“Captain?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think it was destiny that brought us together?"
He squinted and, after a thoughtful moment, shook his head. "No. I'm pretty sure it was Cinder.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“I'm sure I'll feel much more grateful when I find a guy who thinks complex wiring in a girl is a turn-on.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Kai cleared his throat. Stood straighter. "I assume you are going to the ball?"
"I-I don't know. I mean, no. No, I'm sorry, I'm not going to the ball."
Kai drew back, confused. "Oh well... but... maybe you would change your mind? Because I am, you know."
"The prince."
"Not bragging," he said quickly. "Just a fact.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“All right, Miss Cryptic. What's the new plan, then?"
Glancing around the room, Cinder tipped up her chin. "It starts with kidnapping the groom."
Iko's hand shot into the air.
"Yes, Iko?"
"That is the best idea ever. Count me in.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“I don’t see that her being cyborg is relevant.”
― Marissa Meyer, Scarlet

“Maybe the princess could save herself."
"That sounds like a pretty good story too.”
― Marissa Meyer, Fairest

“Imagine there was a cure, but finding it would cost you everything. It would completely ruin your life. What would you do?”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Come on, Iko.”
Iko was still hiding, hugging herself self-consciously. “Is he looking?”
Kai raised an eyebrow.
“He’s not looking,” said Cinder.
A hesitation. “Are you sure?”
Cinder gestured exasperatedly at Kai. “You’re not looking.”
He cast his eyes to the ceiling. “Oh, for all the stars." Crossing his arms, he turned his back on them.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“He leaned forward to inspect her closer. "Is that all hair?"

... Sudden, overwhelming panic clawed up Cress's throat. With a squeak, she ducked out of view of the camera and scrambled beneath the desk. Her back struck the wall with a thud that rattled her teeth. She crouched there, skin burning hot and pulse thundering as she took in the room before her— the room that he was now seeing too, with the rumpled bedcovers and the mustached man on all the screens telling her to grab her imaginary partner and swing them around.

"Wha—where'd she go?" Thorne's voice came to her through the screen.

"Honestly, Thorne." A girl. Linh Cinder? "Do you ever think before you speak?"

"What? What did I say?"

"'Is that all hair?'"

"Did you see it? It was like a cross between a magpie nest and ball of yarn after it's been mauled by a cheetah."

A beat. Then, "A cheetah?"

"It was the first big cat that came to mind.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client--and her prince.
And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“You said yourself that the people of Luna need a revolutionary.” She lifted her chin, holding his gaze. “So I’m going to Luna, and I’m going to start a revolution.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“Hello?" A girl again. "I know you can hear me. I'm sorry my friend is such a wing nut. You can just ignore him."

"That's usually what we do," said the other feminine voice.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“See? Injustice. Here we are, risking our lives to rescue Kai and this whole planet, and Adri and Pearl get to go to the royal wedding. I’m disgusted. I hope they spill soy sauce on their fancy dresses.”

Jacin’s concern turned fast to annoyance. “Your ship has some messed-up priorities, you know that?”

“Iko. My name is Iko. If you don’t stop calling me the ‘ship,’ I am going to make sure you never have hot water during your showers again, do you understand me?”

“Yeah, hold that thought while I go disable the speaker system.”

“What? You can’t mute me. Cinder!”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“Finally, Cinder gulped. "I'm sorry I had to --" She gestured at the unconscious wedding coordinator, then waved her hand like shaking it off. "But she'll be fine, I swear. Maybe a little nauseous when she comes to, but otherwise...And your android...Nainsi, right? I had to disable her. And her backup processor. But any mechanic can return her to defaults in about six seconds, so..." She rubbed anxiously at her wrist. "Oh, and we ran into your captain of the guard in the hallway, and a few other guards, and I may have scared him and he's, um, unconscious. Also. But, really, they'll all be fine. I swear." Her lips twitched into a brief, nervous smile. "Um...hello, again. By the way.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“What do you mean? Is she in a coma?”
“Not anymore.” She braced herself for his reaction.
“But she’s a cyborg.”
His eyes widened, but then his attention was darting around the room as though he couldn’t look at Cinder while he adjusted to that information. “I see,” he said slowly, before meeting her gaze again.
“But … is she all right?”
The question caught her by surprise and she couldn’t help a startled laugh. “Oh, yeah, she’s great. I mean, half the people in the world want to kill her and the other half want to chain her to a throne on the moon, which is just what she’s always wanted. So she’s fantastic.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“Did you know that she was cyborg?” asked a woman in an unhidden tone of disgust.
Kai stared at her, appearing confused, then let his gaze dance over the crowd. He shuffled his feet
closer to the podium, a wrinkle forming on the bridge of his nose.
Cinder bit the inside of her cheek and braced herself for adamant disgust. Who would ever invite a
cyborg to the ball?
But instead, Kai said simply, “I don’t see that her being cyborg is relevant. Next question?”
Cinder’s metal fingers jolted.”
― Marissa Meyer, Scarlet

“I don't like to think of it as 'stolen'. They have no proof that I didn't plan on giving it back."
"You're kidding, right?"
He shrugged. "You have no proof either."
She squinted back at him. "Were you planning on giving it back?"
"Maybe."
An orange light blinked on in the corner of Cinder's vision-her cyborg programming picking up on the lie.”
― Marissa Meyer, Scarlet

“I passed out from stress? That’s it?”
“I believe the princess term is fainted,” said Thorne.”
― Marissa Meyer, Winter

“Was it all in my head? A Lunar trick?”
Her stomach twisted. “No.” She shook her head, fervently. How to explain that she hadn’t had the gift before? That she couldn’t have used it against him? “I would never lie—”
The words faded. She had lied. Everything he knew about her had been a lie.
“I’m so sorry,” she finished, the words falling lamely in the open air.
Kai peeled his eyes away, finding some place of resignation off in the glistening garden. “You’re even more painful to look at than she is.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“She was a cyborg, and she would never go to a ball.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“I'm going to make it a law that the correct way to address your sovereign is my giving a high five.' Kai's smiled brightened. 'That's genius. Me too.”
― Marissa Meyer, Winter

“It would be easy to abuse a person when they never recognized it as abuse.”
― Marissa Meyer, Scarlet

“The other girl, Iko, cupped her chin with both hands. "This is so much better than a net drama.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“Now, let's never talk about you being related to her again. Because I'm technically still engaged to her, and that's really weird."
Cinder couldn't help laughing, even exhaustedly, even just to cover up the screaming inside, as he bound her up in his arms again. Her headache began to fade, replaced with the strength of his heartbeat and the way she felt almost delicate when she was pressed up against him like this.
Almost fragile.
Almost safe.
Almost like a princess.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“Let me guess,” Thorne said. “Breaking and entering?”
After a long silence of examining the retracting mechanism, the girl wrinkled her nose. “Two counts of treason, if you must know. And resisting arrest, and unlawful use of bioelectricity. Oh, and illegal immigration, but honestly, I think that's a little excessive.”
― Marissa Meyer, Scarlet

“Really?" she drawled. "You'd rather take your chances with her?"
"At least I know when she's manipulating me."
"News flash: I have never manipulated you. And I hope I never have to. But you aren't the only one with responsibilities and an entire country of people who are relying on you. So I'm sorry, your majesty, but you are coming with me, and you're just going to have to figure out whether or not you can trust me when we're not so pressed for time."
Then she raised her hand and shot him.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

“Bending his head, Kai pressed his lips to her knuckles. The plating had no nerve endings, and yet the touch sent a tingle of electricity along her arm.
“Cinder?”
“Mm?”
He lifted his gaze. “Just to be clear, you’re not using your mind powers on me right now, are you?”
She blinked. “Of course not.”
“Just checking.”
Then he slid his arms around her waist and kissed her.
Cinder gasped, pressing her palms against his chest. Kai pulled her closer.
Seconds later, her brain began registering all the new chemicals flooding her system. INCREASED LEVELS OF DOPAMINE AND ENDORPHINS, REDUCED AMOUNTS OF CORTISOL, ERRATIC PULSE, RISING BLOOD PRESSURE …
Leaning into him, Cinder sent the messages away. Her hands tentatively made their way to his shoulders, before stringing around his neck.”
― Marissa Meyer

“She briefly wished she did have some sort of magic so she could shoot a bolt of lightning through his head.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Speaking of eye surgery, do you realize you’re missing
tear ducts?”
“What? Really? And I thought I was just emotionally
withdrawn.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Cinder has a bit of a crush on him,” Thorne stage-whispered. “Don’t we all?” said Iko.”
― Marissa Meyer, Scarlet