“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
“The problem with guilt was not how it attacks the present, but how it stained the past. Hindsight was a blemish on memory.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“Guilt is what makes you accountable.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“He loved her.And she loved him.And in such bliss does devastation grow.”
— 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
“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
“Night heralded sleep and shadows, demons and dreams. But I heralded the night.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“I will not let us be beings of regret. I know my past. What I want is my future.”
— 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 coaxed out the stars, my jailers.”
— 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
“Enough tiny sharp jabs can cut as deeply as any knife.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“Perhaps Choices spring up when history makes way for them. Perhaps they will grow, like legends upon dead conquerors.”
— 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
“Ah, desire. Such a poisonous thing.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“Surviving isn’t just about cutting out your heart and burning every feeling into ash. Sometimes it means taking whatever is thrown at you, beautiful or grotesque, poisonous or blissful, and carving out your life with the pieces you’re given.”
— 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
“Father once said the real language of diplomacy was in the space between words.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“Ruling Akaran is a strange task. In many ways, it is like balancing an illusion. You must separate the illusion of what you see and the reality of its consequences,” he said. “Tell me, my queen, are you ready to play with fate?”
— Roshani Chokshi
“Where are we going?” I asked. “The main road leads to all of the major kingdoms.””Not all of them,” said Amar.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“I promised you the moon for your throne and stars to wear in your hair,” said Amar, gesturing inside. “And I always keep my promises.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“A memory is a fine legacy to leave behind.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“There’s always impossibilities in dreams. Dream more.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“Existence is the gift. Life is a choice.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“He loved her. And she loved him. And in such bliss does devastation grow.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“My joy was ghostly, like something not quite realized.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“You know nothing about me.” “I know your soul. Everything else is an ornament.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“I know your soul. Everything else is just an ornament.”
— Roshani Chokshi
“Beauty, coveted though it was, could not outlive you. Only actions would.”
— 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