An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

by Sabaa Tahir

“Fear is only your enemy if you allow it to be.”

When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. Your heart.”

Now it’s time to remake my world. Time to redo my ending. I put my hand to my armlet. This time, I will not falter.

But now, preparing me for death, she is cold-eyed and hardhanded. Not a single tear. Did we never laugh together as Yearlings? Did we never fight our way out of a Barbarian camp, or fall into joyful hysterics after successfully robbing our first farmhouse, or carry each other when one of us was too weak to go on alone? Did we never love each other?

Does this mean I’ll have a severed head in the afterlife, I wonder stupidly. Seems a bit unfair . . .

To my boys, my inspirations: Here’s hoping you grow up to have Elias’s courage, Laia’s determination, and Helene’s capacity to love.