More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Their descent began like clockwork. On Friday at three, Procession Street, the only road in Eden that connected all five districts, would fill with bumper-to-bumper traffic. The onslaught started with the financiers from Hiram, then the industrialists from Temple City, the merchants from Galant, and the artists from Akkadia. Though once they crossed the border into Nineveh, where they were from didn’t matter. They were all just hypocrites. Crits, the locals called them.
Forgiveness is an invitation to sin. It will be our ruin.
Forgiveness was an invitation to sin. I witnessed it every week, which was why I’d decided a long time ago that I did not care to be forgiven. I’d rather be a sinner than a hypocrite.
You are the daughter of House Leviathan,
Elohai. That was the name of the bloodline that gave each family magic and, with it, the right to rule. Except that was all really bullshit, because the blood of the Elohai—the blood of God—only gave magic to women. It made us powerful, a power we could not even utilize because we were subservient to men.
It also meant that unlike Zahariev, who had been trained to ascend to the head of his family, I had been trained to be a wife, and since I was the only child of my house, my father would choose my husband, the next head of House Leviathan. I fucking hated it, but that was why I’d run away.
“Lilith.”
We were not responsible for lust in men. We existed, and they desired.
Sometimes it wasn’t, but men had a hard time wrapping their dicks around the word no, and since our world valued them more, we were the ones who suffered.
My father had gifted it to me on my sixteenth birthday. He called it an amulet, said that it had been forged from gold found in the Nara-Sin Desert and imbued with some kind of protection properties.
the ranks of the five families
Next to my father, Zahariev was probably the most feared among the five bosses, a feat considering he had no wife, which meant he had no direct access to magic. He ruled through fear because his currency was information. He had enough dirt to ruin every man in power, even my father.
I imagined it was very uncomfortable for my father to know his daughter had developed sex magic at the age of eighteen.
I looked up to see a man. He was the kind of handsome that pissed me off, probably because I knew him well and didn’t want to find him attractive, but it was impossible. To me, he had a perfect face—a beautiful jawline, pillowy lips, blue eyes, and thick, dark hair that was shaved low on the sides. He had a habit of running his fingers through it when he was frustrated, and around me, that was all the time.
He was dressed for business in a tailored black suit. My eyes traveled from his face to his neck, where a set of waning moons were tattooed. They merged with clouds that billowed across his chest, cut through with beams of light. Though they were only partially visible beneath the unbuttoned collar of his red shirt, I had seen the entire thing and knew that angels battled along his sternum and stomach. It was a scene from Armageddon, the end of the world.
“Zahariev,”
“There are other ways to get your kicks, Lilith.” “Any suggestions?” I asked, rolling my shoulders. “I’m getting restless.” “Perhaps I should give you a list,”
The commission was made up of the heads of each family. There was Zahariev, of course, then my father, Lucius; Victor Viridian, who oversaw Temple City; Serafin Sanctius over Galant; and Absalom Asahel over Akkadia. Their goal was to keep peace between families and address disputes before they escalated on the ground. They also enforced social law, which usually only applied to women as dictated by the Book of Splendor.
“Just one ride, baby,” he said with a grin. “That’s all it takes.” I dropped my gaze and laughed. “You know the problem,” I said slowly, so he could keep up. “It takes over two inches to satisfy me.”
Lol
Fucker, I thought, because it felt wrong to speak ill of the dead, at least aloud, but he’d definitely tried to cheat me.
“You’re the only one who would say so, little love,” he replied. I was used to Zahariev’s nickname for me, but it still made me blush.
His energy was suffocating. Why was everything about him so electric? It was like he had magic.
He was quiet for a moment before speaking, which was usual. I never asked him why it took him so long to answer, because I knew he was thinking through his response.
So like Adrian!
“We have rules in Nineveh, Lilith. You know them well. He threatened you. He touched you. He gave up his life. Imagine the bodies that would pile up if you danced for me.”
“Let me know if you lose your nerve. I hate wasting my time.” I glared. “Why would I lose my nerve?” “Because,” he said. “You’re going to dance for me.”
“The owner of this apartment complex,” I said. “Find out where he lives. We’re going for a visit.”
Beware she who bleeds, bound in chains. Beware the exile, the young winged beast, who dances unafraid before fire. Beware the woman with many names, the maiden, the whore, the scarlet serpent. Beware the temptress who whispers in the dark. She is the beginning and the end. She is peace and chaos. She is terror knocking at the gates.
“There’s your goddamn receipt,” he snapped back, but I was too distracted by his face to really hear him. His eye was nearly swollen shut, and his lip was split. “What happened to your face?” “What do you mean what happened?” he seethed. At first, I didn’t understand why he was so angry with me. I didn’t punch him, but then he continued. “Zahariev Zareth happened. You could have warned me you were fucking him.”
“I’m not fucking him,” I said. The last thing I needed was that kind of rumor reaching my father’s ears. “Well, maybe you should. He paid your fucking rent. Three goddamn months.”
Lol
“But I will remind you that all this could have been avoided if Zahariev had just let me dance in the first place.” “Maybe he doesn’t like the idea of other men looking at you,” said Coco.
Sometimes I thought he was a sheep, and sometimes I thought he was the wolf. Most of the time, though, I felt like I didn’t know him at all.
I took a taxi to the border of Nineveh, which was marked by a statue of Zerachiel, the archangel of judgment.
There were six other statues across Eden: Raziel, Uriel, Menadel, Arakiel, Sariel, and Metatron. A watcher for each Gate, said the Book of Splendor,
For two hours straight, he made me write one sentence over and over: I will not question the authority of the church. When I started to grow tired and my penmanship became messy, he would hit the table with a ruler to startle me, but it wasn’t long before he hit me.
Ugh, professor Umbridge!
Your father is a puppet,
No one born within Nineveh was allowed into the other districts, except for Zahariev and any member of his family. Among the five, we called it the Eden Rule, and it meant that districts closest to the Garden of Eden had more freedom. For example, those born in Hiram could enter Temple City, but those born in Temple City had to have special permission from the commission to enter Hiram. Those born in Akkadia and Galant could go between their districts and down to Nineveh but not up to Temple City or Hiram. Nineveh was open to all, but that hospitality was not reciprocated.
My relationship with Zahariev had boundaries, even when I teased. We’d never touched each other in a sexual way, never kissed. I wasn’t sure what kept that line so solid, but neither of us crossed it. Maybe it was because we were both, in some ways, indoctrinated—the families wouldn’t allow an heir to be with another heir, so there was no reason to give in to the temptation…not
“The gods,” he said, his voice firm and unwavering. “Can’t you hear them? They are knocking at the gates.”
“Yes, daddy,,” I said, my voice thick with sarcasm. Zahariev’s jaw ticked, but the corner of his mouth lifted, eyes gleaming darkly. “Good girl,” he praised, his voice low and rough. He sat back, crossing one leg over the other. “Now dance for me.”
“Get dressed,” he said. “Don’t tell me what to do,”
Lol well he’s your boss now so he definitely can
Zahariev I am in so much fucking trouble.
Omg!!!
“Greed is the root of evil,” I said. My brother scoffed. “Says the fucking seed.”
“We are living in a simulation!” he yelled. “The true gods are trapped beneath the mountain. They are knocking at the gates! Can’t you hear them? Can’t you hear them? Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”
“I think you have better hearing than I do,” I said. “All I can hear is traffic.” “It’s getting louder,” Tori said. “You’ll hear it soon.”
Foreshadowing?
“You know who else doesn’t date?” asked Gabriel. “If you say Zahariev, I’m going to hit you over the head with this fucking crib leg,” I threatened.
Beware, goddess of night, Mother of the moon. There is poison on your tongue, Venom in your blood. Lie upon my altar, Bleed upon my steps. Release me from these bindings, Break down these carmine gates.
He had to be the only person in the entire world who didn’t have a double chin when they looked down. Fucking rude.
Lol
“You said you had the same talk? Was I on your father’s list?” Zahariev dropped his cigarette, grinding it into the earth with his foot. He took a few steps toward me. At the time, holding his gaze as he approached had been the bravest thing I’d ever done. “Yeah,” he said. “You were on a list. Untouchable.”
The irony was that the canal, a resource that had made the five families rich, ran close to what the church described as the root of sin. On the other side of the bridge, carved into the mountainside, was the Seventh Gate. It was said that the evil of the world was trapped behind it, tangled in the roots.
To my horror, the man who had picked up my gun aimed it at Tori and pulled the trigger.
