The Goddess Chronicles
The Goddess Chronicles:
Cinders and Salve
Gennessa is a devout priestess on the run from a corrupt temple. Sinda is a northern raider who believes blood is always the right answer to a slight. When these two women cross, they forge a partnership that will reshape the whole of the northern reaches. Their fight for freedom is no simple rebellion, and the closer they come to reclaiming their lives, the further they spiral into darkness. On their journey, they uncover the temple’s darkest secrets, the truth of its fiendish guardian, and the terrifying nature of the Goddess herself.
The temple wants their lives. The goddess wants their souls. Can their love survive either?
...Gennessa watched as the flame-haired woman stalked into the woods.
Gennessa’s eyes burned with panicked tears as she wiped her face. When she looked down, her fingers were coated in blood.
Was it hers? Was she dying? Had he cut her throat, and she hadn’t even noticed?
Was this the hell the priests had promised would come for her if she failed in her duties to the temple?
“Hey there, pet! You okay? Did they…” The barbarian’s voice stopped as Gennessa’s shiver became a violent shaking.
She couldn’t stop herself. Her eyes stayed locked on the bodies in front of her. As each sobbing word came from her mouth, not even her own ears could make out what they meant. There was no way she could cast the spell again. Even if she did, it wouldn’t matter. She would…
The killer next to her had become quiet. Just as quiet as when she murdered the first two men. Her eyes rose as she looked the monster in the eye. This time, Gennessa knew what she’d been repeating.
She said it once more to be sure. “Please don’t kill me?”
This barbarian. Killer. The monster that had carved her way through three human beings. She looked into Gennessa’s eyes with a nod and a smile, the red strands of her hair passing in front of her face. “I can do that. Name’s Sinda. Let’s get you cleaned up, `kay pet?”
Gennessa fainted, her last sight the alarmed face of Sinda sliding from her view as she collapsed.
Cinders and Salve is the first book of The Goddess Chronicles. Set in a world of blood and magic, it tells the story of two women on the run. One was a priestess who knew only submission, until she saw the rot beneath the temple’s holy veil. The other is a killer who had never bowed to anything but survival.
Together, they will tear through the northern reaches, leaving ruin in their wake... because if the temple taught Gennessa anything, it was this: Hell hath no fury like a goddess scorned.
For those who crave a story of power reclaimed, of brutal passion and terrible choices, Cinders and Salve is a tale where love is not a salvation—it’s a battlefield.