Page 40 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

Death

Even here, in the kingdom of death itself, dying as an immortal felt like an impossibility.

My only experience with death was the stories my mother gave me.

She told me tales about how mortals are doomed, so everything is more beautiful to them yet more cruel because they live such short lives.

She told me about the villages not far from us where once people died, their bodies would rot if not set aflame, but I had never seen decay until I saw the bones and skeletons of the Underworld.

When a mortal died, prayers were given for their safe passage, a feast in their name.

And yet, although my mother was a Goddess, a guide to stars and maker of prophecies, the creator of dreams, there was no one to attend her last rites, speak kindly of who she was.

She left her immortal Goddess body to become an island, a death in every way that counted to the divine, completely alone.