GigaNotoSaurus, January 2026
In the kingdom of Talam Dor, a thousand years after a king became a god through three deaths, the tradition continues: royals attempt to ascend to godhood by surviving drowning, hanging, and burning. A nameless priestess at a remote priory has been tasked with guiding the king’s eldest daughter through this sacred trial, her own devotion tested alongside the prince’s worthiness.
The priestess, marked by a twisted spine she views as divine punishment, sees this assignment as her path to redemption and elevation among the Dread Mothers who oversee the priory. When the prince arrives—beautiful, proud, and accompanied by only two retainers—the priestess is determined to prove her faith by making a god of this woman.
But the prince proves a poor student. She forgets prayers, questions the gods’ greed, and openly admits she came only out of duty to her father, not devotion. As spring turns to summer, the priestess finds herself drawn to the prince in ways that terrify her. Their lessons move from library to garden, and the prince’s casual touches—a hand at the elbow, fingers grazing—awaken forbidden desires the priestess tries desperately to suppress through prayer and self-harm.
The prince survives her first death by drowning, though she returns changed: cold-skinned, traumatized, and bitter toward the gods she believes do not love her. Instead of resuming their studies, the two women grow closer. The prince eventually confesses her feelings, and despite the priestess’s protests that they cannot offend the gods, they begin a secret relationship built on stolen kisses and whispered longings.
After the prince’s second death by hanging, she returns even more damaged, her voice ruined and her neck permanently scarred. The priestess, once unwavering in her faith, begins to doubt. She no longer loves the gods who demand such suffering, yet she continues the rituals, hoping her devotion alone might save the prince.
As winter approaches and the final death looms, the prince and priestess consummate their love. The prince declares that if love makes a god, then the priestess has already deified her. The priestess, once certain of divine favor, now questions everything she believed about worthiness, sin, and the gods’ true nature.
On the longest night of the year, the priestess wakes paralyzed—her body failing as punishment or test. She forces herself to the courtyard where the prince’s pyre already burns. Watching the prince die a third time, the priestess has a revelation: the old stories were wrong. It wasn’t the king’s devotion to the gods that made him divine, but the devotion of those who loved him—his faithful knight and gentle wife who followed him into the flames.
The priestess climbs the burning pyre, embracing the charred body of her beloved. She whispers not prayers to the cruel gods, but words of love, declaring that her devotion will make a god of the prince. The prince’s eyes open, sweetest blue, as moonlight mingles with flames—a new god born not from divine favor, but from human love.
M.R. Robinson is a scholar of Renaissance literature. . .but when she isn’t thinking about sonnets, she’s probably writing or reading speculative fiction. A graduate of Viable Paradise and Clarion West, her work has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Haven Spec, and We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2024, among other publications. She’s also one of the co-founders of OTHERSIDE, a magazine of speculative fiction by queer authors. In her free time, she can be found slowly restoring the crumbly old house she shares with her wife, two high-strung dogs, and too many books to count. You can keep up with her on most social media platforms as @mruthrobinson (these days she’s mostly active on Bluesky) or at m-r-robinson.com.