Just tell me you don't love me, and I'll let the matter drop." "What?" "What I said. Just say, 'Rai, I don't love you and I never will'. It's that simple." "Raisa, this is getting us nowhere." "Say it!

Cinda Williams Chima

Han spotted a child‟s homespun dolly in the ditch, pressed into the mud. He reined in, meaning to climb down and fetch it so he could clean it up for his little sister. Then he remembered that Mari was dead and had no need of dollies anymore. Grief was like that. It gradually faded into a dull ache, until some simple sight or sound or scent hit him like a hammer blow.

Cinda Williams Chima

grief blow children

Nobody's going to hand you anything. You don't get what you don't go after.

Cinda Williams Chima

hands

Just remember who you are... The world will try to change you into someone else. Don't let them. That's the best advice anyone can give you.

Cinda Williams Chima

advice trying giving

But maybe it's better to go after something, and not get it, than to not even try.

Cinda Williams Chima

trying

Will you give the girl to me?" she said. "Will you let me try?" He nodded, dizzy with relief. "Please, Willo. Please. Save her. It doesn't matter...what happens to me.

Cinda Williams Chima

girl trying giving

Ellen could have killed me," Jack said quietly, "but she didn't. She saved my life." "How come?" Fitch demanded. "After all this?" Ellen turned scarlet and stared at the ground. "Maybe none of my opponents ever gave me flowers before," she mumbled.

Cinda Williams Chima

opponents flower said

And, like a fool, she kissed him back. Kissed him a way that would leave no doubt about the way she felt about him. Kissed him because she knew the chances were slim she'd have very many kisses like that in her lifetime. Which is a sad thing when you're only seventeen.

Cinda Williams Chima

slim kissing doubt

Whoa, Rebecca," Talia said smiling even wider, "Walking on the wild side, are we?" Raisa seemed to think the situation needed more explaining. "He - uh - I'm tutoring him." "She is," Han said solemnly. "She's very good. I'm learning a lot." Pearlie snickered. "What's she teaching you?" "Well," Han said, "we're jumping around a lot.

Cinda Williams Chima

jumping teaching thinking

The time will come when you will be forced to make a choice,” Hanalea said. “When that time comes, choose love.

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choices said

I need to go to parties, Raisa mused, so I don't think so much.

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party needs thinking

She had never felt more alive than when she lay dying in Han Alister's arms.

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arms alive dying

Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead. "Don't you die. don't you dare. I forbid it." As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said.

Cinda Williams Chima

eye hair sleep

If he even survives." She shivered, and Amon put his arm around her, drawing her into his steady warmth. "It's that bad?" Raisa nodded. "He looked...he looked awful, Amon. Willo doesn't know if he'll...She's worried about him. My mother died, and I never got to tell her that I loved her, that I finally understood - just a little anyway. If Han dies too, I don't know what I'll do.

Cinda Williams Chima

arms drawing mother

It was one of the warm nights at the end of summer that makes promises that won't be kept.

Cinda Williams Chima

summer night promise

You didn't have to go to the fireworks with him. Or - or let him fondle you." "Fondle?" Raisa raised her eyebrows, "When did I mention fondling?

Cinda Williams Chima

fireworks raised eyebrows

My tagline is ‘Less sex, more romance, lower body count.’

Cinda Williams Chima

romance body sex

Han made no effort to put up a brave front. Most of the time he just screamed himself hoarse, though a couple of times he amused himself by screaming Fionas's name as if he were in the throes of passion. FEEE-OHHH-NAAA! Lord Bayar made him pay for that, but afterward, Fiona didn't come down anymore, which Han appreciated.

Cinda Williams Chima

passion couple names

History,' Mari muttered, as if she'd overheard his thoughts. 'Why do we need to know what happened before we were born?' 'So hopefully we get smarter and don't make the same mistakes again.

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born mistake needs

But I don't want your throne." "Then what do you want?" "You.

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thrones want

You look like a boy who has eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge and doesn't like the taste.

Cinda Williams Chima

tree boys looks