To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

1

The sky was crying again.

All around me, my world wept. Gray, icy tears caressed my skin, shivering cold in the late-summer heat. With deliberate steps, I passed the Fence that carved my city into halves, guarded by Roman soldiers and their white-knuckled grips on the guns that haunted our nightmares, ready to shoot me down over perceived slights.

I hated these men. Hated their stern, foreign faces and foreign attires from beyond the shimmering portal high in the somber sky that now joined our two realms. A glistening fracture, looming over my broken city like the all-seeing eye of a vengeful God who was not here to love and protect, but to torture.

To inflict unimaginable pain and suffering, as the Romans had for over two decades now.

Every day, I cursed this road, this fence, their loaded guns, and every trace of Rome that marred my world like a permanent stain.

Yet, I still bowed my head for them, still walked this road week after week, under hawk-like gazes, for the drug that killed my sister slowly, but without which she would die fast like a flower cut from the stem. At least with opian, Meiya might live another two, three, or even five years like Father had.

Without it, she might not live through the season.

Some Romans wore disgust and hate clear on their faces. Others wore smirks and lust.

One pursed his lips and let out a sharp whistle that made my spine flinch cold.

Death s magic thrummed quiet under my skin: embers ready to kindle into wildfire the moment I allowed it.

I had no reason to fear these men. Given my powers, I had no reason to fear anyone.

With an arch of my hand, I could dip into Death s realm of stark grays, pluck qi from their bodies until only corpses remained. A constant temptation to take something from them the way they had taken so much from us.

But Grandma had raised me to be cautious. A girl could never be too careful in this age of colonial destruction, where the peace between

Molly X. Chang

With hauntingly poetic prose, Molly X. Chang spins a tale at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy, and the very real devastation that colonialism brings down on colonized peoples. Xiran Jay Zhao, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Iron Widow

This book is a thrilling gut punch, both lavishly magical and devastatingly human. Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of Strange the Dreamer

Readers will be on the edge of their seats wondering what s going to happen next. Adalyn Grace, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Belladonna

A heart-pounding, brilliant debut that shines with pure magic. Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals

An electric collision of science, magic, and a terrifying alternate history, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is the complex romantic fantasy you ve been waiting for. Hannah F. Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf

A fantasy rich with heart and rooted in ancestral memory, a romance that will leave readers on the edge of their seat, a story that will take one s breath away this book is the complete package. Thea Guanzon, New York Times bestselling author of The Hurricane Wars

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is absolutely captivating, with a fierce heroine torn between love and loyalty as two worlds collide with devastating consequences. Emily Thiede, author of This Vicious Grace
 
As ambitious as it is heartfelt, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods cements Molly X. Chang as an explosive new talent in fantasy. I was swept away by this debut and eagerly await her next book. Isabel Cañas, USA Today bestselling author of Vampires of El Norte
 
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is desperate, grasping, breathless, filled with hard choices and characters who seek some measure of peace in an unforgiving land. Intensely riveting character dynamics in a truly unique world make this debut an absolute stunner!