Sumi had been lost with the damned. Hidden with the rest. Now she's been found by the blessed. The blessed were her blood-mother's people and now they're hers. They don't want her and she doesn't want them. Worse, she bargained with a goddess. Goddess-bargains never turn out well and this one seems no exception. Sumi bargained her blood, her bone, her soul for Jay's life- worth it!- but Jay has gone back to the Rest Third with their boys and now Sumi is left to carry the weight of what she bought: the role of high priestess to a people who mistrust her, under a goddess she is starting to believe is no goddess at all, but a demon. Add to that a bitter blood-sister who expected the title for herself, an invasion from the north, and demon hunters stirring unrest in the streets- and Sumi's hands are more than full. With blood-family and found-family in peril, Sumi must decide who to protect and who to kill. Starting with the blessed goddess.
Autorentext
Award-winning speculative fiction author Barbara Lund has several indie-published novels, dozens of short stories, and has been traditionally published in Daily Science Fiction and L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 37 (November 2021).
She won the Writers of the Future Golden Pen (2021), along with a First Place, three Silver Honorable Mentions, and two Honorable Mentions. She won the 24th Annual Critters Best Magical Realism Short Story.
She's always working on new novels and short stories.
Add a husband, two kids, and a martial arts obsession, and she keeps pretty busy.