Showing results by author "Zaira DuMal" in All Categories

Isaac said I’d been chosen, and I believed him. The Divine revealed itself not in sermons or scripture, but in breath, in bloom, in touch. On the pileus, I shed my shame like a second skin. I was taken. Filled. Worshiped as I worshiped. Every pulse, every binding, every release became a prayer. A knowing. A joining. This is no temple of stone. It is something older. Something alive. Something spreading. He doesn’t speak in words. He doesn’t need to. I feel His will in the tendrils curling through me, in the spores that catch the light when I moan. I belong here. I know that now.

When footage of my husband’s affair went viral, everyone had an opinion within hours. His name was on every platform and media source, and so was mine. Suddenly, my private life became public spectacle, and the world watched as my marriage unraveled in real time.

When my car lost control and careened off the mountain road, I braced myself for a long, frigid night alone in the wilderness, trapped by the storm. Just as despair began to settle in, a stranger emerged, offering refuge. It should have been a quiet wait for morning before a trip down to the nearest town. But as the night went on, I found myself purchased by a power-hungry beast who relished his ability to dominate and claim.

College graduation meant a tropical vacation partying with friends. But when a handsome man led me to an ancient altar high in the mountains, I wound up an immobilized sacrifice to an ancient deity I'd unwittingly awakened.