SFFSat: oh the times, they are a-changing...

 Here is the continuation to the last three weeks' snippets (1, 2, 3) and the end of this chapter!

They didn’t, this time. He merely nodded and put his arm around her shoulders, and they walked in silence. Normally she wouldn’t allow such a display of affection in front of her women, but since leaving Atherton she felt as if some weight had been lifted from her, and that she was a different Agate. It was as if the very act of leaving, of heading back towards home, had instigated some change in her that was still working at all the small corners of her mind.     

The very thought of it made her stomach clench in fear. For some reason, she felt this change would not stop working until she was destroyed completely.        

Oh, Ixchel. What’s happening to me? she prayed fervently, but the Goddess gave her no answer.

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And if you like the snippets from The Jade Star of Athering, consider checking out the first book in the series, Bellica, available for the Kindle. Soon to be available on CreateSpace, too.

SFFSat January 28th: Bellica Agate prays at the temple

This is an excerpt from The Jade Star of Athering, a sequel to Dead Transgressions set 10,000 years later and right after the events in Bellica.

Bellica Agate has been ordered to travel to Southland to negotiate with the army of Gypsies and their Queen that have laid siege to the province.  She decides to pray at the temple before leaving.

Ixchel had no temples, no buildings of stone or wood; She did not even have a place in the services offered at the Temple. Agate doubted any of the priestesses even knew of Her.

In fact, no one in Athering knew of the Rainbow-Moon Goddess. Agate had learned that well as a child. So she’d kept her worship hidden, a secret – even let her wedding ceremony be a Paixemortienne one, as Damien had wished. It was best no one thought her crazy, or worse – a traitor.

At the end of her prayer she felt the faint flutter of butterfly wings against her forehead, and she looked up to see the insect that had greeted her. There was nothing but empty air. She smiled, knowing her Goddess spoke to her once again after many years of silence, and felt her spirits lifted slightly at the thought of going home.

Home, after all, was closer to Ixchel than Atherton or Harbourtown had ever been.

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