piece like I'm starving. Not because I think it's something fleeting that will never return but because I think the best inspiration is the kind that makes you feel urgent. Like you're racing against yourself to get a story on the page while you still remember what that magic feels like. — Roshani Chokshi

Guilt accretes. It builds and builds, whittling stairways and spires in the heart until a person can carry a city of hopelessness inside them.
My guilt was building a universe. — Roshani Chokshi

Find the one who glows, with blood on the lips and fangs in the heart. — Roshani Chokshi

No matter where we are, we'll always share the same sky. We can always find each other in the same constellation. — Roshani Chokshi

Do not waste your life mourning the dead. — Roshani Chokshi

Who wanted to be smiled at by the girl that trailed shadows like pets, conjured snakes and waited for Death, her bridegroom, to steal her from these walls? — Roshani Chokshi

I will not let us be beings of regret. I know my past. What I want is my future. — Roshani Chokshi

Is there a reason why you seek every opportunity to annoy me?"
"It's fun. Your scar flashes when you frown. It almost looks like a dimple," said Vikram. "I'm still waiting for your face to turn red with anger. It might make you look like you're blushing. Or perhaps I am making you blush? — Roshani Chokshi

It is foolish to cling to ghosts or spent bones. It is better to forge ahead — Roshani Chokshi

Her power was a wrenching thing, starless black and sorrow, but my magic was something more...it was hope. — Roshani Chokshi

Now she looked at him. She didn't soften. Or smile. If anything, she had become a little of the ground on which they stood. Cold and lovely. But won der poured out of her eyes. Won der and something like . . . relief. And if he thought there was fi re under his skin earlier, it was nothing compared to now. Now he had swallowed the sun. Now the world had stopped lurching forward and begun an impossible dance. — Roshani Chokshi

It's only those that deserve nothing that want everything — Roshani Chokshi

Instinctively, I shoved Vikram behind me and brought out the dagger. — Roshani Chokshi

Trust is won in years. Not words. — Roshani Chokshi

As I got older, the scar reminded me of what people would choose to see if you let them. So I smiled at the attendant, and hoped that she saw a dimpled grin, and not the scar from a girl who started training with very sharp things from a very young age. — Roshani Chokshi

You see, a truth parted with has its own way of becoming a tale. It is told so often that it stumbles in the telling, little bits flaking off, little bits sticking on, and the years accrete and they tend to warp the truth, press it into something it was not at the beginning---not a lie, but a tale. It's easier to see the truth when you disguise it. — Roshani Chokshi

He reached once more for his book. Instead of his shirt.
"Did you run out of clothes? "
"No?" He looked down, as if just noticing that he was partially exposed.
"I had to bandage some of the cuts I got after running back here."
"But you have your bandages on now."
"Astute as ever, Princess. Am I offending your maidenly senses again? Can I not luxuriate in a single evening without the threat of bodily injury? — Roshani Chokshi

The moment he touched me, my universe constricted to the space between our lips. We were a snarl of limbs and bright-burning kisses. — Roshani Chokshi

The callousness that had saved me so often had destroyed me too. — Roshani Chokshi

My star-touched queen," he said softly, as if he was remembering something from long ago. "I would break the world to give you what you want. — Roshani Chokshi

I would rip the stars from the sky if you wished it. Anything for you. But remember to trust me. Remember your promise. — Roshani Chokshi

Night heralded sleep and shadows, demons and dreams. But I heralded the night. — Roshani Chokshi

No magical abilities had ever revealed themselves to me no matter how much I wished for them. But I had a vast source of will. And will was an enchantment that no being could touch because I alone could wield it. That was power. — Roshani Chokshi

-we wish you-"
"-a tale-"
"-worth telling."
"Not luck?" asked Vikram.
The gate heaved with wet laughter.
"-what good is-"
"-such a thing. — Roshani Chokshi

You're welcome, by the way, for dragging you back here. I had a couple offers to sell you and almost considered it."
"Intriguing. For how much? "
"A bag of gold, the ability to make thunderstorms go to sleep. Something else. Five goats? "
"Just five goats? I'm worth at least ten. Plus a cow. — Roshani Chokshi

Her kiss burned in his bones. And maybe it was the magic of Alaka or maybe his mind was splintering from every thing they'd gone through, but he would have sworn she tasted like cold honey and caught magic. — Roshani Chokshi

Stop admiring the view," he said.
"Critiquing it."
"What do you find lacking? "
"Honor."
"Alas. I must have misplaced it. — Roshani Chokshi

Then what do you want form me?"

"I want to lie beside you and know the weight of your dreams," he said, brushing his lips against my knuckles. "I want to share whole worlds with you and write your name in the stars." He moved closer and a chorus of songbirds twittered silver melodies.

"I want to measure eternity with your laughter."

Now, he stood inches from me; his rough hands encircled my waist. "Be my queen and I promise you a life where you will never be bored. I promise you more power than a hundred kings. And I promise you that we will always be equals. — Roshani Chokshi

I used to think fear either numbed or nudged. Now I knew fear did neither. Fear was a key that fit every person's hollow spaces---those things that kept us cold at night and that place where we retreated when no one was looking---and all it could do was unlock what was already there. — Roshani Chokshi

There is no romance in real grief. Only longing and fury. — Roshani Chokshi

Since that night, he needed to tell her . . . something. But what?
"Please don't die" sounded foolish. "You smell nice" sounded worse. He wasn't even sure what the right words were, but they sat on his tongue and made it impossible to speak around them. Before Alaka, he would have been content keeping what ever thorny not- feelings had reared up inside him. But Death commanded urgency. Death tore the skin off dreams and showed the bones under neath. And Vikram saw the bones
now. — Roshani Chokshi

The worms do not take heed of caste and rank when they feast on our ashes," the Raja said. "Your subjects will not remember you. They will not remember the shade of your eyes, the colors you favored, or the beauty of your wives. They will only remember your impression upon their hearts and whether you filled them with glee or grief. That is your immortality. — Roshani Chokshi

And perhaps that in itself was the great secret---not just for legacy, but also for life. You could carry a story inside you and hold it up to the light when you needed it the most. You could peer through it, like a frame, and see how it changed your view when you looked out onto the world. — Roshani Chokshi

A story. This was the key to immortality. The things that made kings quiver and deities distrustful: Nothing but a tale. — Roshani Chokshi

Father once said the real language of diplomacy was in the space between words. — Roshani Chokshi

I want you - " he started.
I glowered, pressing the chair leg into his neck. "I would die before I let you touch me."
"What an improvement. First it was me who would die. Now it is
you who offers to die before touching me," he said. "Another man might be insulted. Now, if you would allow me to finish - "
I glared. — Roshani Chokshi

Memory is a riddled thing. I would caution you from making promises you cannot keep. — Roshani Chokshi

How do you feel? "
"Like I will die if I don't eat this apple."
He considered this. "Then why don't you bite it? See what happens."
"Are you mad? "
"I prefer curious. — Roshani Chokshi

His smile was disjointed, like he was out of practice. — Roshani Chokshi

Beside him, Gauri looked distraught. Chivalry demanded that he
should inquire after the Princess's well- being. She caught
him looking at her and frowned:
"You're heaving like a water buffalo in its death throes."
Never mind. — Roshani Chokshi

The best motivation is love," I offered. Beside me, Kamala nodded vigorously. "And food! — Roshani Chokshi

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

What property is left to dreamers when every idea has been tamed and conquered? What about the poet who dreams of embracing the night sky? It's utterly impossible. And yet the thought of it sparks song and dance, poetry and philosophy. — Roshani Chokshi

I didn't revel in death, but I didn't hate it either. Death had raised me, like an older sibling. Amidst death, I had found my bearings as a soldier. Surrounded by death, I had found my place as a leader. — Roshani Chokshi

Enough tiny sharp jabs can cut as deeply as any knife. — Roshani Chokshi

Neither the secret whirring song of the stars nor the sonorous canticles of the earth knew the language that sprang up in the space between us. It was a dialect of heartbeats, strung together with the lilt of long suffering and the incandescent hope of an infinite future. — Roshani Chokshi

Have some faith."
"Between faith and distrust, which one is more likely to keep you alive?"
"And which one is more likely to let you experience living?"
I threw up my hands. "Why is everything so philosophical with you?"
He shrugged. "I like thinking. — Roshani Chokshi

They may have covered their lips with silk, but their words were unseathed daggers. — Roshani Chokshi

Gauri laughed when he stumbled through the movements of the dance.
"You are a discredit to your title, Vikram. Fox Prince, indeed," she said. "I've never seen a clumsier fox."
"What I lack in skill, I make up for in enthusiasm."
"Do you even know how to dance?"
"Not at all," he said, spinning her in a circle.
"I can tell. Were you lulled by the music?"
"The company."
"Now you're just trying to be sly and charming."
"I am a credit to my title, after all. — Roshani Chokshi

Nothing was more beautiful than a night sky dusted with stars. Nothing was more terrible than a night sky scrawled with a thousand destinies. Night was inevitable. Like me. — Roshani Chokshi

He stared at me. "Are you done? "
"Yes."
"May I get up? "
"No."
"I see you like your men with their egos gutted."
"Only when I'm feeling generous. — Roshani Chokshi

Relief is when you want something to stop. — Roshani Chokshi

How many times have answers been so simple and yet someone is determined to take the path of thorns instead of roses?" "It's not earned." "That's a very human thing to say." "An inclination I can't help." "It's not about things that are earned, but just things as they are. — Roshani Chokshi

This was the court of Bharata, a city like a bone spur - tacked on like an afterthought. Its demons were different: harem wives with jewels in their hair hair and hate in their heart, courtiers with mouths full of lies, a father who knew me only as a colored stone around his neck. Those were the monsters I knew. My world didn't have room for more. — Roshani Chokshi

You're certain that rakshasi fruit is out of your system?" asked Vikram.
"Yes?"
"Good." He took a deep breath. "Because, once more, I told you so."
"You do realize that I don't need the enhancements of demon fruit to knock you to the ground?"
"I do. But I concede that some bodily harm from you is inevitable. I'm just trying to minimize the damage."
"How very wise," I said, rolling my eyes. — Roshani Chokshi

Death might be waiting, but I was going to be a queen. would have my throne if I had to carve a path of blood and bone to get it back.
Death could wait. — Roshani Chokshi

The Night Bazaar had ensnared me. I could smell its perfume on my skin - of stories and secrets, flashing teeth and slow smiles. — Roshani Chokshi

Surviving isn't just about cutting out your heart and burning every feeling into ash. Sometimes it means taking what ever is thrown at you, beautiful or grotesque, poisonous or blissful, and carving out your life with the pieces you're given. — Roshani Chokshi

This magic felt like I had glanced at my destiny
sideways, as if I had never seen it for what it was and now the hope of what I wanted most loomed bright and lurid in the corners of my heart. — Roshani Chokshi

There was more she wanted to say. He could feel the words scrabbling at the clasps of her thoughts, eager to be known. Freed. But she stood there, stony- faced and impassive. And he remembered the girl he had glimpsed from the Grotto - the one who let her shoulders drop when no one looked, the one who fought every day when no one noticed. The one who had once hoped that the Night Bazaar traded on dreams. She deserved more than loneliness. — Roshani Chokshi

In the face of that fear, maybe the mind couldn't help but scrape together feelings toward the only person we had a connection to. That was all it was. A consequence
of survival? — Roshani Chokshi

People always think killing requires a force: a cup of poison tipped into a mouth, a knife parting flesh from bone, a fist brought down repeatedly.
Wrong.
Here's how you kill: You stay silent, you make bargains that peel the layers off your soul one by one, you build a scaffolding of flimsy excuses and live your life on them. I may have killed to save, but I killed all the same. — Roshani Chokshi

But Vikram had seen through every facet, holding me against the light as if I truly were translucent, and instead of making me feel as if I had been looked through and found wanting, I felt . . . seen. — Roshani Chokshi

I can't believe you didn't have a real weapon on hand," I said.
"I have my mind," he said. "You should thank me."
I raised my chained hands. "I am bursting with gratitude. — Roshani Chokshi

What about a love charm, then?" persisted the owner, pushing a flower carved of pearl to me. "To awaken your lover's interest," she added with a wink.
At this, Amar walked to the table and slid the flower rather ungently back toward the owner.
"I am her husband. She needs no charm to hold my interest. — Roshani Chokshi

Perhaps Choices spring up when history makes way for them. Perhaps they will grow, like legends upon dead conquerors. — Roshani Chokshi

Come with me and you shall be an empress with the moon for your throne and constellations to wear in your hair. Come — Roshani Chokshi

A story had no owner ship. A story could break its bones, grow wings, soar out of reach and dive out of sight in the time it took just to draw breath. It meant we weren't walking a cut path. We carved it into existence with
every step. — Roshani Chokshi

What was magic anyway, but the world beheld by someone who chose to see it differently? — Roshani Chokshi

True war isn't philosophical."
"All war is philosophical. That's why we call it war. Strip it of its paint and it's nothing more than murder. — Roshani Chokshi

A memory is a fine legacy to leave behind. — Roshani Chokshi

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. I wanted the impossible, which made it that much easier to push out of my mind. — Roshani Chokshi

I love you," he murmured into my hair. "You are my night and stars, the fate I would fix myself to in any life. — Roshani Chokshi

In the end, I did whatever I could to stave off her nightmares. — Roshani Chokshi

Beauty, coveted though it was, could not outlive you. Only actions would. — Roshani Chokshi

Before I left Alaka, I told Vikram I didn't know myself. Now I was
staring at the depths of what that meant. Heroine. Savior. Villain. What were those words but different fistfuls of a tale that all depended on who was doing the telling? You see, a story is not just a thing told to a child before sleep. A story is control. I saw it now. Felt the talons of that truth scrape through me. — Roshani Chokshi