They collect her blood so they can sell it. Usually, demons are killed after two or three attempts. Over the next two months, the Elders kill Deka nine times, which is almost unheard of. Her head reattaches itself to her body and she wakes up again. Elder Durkas announces that Deka is impure as her blood runs gold.ĭeka awakens in prison. Deka’s crush, Ionas, stabs Deka in the stomach. Elfriede asks what is wrong with her eyes. All the deathshrieks stop what they are doing and run off.

When one attempts to kill her father, Deka shouts at it to stop. The monstrous creatures are known to attack girls on the cusp of the Ritual of Purity, but they have never been seen so far north. However, Deka’s mother is from the south, where most of the people have dark skin.ĭeka’s mother died from the red pox three months ago, so she goes to the ceremony with her father. Most of the people there have white skin. Deka lives in Irfut, which is in the north of Otera. Deka is nervous about the ceremony because she deeply believes in her god, Oyomo, and she wants to be pure in his eyes.

The girls whose blood runs gold will be deemed impure and killed. Deka prepares for the Ritual Purity in which Elder Durkas will test all the 16-year-old girls at Temple Oyomo by cutting them and watching to see if their blood runs red or gold. The novel is narrated in the first-person present by Deka, the protagonist. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Forna, Namina.

Book the gilded ones