Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)

by Keri Lake

An ancient element of the gods, forged eons ago in Aethyria’s fiery heart. A single touch could turn a body to ash, and blood to stone.

The ire I harbored toward my father was wrong, I knew that, but, damn it all, had he even considered the consequences?

Emotions I was forced to keep hidden for fear of looking possessed by evil, as girls were often perceived when they felt too much.

I’d learned at too early an age that the sound of a girl’s scream drew nothing more than apathy.

And nothing invokes fear quite like the peculiar.”

How tragic that a woman’s worth equated to the depth of a man’s pockets.

“Go, my Darling, unto that place Where magic still exists Beyond the confines of this cruel world As you will not be missed Instead, I’ll find you in a dream Or a wistful plea on stars Hours of suffering no more redeemed For eternity is ours.”

“I also know that the delicate black rose doesn’t grow well in these parts. Our winters are far too cold for its fragile roots.”

I found oddly comforting amongst uncomfortable company. A second skin that made me invisible for the way their eyes skated over me with the same disinterest as if I were a dried and withering rose in a garden of bright tulips.

Dolion’s question echoed my own guilt, and I stood pondering how many times I’d blamed myself for something I was too young to understand.

“Everything is poison with the proper dose. Even you.”

I realized her torment was thinking she’d turned him into what he was.

The girl with the moon in her eyes and fire in her soul.

“If this is punishment, then I welcome an eternity of suffering.”