Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1)

by Scarlett St. Clair

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.

We were not responsible for lust in men. We existed, and they desired.

You act like this has to mean something. Fucking brat. She meant everything.

“Promise me something,” he said, still watching me. “What?” “If you ever feel like you don’t want to do this anymore…tell me. Give me the chance to bring you back.”

Why did God delay such a grand promise just to test the loyalty of the people He claimed to love so deeply?

“Someday I will have to watch you marry another man, and it will be far easier to do if I never fuck you.”

What was the point of life without the promise of eternal paradise? But that was the great lie, wasn’t it? Life was life. It was as meaningful as I made it.

“I would go to war for you,” he said. I ceased breathing, thinking that I’d misheard him. I pulled back and met his gaze. He was usually so composed, but there was something unfiltered in the way he looked at me now—a raw confession of devotion. “What did you say?” His mouth lifted in a soft half smile as he swept his thumb over the edge of my lips. “I would go to war for you,” he said again. “I would fight endlessly to keep you if that’s what you wanted.”

Hold me tighter, Zahariev, she’d said. If I did, could I keep her from breaking?

They will call her a demon, but I watched her transform, and I will call her goddess.