Page 46 of Sinful

“Nothing else?” I asked, forehead wrinkling. I wanted to see if she’d bring up the night she was taken; admit she was right there when it happened.

She averted her eyes. “No. I was so young,” she murmured, focusing on the shrub in front of her. “It’s hard to remember.”

Liar.

“Are you looking forward to tonight’s lunar ceremony?” she asked, hurriedly changing the subject. “I’m so glad my father invited you.”

I nodded. “I think it’ll be interesting. It’s just a shame I can’t attend the ritual afterwards.”

“I wish you could. But the Tetrad rituals are for Covenant eyes only,” Rose said, smiling beatifically. “Too sacred for outsider observation. Really, you’re very lucky Papa didn’t make you leave Alderwood while it happens.”

“I understand. I wish I could see it, though,” I said, feigning disappointment. “You make it sound incredible.”

In reality, I had no need to feel disappointed, because I’d already figured out the location of the Red Rocks several days ago, so I could sneak down there tonight and watch the third tetrad ritual unbeknownst to the Covenant.

It was easy enough to glean the location in the end. The other day, when I briefly returned to Pinecrest Falls to grab more clothes, I’d gone online and done some quick geology research. I found that red sediments didn’t occur naturally in this part of the country, meaning that any red-colored rocks in the Alderwood area had to have been brought in from other regions. That made sense, because the community had vast trade networks back in the early days, and it also narrowed things down for me considerably, because it meant I would only have to find one reddish-looking patch on the satellite map of the High Peaks Wilderness.

After that, I figured the Red Rocks had to be somewhere close to Alderwood, because everyone in the community attended the eclipse rituals that took place there, and there was no way they’d force children or elderly people to walk for hours. Especially at night. From that, I figured it was probably a twenty-minute walk maximum, so I’d focused on areas just beyond the township on the satellite photos and come across a clearing with several large rocks in the center. It was blurry, but the rocks appeared to have a vague reddish tinge to them, unlike other formations in the area which ranged from pale gray to deep brown or black.

I was almost certain that had to be it, but I’d find out for sure tonight.

Rose glanced up at the sky. “We should go back to town,” she said. “I have to make the pies for tonight’s feast before it gets too late.”

“Do you need help?”

Her gaze dropped to the forest floor. “I’d like that, but people might get suspicious if they see us spending every second together.”

“Ah.” My brows rose, and I took a step closer. “In that case, we’ll see each other again tonight.”

“At the springs?” she said, eyes wide and hopeful.

“I meant at the church, for the lunar ceremony,” I said, chuckling. “But yes, I’ll be at the springs too.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Oh. Of course. The ceremony,” she said. “That reminds me. After the pies are done, I have to go and help with the communion wine.”

I glanced down at her left arm. Though it was covered with the long sleeve of her white dress, I knew exactly what lay beneath it after spending the last seven nights watching her writhe naked in the hot springs. Several thin white scars, along with a few newer purple ones, silently displayed the history of her contributions to the Covenant’s communion wine.

Each celestial virgin had to contribute several drops of blood at least once a month, and they were all overjoyed to do it due to years of conditioning. Rose included.

She hadn’t been embarrassed for me to see the scars. She was proud of them; proud of all the years she’d served the Covenant by letting them mutilate her arm. A few nights ago, I’d asked her if it hurt when they sliced her open each time, often opening old wounds, and she said it did, but she was happy to do it to serve the Entity along with her community.

So unbelievably fucking brainwashed.

I smiled thinly and held out my arm, motioning for her to give me her basket of berries. “I’ll carry it for you.”

She beamed at me, doe eyes wide and innocent. “You’re always so kind.”

I smiled back at her. She wouldn’t be saying that a few weeks from now.

When we returned to town, she headed off to do her duties, and I trudged up to my room in the tavern to work on transcribing my mother’s notes onto my laptop. I didn’t need to do it, because I’d already read the notes a hundred times, but I knew there was a chance Augustus might want to check out what I’d been working on, so I needed to have something to show him so that I had a valid reason to continue my stay.

Surprisingly, though, I hadn’t seen much of him over the last week. He was a busy man, spending most of his time governing the town with his fellow elders or visiting the forbidden cave with the alchemists to work on God knows what.

I still had no idea where that cave was located. I hadn’t had the chance to go off alone and explore the surrounding woods, because the Alderwood villagers were almost always by my side. If I wasn’t hanging out with Rose, another one of them would offer to let me observe them at their job or have lunch or afternoon tea with them at their home.

The only time I was truly alone was when I came up here to the room they’d given me. Clearly, they didn’t want me exploring the place and stumbling upon anything that might make them look bad, so they used the constant company as a friendly mask for their true mission—preventing me from wandering off alone. It was fucking infuriating.

I had gleaned one useful piece of information about the cave, though. Today, in fact. Rose had invited me to check out the secret berry-picking spot she’d discovered years ago, which apparently yielded the sweetest fruits, and on our way there, I’d noticed her purse her lips and shudder when she looked down a certain path that diverged from the one we were on.

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