“But, Cain—”
“I said leave us!” I shouted, as I glanced behind to meet my brother’s eyes. His jaw clenched as he stared me down, but he turned and left the mill, taking the child and the men with him.
When they had gone, I ran my hands through my hair. What had he been thinking? Sending that child in—a child he had been taking sexually—into the Hangmen's compound to retrieve the Cursed. We were not strong enough. And Styx would bring all of Hades’ fury on the commune when he realized she was gone. All three were here, and it would not take long for the Prez to work out where they had been taken. I was to get her, in time. But not yet.
Not fucking yet!
“Cain?” The soft sound of Mae’s shaking voice stopped me dead, and exhaling, I turned to see Mae looking up at me. Her sisters' hands were gripping hers, but she released them to get to her feet.
“Mae, no!” the blond one called out. And when I looked down at her, my stomach rolled. Her long hair had been cut off, and with her head looking up, I could see a long scar running down her cheek.
But then Mae was suddenly before me and my heart clenched in my chest. She took all of my attention. Her hand lifted to tuck her long hair behind her ear. Then those blue eyes looked up at me and I was frozen to the spot.
“What… what are you going to do with us?” she asked. I could see that she was terrified. Her voice was shaking… all of her was shaking. “Are we to be killed? Are we to be taken back to the commune and tried?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but it was Mae. It was Mae before me.
She swallowed then begged, “Please… please let us go. Do not hurt us.”
My heart pumped loudly, when Mae’s hands landed on her torso and ran down until they lay on her stomach. Her eyes dipped, and when they lifted, they were brimming with tears. I could not believe how beautiful she still was, and how my stomach still tightened when she was close. But my eyes kept running back to her hands, placed carefully over her stomach.
Then I noticed the ring. Feeling like I had been punched, I asked, “You’re married? You married Styx?”
Mae’s eyes winced as I mentioned her man, then she shook her head. “Not yet,” she said fearfully, her eyes flinching at my tone. “But one day we will be. For now we are content to be engaged.” Mae pointed behind her to Lilah. “But Lilah is married to Ky. And Maddie…” Mae pointed over her other shoulder, “she now belongs to Flame.”
My eyes widened as I looked at Mae’s tiny sister. She was now with Flame? Flame...? Flame who would be coming straight for us when he found out she had gone. Flame who would fucking slaughter us all.
Mae looked back at me, but this time I could see disbelief in her stare. I could see her fear. I could see the bravado of strength in front of her sisters, but she pushed through to say, “I always believed in you, Rider.” She shook her head as she spoke that name. “I mean, Cain.” She quickly corrected herself.
“I knew you were destined to be the Prophet. But I always believed you were a good man, deep down.” Mae glanced behind her at Delilah whose blue eyes seemed to be staring off at nothing, as though she was paralyzed by fear. “Even when your men came for me and mistakenly took Lilah, she told me that you begged her to confess her sins. She told me that she knew you were trying to save her. That it was the other men in your confidence that hurt and defiled her.”
Delilah whimpered behind Mae at this revelation. My blood cooled to ice water.
“But sending in a young girl. A young innocent girl, so under the control of The Order, to our home, a girl who killed an innocent to bring us here, to you… well, that is nothing like the Rider I once knew.”
“Mae,” I uttered, and went to reach forward. But her hands gripped onto her stomach tighter. “Why are you holding your stomach like that?” I snapped.
Mae inhaled, and straightening her shoulders, said, “I cannot marry you, Cain. I am not pure like the scripture proclaims I need to be.” She swallowed, and fighting back tears said, “I am pregnant. I am pregnant with Styx’s baby.”
Delilah and Magdalene gasped from behind Mae, but all I felt was a blow to my stomach. My lungs seized, but my eyes could not look away from Mae’s hands on her stomach.
A sob came from Mae’s mouth, and she said, “And he does not even know. I only just found out and I have yet to tell him.” Her blue eyes filled with tears, which then ran down her face. “And now we have been taken. I am with child. I am finally happy in my life, and now we have been taken and given to you!” Mae shook her head and said, “When will this stop? When will you all realize in that commune that we do not belong to you! We are not part of that faith. We have left. We have left and have no desire to ever return! And when will you realize I am not destined to be the prophet’s wife!”
“No,” I shook my head, and stepped backwards. “You are meant to be mine. The scripture says so!”
Mae stared at me in absolute disbelief, and whispered, “No, Cain. I am Styx’s. I have always been and will always be Styx’s. The prophecy was not for me. I am not the one you must marry. Nor Lilah, nor Maddie. Can you not see that? Can you not finally see that we do not belong to you! We are not special. We are no different to any other woman on this planet. It was a senile old man that proclaimed something out of the blue. Something purely based on our looks. God did not pick us out. He did not pick any of us out!”