Page 33 of Sinful

“Warn me of what?”

“My history. So you’d know I was coming, but you’d also know that I’m no angel.”

In truth, I’d revealed myself to her at the Alderwood boundary fence one day four years ago, face painted up to look like a terrifying specter in the way I’d learned in the society. I’d mostly done it to scare her, and I didn’t realize just how much it would affect her. But clearly, she’d taken the encounter to heart and absorbed it into her personal lore, thinking of me constantly, dreaming of me, and even painting me.

That served me well, though. With her belief that the so-called Entity had sent me to her in a vision, she would be much easier to seduce.

She nodded slowly. “Perhaps that is the case. Sometimes it is difficult to divine the Entity’s intentions.”

“Or maybe I really am a dark spirit after all,” I said, flashing her a wicked grin.

Rose laughed. “I know you’re not a dark spirit, Sebastian Thorne.”

“Oh, yeah?” I raised a brow. “How?”

She jumped up to stand in front of me, one hand on her hip and the other motioning to the water behind her. “If you were, you would have weakened and faded away by now. The water would have carried away all those dark fragments until nothing remained.”

“Ah. I see.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You find my beliefs stupid, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes.”

“Not stupid,” I said, shaking my head. “Just… new. I’ve never met anyone like you, Rose.”

That was actually true. I’d never met a woman even remotely like her.

“Oh.” Her face softened, and she sat back on the log, seemingly mollified.

“Maybe you can teach me about your beliefs,” I went on. “That’s what you do, right? Teach?”

“Yes. But I teach children. You’re a man.”

“A good teacher can teach anyone. And I have a feeling you’re a very good teacher.”

She looked down at her lap. “Thank you, Sebastian,” she murmured. “You are far too kind.”

“Did you go to university to learn teaching?” I asked, cocking my head. “Or did you get a qualification some other way?”

Rose straightened her shoulders. “I learned right here. Women cannot attend outside universities.”

“Wait…” My brows furrowed. “I thought this was an equal community.”

The tip of her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “It’s more that everyone is considered fully human under the Entity’s eyes, and everyone receives equal provision in terms of food and other resources. But in some ways, we aren’t equal. Women have an elevated status.”

“You mean themenhave an elevated status?”

She shook her head. “No. The women. We are more important than men in certain ways. Therefore, we are less… disposable, as awful as that sounds.”

“Go on.”

“We all have different roles in the community, obviously, but most women also have one of two other crucial roles. Life-bringers—those who carry and give birth to the next generation—and celestial virgins like me, who are essential for certain rituals that aid in keeping the Darkness at bay. Men cannot do either of these things.”

“That doesn’t explain why they’re allowed to leave Alderwood for a degree while women aren’t.”

“Yes, it does,” she insisted. “The outside world can be very hard and dangerous. It is too risky to allow someone as important as a woman to go out there. But we need to do business with outsiders on occasion, and we also need to have healers and other such professionals in our midst, and for that we must sendsomeoneout to the world. So we send the men.”

“To be honest, Rose, that doesn’t make much sense to me.”

“It doesn’t have to,” she said. “We come from very different worlds. Certain things won’t make sense to the other.”

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