# Quote — N. K. Jemisin, The Kingdom Of Gods

> “Even our mortal courtesans have been with gods enough to have acquired a certain ethereal technique.” He smiled a salesman’s smile, though it never once touched his eyes.
>
> “That’s what you’re selling. Not sex, but divinity.” I frowned. “Gods, Ahad, at least worship is free.”
>
> “It was never free.” His smile vanished. It hadn’t been real, anyway. “Every mortal who offered a god devotion wanted something in exchange for it—blessings, a guaranteed place in the heavens, status. And every god who demanded worship expected loyalty and more, in exchange. So why shouldn’t we be honest about what we’re doing? At least here, no god lies.”

- Author: [N. K. Jemisin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin.md)
- Book: [The Kingdom Of Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods.md)
- Page: 236
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin#The_Kingdom_of_Gods_(2011)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/even-our-mortal

## More from this book

> Unconditional love: childhood’s greatest magic.

p. 35 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/unconditional-love-childhoods.md)

> Magic is merely communication, after all.
>
> Communication, and conduits.

p. 325 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/magic-is-merely.md)

> I’d come down sick. (I had. It was called adolescence, an evil, evil disease.)

p. 170 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/n-k-jemisin/the-kingdom-of-gods/id-come-down.md)