A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty (Kingdom of Lies, #2)

by Stacia Stark

Men. So utterly predictable with their insistence on diminishing women to girls in an attempt to belittle us.

Nothing hardened a woman like betrayal from a man she’d trusted. And then men had the audacity to call us cold.

“Hate me, rage against me, refuse to admit what you feel. But don’t you dare treat me like a stranger.”

I swallowed around the lump currently burning a hole through my throat. “This is never going to work. You and I. We’re doomed. You know that.” He sighed, and I closed my eyes, basking in the feel of his breath against my neck. “I know.” He slowly drew back. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t wish for you with every fucking breath for the rest of my life.”

“Gods, the way you fall apart for me.”

“The way someone worships their gods—and the gods they choose to worship—is a personal choice for most. But a clever ruler will use religion to play on their emotions. Their desires. And their fears. They will promise either eternal happiness or the avoidance of suffering—here or in the afterlife. You will find it is surprisingly easy for someone to use a population’s fear of the unknown—and their poor education—to control them with lies.”