Disengaging himself from Sera, Kyle laughed. “You’re adorable.”
Her eyes flashed. “Call me adorable one more time.”
Kyle smirked and turned back to Sera. “It’s going to be okay,” he told her. “Trust me. You know how I know?”
“How?”
“Because I,”—he smacked his chest—“am an Azura Lord.”
“You keep saying that,” Sera said drily.
“Seriously, though, you’re Serjana Caelum, goddess divine and the best friend anyone could ever ask for. Illysia is lucky to have you. Don’t forget that.”
“He’s right, you know,” a voice said.
Dev strode toward them, and Sera felt her heart scatter as it always did at the sight of him in mortal form. He was dressed in his customary yellow with a pair of dark jeans. His shirt cuffs were rolled up to his elbows, exposing intricate blue tattoos that glinted in the sunlight on his muscular forearms.
“Hello, meri jaan,” he said, kissing her temple and making butterflies go wild in her belly.
They both watched as Kyle got into his car, and Sera couldn’t help laughing at Kira’s complaint. “We seriously need to get you some new wheels. This is an embarrassment.”
“This is vintage,” Kyle shot back.
Dev grinned at Sera. “They’re taking bets in Illysia, you know.”
“On what?”
“Who’ll murder the other first.”
Sera giggled, looping her arms around his neck. She’d say the odds were pretty even. Then again, maybe it would be a match made in heaven.
Like hers.
The boy who held her heart stared down at her, his eyes shining with a love that had weathered the test of time and would endure whatever was to come. Dev held her close as the world around them started to spin and disappear in a haze of blinding light. “Are you ready?” he whispered.
She pressed her lips to his. “Yes.”
PAVAMANA MANTRA
asato mã sad gamaya,
tamaso mã jyotir gamaya,
mṛtyor mã amṛtaṃ gamaya
Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from the darkness to the light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Although Dark Goddess is a work of fiction, my inspiration for the characters and the world-building this novel is based on Hindu mythology. My father is a second generation Brahmin (priest class in traditional Hindu society), so Indian mythology was an integral part of my childhood. Fascinated by stories and legends of various Hindu gods who incarnated as avatars to avert human tragedy, I wanted to write a story that encompassed some of the Hindu mythology elements that I enjoyed as a child. This series started out with Alpha Goddess and continues here. Here are a few interesting tidbits about some of the themes/characters appearing in this novel.
HINDU PHILOSOPHY: Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions and is also one of the most diverse. It is based on an incredibly large variety of different traditions. The core of Hinduism is the belief in Brahman, the underlying universal life force that embodies existence. Hindus recognize Brahman as the single Supreme Being, and all other gods and goddesses are lower manifestations of that one Supreme Being. Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion and is known as one of the most tolerant religious faiths because of the diverse nature of its teachings.
REINCARNATION: The notions of reincarnation and karma are integral to Hindu philosophy. Hindu mythology defines fourteen worlds with seven higher worlds (heavens) and seven lower ones (hells). The earth is considered the lowest of the seven higher worlds. According to Hindu scriptures, man is trapped in a karmic cycle of death and reincarnation (samsara) until final unification with Brahman, so the ultimate goal of living is liberation (moksha) from this cycle of death and rebirth, and reuniting with the one Supreme Being. Reincarnation is rooted in karma, where a person’s actions in one life will determine their fate in future lives.
DEVA & ASURA: Hindu texts and scriptures reference celestial creatures called Devas, which literally means the “shining ones” and loosely translates to “heavenly beings.” In the scriptures, the opposite of the Devas are the Asura, power-seeking deities who are considered to be demonic or sinful in nature. They are both an important part of Hindu culture and appear in mythological scriptures, art, and poetry. I use Daevas and Azura in my fictional world, but their functions are essentially similar.
AVATARA: Hindu scriptures talk about the manifestation of a god or goddess into mortal form to avert human tragedy or to guide humanity. This incarnation is called an avatar. You’ll see many of them in Alpha Goddess and Dark Goddess.
TRIMURTI: There are hundreds of gods and goddesses in Hinduism. However, at the top are the Trimurti, which is comprised of Shiva, the destroyer, Vishnu, the protector, and Brahma, the creator, as well as their consorts (the Tridevi), Parvati, the goddess of power and courage, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, and Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and learning. In Dark Goddess, Sera is a mortal incarnation of Lakshmi while Kira and Darika are human avatars of Durga and Kali, who are goddess incarnations of Parvati.
DURGA: Beautiful and meditative, Durga is the warrior goddess who is a form of the goddess Parvati and consort to the Hindu god Shiva. Her three eyes represent the moon, the sun, and eternal knowledge. Durga was created by the gods as an embodiment of their collective energy to fight a terrible buffalo demon. Representing the demon-fighting side of Parvati, Durga is mostly seen in her eight- or ten-armed form, dressed in red and riding a tiger or a lion, with weapons bestowed upon her by each of the gods.
KALI: Kali is the three-eyed goddess of death, time, and destruction, although she is worshipped for her creative and nurturing aspects in many parts of India, and is seen as an embodiment of shakti or divine feminine power. In some stories, it is said that Kali manifested out of Durga’s third eye in a burst of anger in the heat of battle. Kali is most represented as being black in color, wearing a garland of skulls as a necklace and a skirt of human arms, with a protruding red tongue and a tangle of wild black hair. The black color of her skin represents her transcendental nature.
KALIYUGA: The KaliYuga in Hinduism is known as the “age of vice” and is the last of the four eras that the world goes through based on Indian scriptures. The KaliYuga is referred to as the darkest age of man, because according to the scriptures, sin is rampant and man is uninterested in spiritual pursuits or closeness to god. The KaliYuga is also associated with the apocalypse Kali demon (unrelated to the goddess Kali).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Returning to the world of Alpha Goddess to write this sequel has been wonderful, challenging, and illuminating. Writing an #OwnVoices story is not only an exercise in stepping outside your comfort zone, it can also be a lesson in humility—that you may not know everything or that your experience may be singular. After the release of Alpha Goddess, I learned tremendous amounts about the Indian diaspora and my own tiny place within it. I’m so happy to share this story with you, dear reader. Thank you for reading!
As with the publication of any book, I am grateful to many people.
First of all, thank you to Julie Matysik, who bought the series, including Alpha Goddess and Dark Goddess, and allowed me to share both of these stories with the world. To my outstanding Sky Pony editors, Alison Weiss and Rachel Stark, whose comments and insights during revisions made this manuscript really come alive—thank you so much, you ladies nailed it! Thank you, thank you, thank you! To the wonderful agent who sold this book, Liza Fleissig of the Liza Royce Agency, thank you for all you’ve done for me professionally and for your continued friendship. To my writing partner and friend, Angie Frazier, who keeps me off the ledge daily and who makes me laugh, being an author would suck without you. Thanks for being such a superstar. To all the readers, bloggers, reviewers, booksellers, librarians, and educators who spread the word about my books and humble me with your unwavering support, a massive th
ank you. I’d like to sincerely thank those who make the extra effort to support #OwnVoices stories and narratives that are different. Our stories would not make it to publication without you. Thank you to my father, Pundit Gyanendra Gosine, for his guidance and patient teachings on Hindu mythology for earlier drafts, and to my mother, Nazroon Ramsey, for her love and support. Most importantly, to my family—Cameron, my husband, who never lets me give up and stands by me every step of the way cheering me on to the finish line, and to my beautiful children, Connor, Noah, and Olivia—you are everything in this life and beyond. Thank you.
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