“‘O people of Kinvara! You have awaited my arrival and I have come at last. Yet while I bring you miracles of the elements, you bring destruction!” Aya swiped under her dress and raised her hand to the air for all to see the vermillion on her fingers. “The river bleeds because I bleed.” Gasps rose at the truth that was visible to anyone. “We are all children of this earth, of the Divine Mother, and when you spill her children’s blood you spill hers. Any who transgress against the innocent will pay with blood. Any who drinks from the Kenet will die.’
‘You lie.’
Calm as the cloudless sky, dry as the sand that swirled beyond the walls, Aya’s eyes held the man’s hateful ones. ‘Then drink.'”
Dead Kings and Living Gods
Dead Kings and Living Gods explores divine femininity, power, and morality, following a monarch who feigns miracles to convince her enemies that she is the goddess they have long awaited.
Samah is a Pakistani, NYC based food enthusiast, cosplay dabbler, and recent Columbia University graduate. She spends her free time eating her way across the city, dodging her brother’s absurd cosplay requests, and cooking up disasters in the kitchen and on the page.