A God to Rule Her (Adult Gothic Fantasy)

By Yamila Abraham

A Gothic Romantic Fantasy for Adults Only! Fiercely independent Ashla is the healer in a village blighted by the shadow of a dark god. Exinious created Ashla’s civilization centuries ago and then abandoned them. His only interaction is to choose a bride from their ranks every generation.

A disease has stricken the villagers that Ashla can’t cure with her magic potions. She knows this must be the work of Exinious, and fights her way to his fortress to confront him.

Deep down she already knows what’s going on. It’s time for Exinious to choose a new bride, and he must have his eyes on her. Unfortunately for the god, Ashla will never leave her post as healer. She refuses to become the property of any man—especially not a selfish and fearsome god.

An Erotic Gothic Novella by the author of Alien’s Bride! Presented here in its entirety.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yamila Abraham
• Release date: Jan 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310678349

Yamila Abraham

Yamila Abraham founded the publishing company Yaoi Press in 2004. Over the last decade she's overseen the publication 50 Boy's Love titles including graphic novels, comic books, novels, and art books. Abraham has successfully licensed Yaoi Press titles into several foreign languages.Abraham is a prolific writer with over a dozen graphic novel and novels in print with four different publishers. She wrote two of Yaoi Press' best selling series: Winter Demon and Dark Prince. She's written hundreds of novels, both yaoi and science fiction romance, that have been translated into foreign languages. Her first scholarly article on the topic of international BL was published by McFarland Press in 2010. Abraham currently works diligently on numerous illustrated ebooks through Yaoi Press' newest imprint, Yaoi Prose. Abraham has been a speaker or guest of honor at 150 anime fan conventions.

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A God to Rule Her

by

Yamila Abraham

Cover by Archie the Redcat, Edited by Michelle Henson, Cover Logo Design by Jon Cunningham

Copyright © 2014 Yamila Abraham. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PLEASE READ! This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Please do not share it online or distribute it to others. These activities really hurt me and my artists! If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it then please report where you found it to http://yaoiprose.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for supporting us with a legal purchase!

***

I stood at the base of the mountain and used one hand to shade my eyes from the sun. My head had to crane back to take in the god Exinious’ fortress. It didn’t matter that the black thing had been in the background of my village all my life. It still put a knot in my stomach to look at it. The sharp dark towers grew upwards from the mountain’s peaks, forming inky capillaries that stained the sky.

You should wear something prettier, Senator Carrus said behind me.

I closed my eyes and tried not to lose my temper. What I’d worn was simply my deep blue smock, emblazoned with the symbols for health, renewal, fertility, and medicine. A dense fabric belt tied snugly around my waist and a hooded wool cape hung off my shoulders. I felt just as entitled to my healer’s uniform as the senators did to their long brown tunics.

I have to climb a mountain, you realize, I said.

You also have to beseech the god that lives there, Carrus said. He was barrel-chested with a full white beard. His last wife from the village died six years ago. He may be ready for another. A pretty package might go a long way towards winning the lonely god’s aid.

The suggestion made me cringe. I’m not volunteering to be his latest sacrifice.

Carrus put his gnarled hand on my shoulder. Oh, but my dear—

I jerked away from him like his hand was a hot coal. He gave Senator Diones an amused expression while I glared at him. I’ve told the old bastard before not to touch me.

There was no need for Senators Carrus and Diones to escort me to the mountain. Their page had called me to the meeting house at sunrise to demand an explanation for why I hadn’t cured the sixteen villagers dying under my care. My patients all had the same disease, the same weeping red boils and fever.

I’d built an astonishing reputation for healing both people and animals. Our leaders claimed my practice was one of the benefits of their regime. As a woman both fatherless and unwed I’d felt too vulnerable to refute this. But then, being the darling of my senators stopped the accusations of witchcraft made against me from ever gaining a foothold.

My obligation to them was never spoken, but they had no trouble presuming it at the morning hearing. Why were those sixteen people, one of whom the niece of Senator Rizee, getting worse by the day? I was making them look bad. I was betraying all the faith they had put in me.

There was a part of me, a small part since their judging eyes and loud voices made me cower, that wanted to spit at them. The bigger part of me was focused on my patients. Why couldn’t I cure those sixteen? I don’t know.

I don’t know.

My tinctures should cure anything. Everything. They always do. Even if I don’t understand it, I can cure it. That’s the gift I was given. Of course, I’d never admit I used magic to our leaders. Who knows when I’ll fall out of favor and have it used against me? I’d answered the only way I could. I’d claimed the god Exinious had cursed us and someone had to go to his fortress and find out why.

Splendid idea, they’d said. You should head out right away.

A nauseating terror had made me feel faint. I was in a trance as Carrus and Diones guided me out here. Once I saw that hideous fortress my quest felt inescapable.

Ashla, Senator Diones said.

I looked at him with the scowl that was meant for Carrus. The younger and infinitely more somber Diones didn’t deserve my anger. He was one of the very few men I found tolerable in the village.

If you don’t start climbing now it will be dark before you reach the fortress.

I drew in a deep breath and then let it out with a slump of my shoulders. He was right. I was being a fool to let Carrus rile me. I thought of my poor patients. They suffered in their illness and not even my powerful potions could ease their pain. I’d let this drag on long enough. Something drastic had to be done. Of course, the Senate foisted the responsibility onto me to do it.

I started up the first slope, letting more dejecting thoughts bombard me. Exinious was notorious for ignoring our pleas for help. I’d heard stories that made my face feel like it had been slapped. He’d told my maternal great grandfather that we were supposed to be his amusement, but had turned out boring and annoying just like the other society he’d made before us who’d died off.

I soldiered on despite the risk of humiliation. My treatment should have cured those people. There’s magic in my bottles, just as real as Exinious’ magic. This disease was unnatural. Even if he was unwilling to render aid, couldn’t he at least tell me what this abomination was?

The shriek of a bird interrupted my doldrums. The sound had been loud enough to reverberate through my skin. I froze while balancing my outstretched hands and feet on the boulder in front of me. The shadow of a giant bird swallowed my entire form. It blotted out the sun for far too long as it passed over me. My heart began to race with terror.

The monster hawk. I remembered a solitary lesson where it was mentioned in school. I reassured myself that if it ate people there would have been more focus on it. While I was thinking this, however, I remained frozen, too terrified to look up.

The thing shrieked again and I realized it was getting closer. Now I huddled down against the boulder and squeezed my eyes closed.

Please, Exinious, I whispered, don’t kill me. They need me…I know you don’t care, but they need me.

I heard a thump and lifted my trembling head slowly to look. On the terrace above me was a tall black cage shaped like a cylinder. There was a seat inside covered in glimmering red fabric. The cage door was open.

I saw the shadow of the giant bird perched on top of the cage. It took every ounce of courage I had to lift my gaze to it. The shiny blue-black feathers were more like a raven’s than a hawk’s. The red glowing eyes, however, weren’t from any bird I’d ever seen. The massive thing was glaring at me. I felt like my heart was beating backwards for a moment. Through my terror I managed to see that the beast was perched on a large metal loop attached to the cage.

So…he’s come to fetch me? I couldn’t imagine the implications, but I had to take this as a good sign. The only trouble was my