A Tribute of Fire (The Eye of the Goddess, #1)

by Sariah Wilson

“You will be the one to carry this legacy forward. You will keep the word. Someone in Locris must remember the old ways, how we worshipped the goddess, and find a way to regain her favor to restore our lands. Your older sister will marry and leave. Your brother will be beholden to the law and his people. But you? You will have a choice about your life’s path. And you should choose to remember what was and what might be.”

“You must always remember that all the answers you need are in the written word,” she continued. “In scrolls, in poems, in songs, in books. Find the right words and you will have your answer.” She had turned out to be right. A single line in the book had caught my attention and changed the entire course of my life. Only the eye of the goddess can restore Locris.

“It’s easier for women to believe in magic because we have the ability to make life and carry it inside us. We’re already magic. And it is a magic no man will ever understand.”

In some countries it was normal for the virgin daughters of a household to bathe male visitors.

Ew

“I want you to put this on.” An alarm sounded inside me and I was filled with dread. “Why?” “My mother told me that it would bring me good luck. And it did. It brought me to you and our family.”

At first I felt guilty, until I reminded myself that I had been down this path before and knew that this was the way of grief—that it would come and go in waves, surprising with its overwhelming intensity in a moment where you thought yourself past it, imagined you’d become accustomed to the constant pain. Walking along the shore as the water harmlessly lapped at your feet until a wave came along that knocked you over and dragged you back into the ocean, drowning you in sorrow. But even when you made it back to shore, that grief would continue to flow and ebb and there would be moments where you felt like your old self again.

“Sometimes you’ll have a healthy plant where a stem or leaves have died. The plant’s instinct is to divert all of its energy to restoring the lost parts, which inhibits its growth. And so, as the gardener, you have to cut those pieces away so that there can be new leaves, new flowers, new life. Sometimes you have to brush away the parts of your life that no longer serve you so that you can move forward.”

“My father once told me that the king was chosen over his brothers because he was already married with an heir.” That made my breath catch and solidify in my chest. I couldn’t breathe. As far as I knew, none of the king’s sons were married. And only one of them was betrothed. Prince Alexandros. To me.

Shit

“So, have you missed me?” he asked. There was no chance I was going to tell him the truth. I knew what he would do if I told him I dreamed of him every night, in very explicit ways. “It’s been a month. I forgot you existed.” He placed both of his hands over his chest. “You wound me!” I peered over my shoulder at him. “I can, if you’d like.”

“I’ll only agree to it on the condition that you promise to throw me up against a wall again, pressing your body to mine just like this.”

“Oh no, I didn’t lose anything, because that wasn’t a goose. That was a demon. You lured me into the library under false pretenses.”

You can’t reason with a goose.” “I know the feeling. You can’t reason with you, either.”

“A peaceful solution? That sounds unlike you. I’m a little surprised you didn’t stab the goose.”

“Why does kissing you always feel like swordplay?” I asked against his mouth, sighing the words. “And we haven’t even involved my sword yet.” He grinned back.

“I pledge to you my whole heart. My entire soul. Every part of my being already belongs to you. Ask for anything and it is yours.”

“The past doesn’t matter. Only here and now. And there hasn’t been any other woman for me since I first laid eyes on you.”

My heart thudded low and hard as I went through the doorway and saw Io on the ground. An absolute giant of a man was kneeling on top of her, his meaty hands wrapped around her throat, squeezing the life from her.

“There might be other parts of me that you want to bite later and I’m letting you know now that I won’t mind at all,”

“I have kissed you a thousand times,” he said, “and would kiss you a thousand more if fate allowed it. When I made you that pledge? I meant every word. You know how I feel, Lia. I have shown you over and over again. I would gladly give up my life to save you.”