The Forbidden Wish

And what do you know of love?" "That it must be a choice." "Oh, my naive thief. " I pause briefly to meet his gaze. "Love is rarely a choice.

As the poets say, stories are truth told through lies.

The things that were once sweet to me are now bitter. The sun is not half so bright. The stars seem dimmer. All this wealth and luxury feels meaningless. All the world is in your shadow, Zahra. I cannot help but see you when I close my eyes.

You can’t choose what happens to you, but you can choose who you become because of it. ~Aladdin

There is only one thing more numerous than the stars,” I say, looking up to the heavens. “And that is the darkness that holds them.

If you're not free to love, your're not free at all.

Time has a different meaning for me, and these events that seem so monumental in the moment will one day be nothing more than a line in a scroll. These humans are but letters to be inked into history. A hundred years from now, I will be free. I will have forgotten their names and faces, and the struggles they have will not matter. Time has a way of burying things, shifting like the desert and swallowing entire civilizations, erasing them from map and memory. Always, in the end, everything returns to dust.

The price of every lie is that the truth will always come out.

Because happiness itself is a mythical construct, a dream you humans tell yourselves to get through each day. It is the moon, and you, like the sun, pursue it relentlessly, chasing it around and around, getting nowhere.

Nothing is worth betraying someone you love. ~Aladdin

You’re a—you’re a—” Say it, boy. Demon of fire. Monster of smoke. Devil of sand and ash. Servant of Nardukha, Daughter of Ambadya, the Nameless, the Faceless, the Limitless. Slave of the Lamp. Jinni. “. . . a girl!” he finishes.

He is the sun, and I am the moon. We must stay apart or the world will be thrown out of balance.

Even a thief may have honor, and even a jinni may have a heart.

Cruelty, I understand. But kindness frightens me, for my defenses are weak against it. ~Zahra

The universe sings a deep, eternal song, sound in waves, in deep sighs, in whispers, in swirling chords and rising, falling tones. The music of the worlds, weaving in a pattern that is both chaos and order, both beauty and terror, without beginning, without end.

Get control of yourself, Zahra! My name isn’t Zahra. I am Smoke-on-the-Wind, Curl-of-the-Tiger’s-Tail, Girl-Who-Gives-the-Stars-Away. He loves you! He is just a mortal. Just a boy, a moment in time that will soon pass. His name is Aladdin. I have known a thousand and one like him. I will know a thousand and one more. He is nothing. He is everything.

You insist you're a monster because you're afraid of being human.

Do not say such things," said the Queen. "We have today and yesterday, and we will seize tomorrow. We will have all the time in the world if we are clever enough to take it.

This has been the great lesson of my long life: To love is to destroy.

Love is a path lined with roses." I say bitterly. "But it leads to a cliff's edge and all who follow it tumble to their doom. You will not find your happiness there.

But my heart is a treacherous star, refusing to dim when the sun rises

You’re very pretty,” he murmurs, his voice thick with sleep, “for a jinni.” “Have you met many jinn?” “No.” His lips curl into a dazed grin. “But I’ve met a lot of pretty girls.

A chicken doesn’t fly like other birds, but it is still a bird.

The will of this boy thief flows in golden streams. It is the thread with which I weave, the colors with which I paint, the element with which I create.

I know plenty of dances. My favorite is called Not Getting Your Legs Broken for Stealing Figs from That Baker on Pearl Lane.” “That’s sure to charm the princess right into a wedding pact.

Wishes have a way of twisting themselves, and there is nothing more dangerous than getting your heart's desire. The question is, are you willing to gamble? How much are you willing to lose? What are you willing to risk everything for?

If it's a monster they want, then a monster they shall have.

I've been chased, shot, cut, beaten, and dragged a hundred leagues in the blink of an eye. I need a drink.

And what does he want?” I turn and face the serving girl. “The same thing we all want. He just won’t admit it.” I see longing in her eyes, and also anger, when she looks at Aladdin. “Freedom from the past.” I