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My pulse began to race again. “Have you told my father about this?” I asked, my eyes wide.

“Not yet. It’s a topic we might need to wait a while to broach.”

“Oh. Okay.” I didn’t quite understand why, but I trusted Mason’s judgment. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Are you going to go back out to the Wastelands?” I lowered my eyes as I spoke. “Lots of men go out there to explore. Sometimes for weeks. But I…” I stopped halfway through my sentence, too nervous to say: ‘I would miss you if you left, even for a few days’.

Mason smiled. “I’m not going out there to explore anytime soon. I’d rather spend every minute I can down here with you.”

My stomach flipped. “Oh. I’m glad,” I murmured, dropping my eyes from his face. I was too embarrassed to look at him. “Can I ask something else?”

“You can ask me anything, baby girl.”

“You were saying earlier that my father might misinterpret his visions, because all the prophets where you come from say different things. But how do you know they aren’t completely wrong? What if they get their information from the Devil, and he’s only masquerading as God in order to trick them into believing the wrong things?”

Mason gently tapped me on the nose. “I could ask you the same thing. What if your father has been getting all his information from the wrong source—the Devil—and he only thinks it’s God?”

I sat bolt upright. Oh, Lord. All this time and it hadn't even occurred to me that the Devil might have told my father he was the divine Prophet in order to trick him into spreading lies. The things in the book he’d written could be wrong.

It could all be wrong.

I stared down at Mason, my heart racing. “How do I know who to believe?” I asked. “How do I know you weren’t sent by the Devil to trick me?”

Mason reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “You have to rely on your gut instinct,” he murmured. “Figure out what it’s trying to tell you and make up your mind from that.”

I thought about it for a moment; an achingly long moment, fraught with tension. Then I shocked myself. I leaned down and kissed him.

My body instantly felt as if it had caught fire. Mason tugged me closer, his mouth hot and demanding on mine as he responded to the sudden kiss. I felt his passion everywhere, flooding all throughout my body. Keeping me warm. Keeping me safe.

I broke away. My forehead was sticky with a sheen of perspiration and my skin was prickling with goosebumps. “I think I made up my mind,” I whispered.

Mason grinned. “I can see that.”

He stroked one hand over my right side. Every fiber of my body screamed in ecstasy and shivered with bliss.

I wanted to blame him for my sins. Wanted to think he was testing me, or even sent by the Devil. But in the end, I knew it was all on me. I was tired of always trying to be good. I wanted to be bad, and I wanted to do it with Mason.

The God I’d been raised with would probably know, but would He really care? I only had my father’s word to go by, and I wasn’t sure how accurate that was anymore.

“I want to do what we talked about earlier today,” I said hurriedly. “The thing I said I couldn’t do.”

“Are you sure?” Mason asked, fingertips stroking slightly lower.

“Yes,” I said firmly. Then I kissed him again.

This time, it was harder. Deeper. With a growl, Mason rolled us both over so he was on top of me, his weight settled between my legs. Our hands tore at each other’s clothing until we were both naked and breathing heavily.

“Do it,” I begged. “Now. Please show me what it’s like.”

Mason’s eyes glimmered with lust. “Not yet. Let me show you something first.”

With that, he moved himself down the bed. His head was between my legs now, kissing and nipping at my inner thighs. I gasped, then put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from crying out. The thing he was about to do… I’d read about it in my secret book, but I’d never heard of a man at New Eden doing it. I was certain it would be considered a sinful act by my father and the Elders, though. They might deem it punishable by removal of the tongue.

In doing it, Mason showed me just how much he was risking. If we were caught, I wouldn’t be the only one punished. It would be both of us.

Partners.

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