The Final Strife (The Ending Fire Trilogy #1)

by Saara El-Arifi

“Remember, my friends: love gives you strength, but retribution gives you purpose.”

How nice it is to be so blinded by your own riches that you can’t see whose back your home is built upon,

That’s the thing with unspoken words: sometimes they reach for you.

She felt the ghost of her memories laughing at her.

“Griots tell no lies, child. A griot looks at the truth and pulls it tight.” He twisted his arthritic hands in front of his face. “So tight it oozes with adventure, weeps with romance, and bleeds with horror.”

“This river separates so much more than just land.” Anoor’s voice was soft, thoughtful. “It’s like the rack, it splits the city in two. Blood oozing out.”

Grief is like a scab, each day you heal a little more, the blood clotting, the skin stitching together. But once a year you peel back the protective crust, each time expecting a scar, but instead the blood still gushes forth.