I just released Riwenne & the Ethereal Apparatus (Divine Warriors #5), but the series isn’t finished yet. Now I’m working on the final book, Riwenne & the God-Killing Machine. You can read a sample below or find the entire first chapter available for free on my Patreon. Things are about to get even more hectic for our heroine, Riwenne–but watch out for spoilers! You might not want to read if you’re not caught up on all five books.

Sleepless Night

I couldn’t sleep.

It should have been easy. I was lying in my warm, comfortable bed with my girlfriend curled up beside me. We were both full of food that we were fortunate to have in plenty, and we were exhausted from another long day of training. I was lucky to have everything I needed and more. So many people were suffering right now–and I couldn’t help them if I didn’t get any rest.

But I kept staring at Kyra as she slept. Watching for any sign that she was dreaming. If her eyes moved beneath her eyelids, if her breathing sped up, if she twitched or cried out in her sleep. Even if she didn’t remember when she woke up, she had to dream sometime.

Tika had told me that most people over fifteen couldn’t dream. The priestesses had stolen a piece of their soul, the part that let them receive visions of the gods, who could visit in dreams. Kyra had lost that part of her soul. It still seemed impossible to me that something should be missing. Everyone had been able to dream once. Couldn’t she get it back?

When I summoned my magic and concentrated, then I could see the light of magic that flowed through her. Kyra’s soul glowed brighter than most people. Her soul was tied to her God, Xiso, but she had a power of her own, too. Before I knew anything about magic, I think I could still sense the light in her. It had drawn me to her the first day we met.

Or maybe she was just that beautiful. Her long, dark hair, her porcelain skin, the curve of her lips–everything about her still took my breath away. I couldn’t believe that she was truly here in my arms, choosing to be with me. If she wasn’t so deeply asleep, I would have kissed her on the mouth, or maybe that sensitive spot on her neck that made her squirm…

But my magic showed me something else, too. Her life force was fading, just a little every day. Hopefully, she still had decades ahead of her, but she was dying. Every mortal thing around me was decaying, slowly but surely, and I had to watch them slipping away.

This was my gift from my goddess, the goddess of death. Quilla. She had brought me back from death once and helped me save countless others. Even she couldn’t stop the march of time. Sooner or later, we would all die in the natural course. Someday, I would lose everyone, and I would die, too. Our souls would move on, letting our energy feed back into the universe which it came from.

If our enemies didn’t give us a more violent end first.

So why couldn’t she have just one dream? Not a vision of the gods. Just a weird little scene to give her a break from the real world. A dream where she could fly without an airship, or pretend to be someone else, or eat an enormous fruit tart.