The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)

by Tasha Suri

“Power can be looking after people. Keeping them safe, instead of putting them into danger.”

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.

A child should not be a chain, used to yoke a woman like cattle to a role, a purpose, a life she would not have chosen for herself. And yet she felt then, with an aching resentment, how Vikram would use their child to reduce and erase her. She hated him for that, for stealing the quiet and strange intimacy of her and her own flesh and blood and making it a weapon.

There is power that is showy and fierce. And there is power grown slowly, and stronger for the time spent braiding its ancient strength.

The moment I saw you, I felt a tug. You are the feeling of falling, the tidal waters, the way a living thing will always turn, seeking light. It isn’t that I think you are good or kind, or even that I love you. It is only that, the moment I saw you, I knew I would seek you out. Just as I sought the deathless waters. Just as I sought my brother. Just as I seek all things—without thought, with nothing but want.