Page 34 of Sacrifice

“Yes. Once the technology was learned by our healers, we incorporated it into the fertility rituals that we already had in place. Each chosen couple is taken into the private hut and given a ceremonial drink to imbibe. The woman’s drink contains a natural sedative that stops any discomfort as the embryo is placed via catheter by the healer, and the couple is told the process is all part of the ceremony. Afterwards, they go outside and consummate their union in front of everyone. That way, it seems as if the resulting baby was conceived from that exact sexual encounter between the husband and wife, when really, it came from an embryo that belonged to neither of them, genetically speaking,” he said. “The Thornes told us that sex and other physical activities shouldn’t be carried out directly after IVF embryo implantation, because it can affect the implantation and stop it from happening, but we have to take the risk, unfortunately.”

“Otherwise everyone would start to suspect the truth—that the babies here aren’t really being conceived from sex,” I finished for him, eyes narrowed. “Jesus. You really have it all planned out, don’t you?”

“As I already stated, it’s for the greater good of our people,” Augustus said smoothly.

I clenched my jaw and swallowed thickly. “My mother tried to access the IVF archives in my father’s hospital back in 2004. Just before she died,” I said. “This is why, isn’t it? She saw a hell of a lot more than just mushrooms in that cave.”

“Yes. Like I said earlier—she saw how we kept our community running, in more ways than one. The mushroomsandthe frozen embryos.”

“Wait…” Rose tipped her head slightly to one side. Her eyes were wider than I’d ever seen them. “Am I your real daughter, Papa?”

“Of course you are.”

She shook her head. “No, I mean... I know you’re my father, and I know that Mama carried me in her belly, but am I biologically related to either of you? Or am I one of these stolen embryos?”

“You were conceived naturally by your mother and me,” Augustus said. “Even if you weren’t, you would still be our real daughter.”

Twin flames of anger and doubt ignited in Rose’s eyes. “Are you lying?” she asked sharply, folding her arms.

“No. Not every baby here is conceived via IVF. Only enough to maintain some variance in our gene pool.”

I lifted my hand. “Hold on. What the fuck does all this have to do with my father? Apart from the fact that he presumably knows about this IVF shit.”

Augustus let out a heavy sigh. “When I found out that your mother had been in the forbidden cave, I knew she would eventually realize the Thorne family’s connection to us and the whole scheme. Then she’d undoubtedly confront Adam over it all. And then…” He trailed off and cleared his throat. “I knew she was in danger.”

“Why?”

He shook his head, gaze focused somewhere in the distance behind us, as if he were staring into the past. “She was so sure she knew him. That he was a nice family man, apart from his slightly controlling tendencies. She never would’ve dreamed that he’d hurt her. But I knew better. I knew she wouldn’t remain unscathed if she confronted him over this issue. He’s a dangerous man. Always has been.”

I narrowed my eyes, not believing a word he said about my father. He was obviously just trying to shift the blame regarding my mother’s murder so that his daughter wouldn’t hate him.

“You really think you know my father better than his own wife knew him?” I said scornfully.

“Yes,” he replied, looking directly into my eyes. “You’ll recall that I went to university with him and shared a dorm with him. Also, even before that time, his family was long acquainted with mine due to the business relationship we shared. So I knew him very well. I knew all about his hair-trigger temper. The way he would suddenly snap when something didn’t go his way.”

I opened my mouth to reply and promptly snapped it shut again as several recent memories floated into my mind. I hated to admit it, but Augustus was right. My daddidhave a hair-trigger temper.

He’d be fine one second, and then he’d suddenly lose his cool and explode a second later. Like the incident several weeks ago, for example, when I’d told him that I still planned on going to Alderwood against his wishes, and he suddenly snapped and slammed his hand down on the table so hard that I was surprised it didn’t splinter. I’d barely even reacted to the sudden outburst at the time, because he’d been doing shit like that all my life.

He always apologized for his outbursts immediately afterwards, and I’d never once seen him resort to violence during one of them… but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable.

Still, it didn’t mean he was guilty of fuckingmurder. Everyone lost their cool once in a while.

“Like I said before, I knew Miranda was going to tell Adam everything,” Augustus continued. “I knew she’d tell him what she’d seen in the cave, and that she’d figured out his family’s involvement in the scheme. I knew she’d probably also threaten to go to the authorities about it. She’d probably tell him about our affair, too. Everything was going to come out.Everything.Because of that, I knew how much danger she was in. I knew Adam would never let her destroy his family’s reputation and livelihood. I knew he’d rather kill her than allow her to blow up his life like that.”

Rose’s eyes darted between me and her father. “So… you tried to stop her?”

“Yes. Jean-Pierre and I went to the vacation house in Pinecrest Falls to tell her she wasn’t safe anymore. She’d told us where the house was many times before, so we knew exactly where to go. Then—”

“Shut the fuck up!” I spat out. “I wastherethat night! I remember what happened. You weren’t trying to help her escape my dad’s wrath. You and Jean-Pierre fuckingabductedher. I saw him tie her up after you told him to grab her!”

“I understand what it must’ve looked like at the time, especially to an eight-year-old boy,” Augustus said softly. “But we were desperate to help her, and we knew we might not have much time. We only tied her up like that because she was struggling so much and refusing to come with us. But we didn’t want to hurt her. I swear on the Entity.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s the truth. We just wanted to help her. But after we got her into the car, we started to realize that it might already be too late. She told us she’d told Adam everything just a few hours before. Everything she knew, and everything about the affair with me as well. She also told him that she wanted to take some time away from him to think things through before she decided what she was going to do about it all,” he said. “We knew then that we were right—she was in imminent danger. Terrible, terrible danger. We intended to take her to a safe place on a vacant property outside of town, well away from Alderwood, because we knew Alderwood would be one of the first places he went to look for her if he couldn’t find her at the vacation house.”

My mind whirled through recent memories all over again, and my father’s words during his most recent explosive temper tantrum flashed in front of me like neon lights.

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