The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (Hart and Mercy, #1)

by Megan Bannen

All of this pleased the Unknown God, but many of the older gods grew jealous of their offspring’s creation. They wanted humanity’s devotion, too, but they bought mortal praise with cursed gifts: power, war, famine, greed, envy, fear. This is how the Old Gods became most valued in the eyes of humans, and the more people prayed to them, the more powerful the Old Gods became. People forgot about the Mother of Sorrows and the Bride of Fortune and Grandmother Wisdom, and they took for granted the streams and woods and fields and the hearth. They prayed to the Old Gods alone out of fear—fear of war, fear of starvation, fear of loneliness and despair.