The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)

by Tasha Suri

But some men dream of times long dead, and times that never existed, and they’re willing to tear the present apart entirely to get them.

“When a rebel is put to death—be he a scribe or a poet or a murderer—the Ahiranyi people say to themselves, ‘The man broke the law. Perhaps he deserved to die.’ When the women burned, the people said, ‘She was a rebel, was she not? She must have done something that brought her fate upon her. What happened to her will not happen to me.’ They look for reasons, for rules, and through those rules, they learn that as long as they are obedient, they will be safe. Their fear trains them.

strength—strength is a knife turned on the parts of yourself that care.”