In the Shadow of the Goddess (Book 1 of The Fallen Gods Trilogy)

CHAPTER ONE

On a Sunday afternoon, sitting in the passenger seat of a car driven too fast, while frantically clutching the door handle, Jill Logan had a revelation she suspected was supposed to change her life.

I hate him, she decided, six months after the fact. I hate the man I'm going to marry.

She looked at the driver again, just to be certain. Dark hair and eyes, perfect profile, a body he cared for as if it really were a temple: Ross was supposed to be everything she wanted. Grandfather had told her as much, as if the position of her husband was a job to be applied for. He would take care of her, Grandfather said. He had a "pulled up by his bootstraps" mentality Grandfather clearly adored. Some day they would have beautiful children together. Yet...

I really do hate him. I wonder when that happened.

The revelation should have changed everything. However, Jill had endured many revelations and compared to others, this passed like the beating of butterfly wings.

Ross looked away from the road, sparing her a glance. She caught her reflection in his mirrored sunglasses. I look like a frightened kitten that's been kicked too many times.

His lips quirked in a smile. "At least let go of the door handle. You look like you're about to tear it off."

"Oh right." She forced her hands into her lap. "Don't you think you're driving too fast? The road's pretty narrow."

"It's a Porsche, babe. To not drive fast would be illegal."

She thought her hate might ebb then. After all, it was so rare he joked with her now. And that smile...It used to leaving her agreeing to his every suggestion.

The smile faded as he cursed and swerved to miss a tractor puttering along the road side. Without checking for oncoming traffic, he gunned the Porsche's accelerator. "If that thing chips my paint job, I'm suing."

He then made a point of memorizing the tractor's plate number. Jill winced, pitying the poor farmer who would probably be contacted by Ross's lawyer tomorrow.

"Do you know what really bothers me about this whole fiasco?" Ross continued from where he'd left off earlier. "It's not that you bought land. It's what you bought. I thought you had more sense."

Well, I can't defend myself against that. I thought I had more sense too.

She turned from Ross's profile and the cheekbones she once sighed over to stare out the tinted window. Why had she asked him to come with her? Today's trip would have been handled better by herself. Ross would only ruin this moment the way he did everything else.

As the Porsche sped along, the trees blurred into a solid wall of autumn color. She let her eyes lose focus to catch recurring patterns in the foliage. A cascading swell of branches here. A repeating swirl of red there. The unending color let her pretend she was alone in the world.

So, it came as an abrupt surprise when she saw the woman standing on the side of the road in the midst of it all.

Time slowed yet the Porsche speed on. Jill could not look away. A woman. Tall, wearing a black cloak. No, not a cloak. Hair. Her hair covered her like a shroud and brushed the grass under her bare feet. And her eyes...To call them green could not be enough. They pierced, shining like tiny captive stars. Jill felt as though she had been sliced open, her insides left to slither out helplessly.

I know her from somewhere, Jill realized, even as the woman faded back into the trees. Impossible, yet...I think she knows me too.