Remembered by Hazel Hunter

are here as my sacrifice,” Galia choked out.
    “It was meant to be,” Strayke said. “From the moment I saw you, I think I knew.”
    “Oh gods,” she whispered, throwing her arms around him.
    She didn’t know whether to beg his forgiveness, or damn him for coming back. In the end, she only clung to him and wept. He held her tenderly against his armor and gently stroked her back, until finally the tears slowed and ended. As he took her hand and they faced the bleak corridor together, Galia found she also had a deep truth that she knew: she could not give him to the Goddess because she could not lose him again.
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    T hey traveled downward until the ground finally leveled. The passage ahead of them ended in a great double door. It was wood bound with iron, and along the bands glinted rows of precious sapphires. They winked in the dim light like eyes. For a moment, Galia paused. Then she took a deep breath and dropped Strayke’s hand.
    “I love you,” Galia said, and approached the door.
    The door opened at her touch, and she understood how the Oracle had opened the trapdoor above. The lights in the new chamber were red instead of blue. They ringed the vast and open space. At the rear of the giant cavern was an enormous statue of the Goddess, but she was faceless. Galia shuddered as she gazed on it. She was in the presence of the divine. Strayke inhaled sharply, apparently feeling it as well. At the feet of the statue was a low stone table. That was their destination.
    When they drew closer, Galia could see that the table held one object: an ancient, stone knife. Roughed out of a single piece of stone, the edges were wavy and looked painfully sharp. A bone handle was lashed to one end with leather cords. Though Galia halted in front of the table, Strayke fell to his knees. She’d been about to stare at him, when a voice reverberated in her head.
    Welcome, daughter.
    “I greet you, Great One,” she murmured, gazing up. “I am here to be initiated in the mysteries.”
    Woman of power, you have come to stand in my shadow.
    “I have,” Galia said.
    The words of the Goddess thrummed through her skull. She could feel her there in her bones. This was what the Oracle felt every day, she realized.
    I bid you welcome. You will drink from my waters. You will rise among my stars. You will lead my city. You will crush my enemies.
    The last made Galia flinch, but she nodded.
    “I submit myself to you, Great One,” she whispered. “Do with me what you will.”
    The moment she said those words, she could feel a deep and overpowering sensation of strength rush through her. It was exploring her, knowing her, understanding her as a vessel, and then it filled her. Though Galia was grateful that she was still herself, she was herself with the strength of the Goddess. But something else was there as well: a longing so deep that it rocked her. She turned to Strayke.
    “I love you,” she whispered. “I need you.”
    As if unseen chains had been unlocked, Strayke stood in a daze. With painstaking care, he removed each piece of his armor and clothing. At her nod, he reached for her clothes as well. Despite his size and strength, there was something profoundly gentle about his touch, and the way he pulled the fabric aside. Though she stood naked in front of him, she knew the power was all hers.
    The Goddess in her whispered of blood, power, and pleasure, the thoughts irresistible and twisted together.
    You are a virgin!
    Galia almost laugh out loud. After everything she and Mina had done, it was hardly the word she’d use. But it was true that she’d never been with a man. But Strayke wasn’t just any man. She had connected to him the moment their eyes had met.
    She led him to the stone table. As he stood and watched, she traced her fingertips up and down his bare body. She ruffled her fingers through the hair on his chest. She swept her hands along his shoulders and stroked his jugular. When she brushed