Page 61 of Sacrifice

19

Sebastian

I jolted awake,body stiff and cold against an unforgiving stone surface. I blinked slowly and tried to move, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t see properly, either. The world around me was a blur, shapes and colors blending into each other, and my head was pounding like crazy, a relentless throb that made it almost impossible to think.

Where the fuck was I? And where was Rose?

I grunted and tried to move again, but my arms wouldn’t respond. Something rough was biting into my wrists, holding me in place. Panic stirred in my chest, but my body felt sluggish, disconnected, like I was trapped in a dream. I could hear voices, but they sounded far away, like they were muffled by a wall of fog.

I blinked again, trying to clear the haze from my mind. Slowly, the world sharpened into focus. There were bright flames from a roaring bonfire and tall burning torches, and there were also… people. Familiar people. So many of them—probably the entire Alderwood community—gathered in a crowd in the massive clearing around us.

None of them appeared to have noticed that I was awake yet. Some of them were chanting and clapping, their faces lit by the flickering flames of countless torches, while others were swaying to the rhythm of the chants and waving twig-and-bone talismans in the air, their smiles wide and eyes gleaming with excitement.

The air in the clearing was thick with the scent of smoke and damp earth, and when I looked up, I saw the final Tetrad blood moon, hanging ominously in the sky like a glowing wound, casting a slight reddish hue over everything.

Jesus.It was like something out of a fucking horror movie.

I swallowed hard, trying to focus, but nothing about this situation made sense. The Alderwood crowd, the blood moon, the ritualistic chanting… how the hell was this happening? Didn’t Rose and I leave this place two days ago so we could avoid this shit? Or did I dream all of that?

I shifted my legs on the hard surface beneath me. It wasn’t until I tried to move my arms again that I realized I wasn’t alone.Rose. I could feel her tied to me, back-to-back. She wasn’t moving.

My heart lurched in my chest. “Rose?” I said, my voice coming out hoarse. “Rose, are you okay?”

She didn’t respond right away, and for a moment, the panic inside me surged higher. Then I finally felt her stir against me. She was awake, at least. That was something.

“Rose,” I said, shifting my weight to make her stir again. “Baby. Wake up.”

While I waited for her to respond, I turned my face toward the gathered crowd again. I spotted Augustus and the other elders standing in a neat row by the central bonfire, their crimson-robed figures clutching silver chalices. Their mouths were moving in low, rhythmic chants.

I heard a sharp intake of breath a moment later, followed by Rose’s voice. “Oh, no,” she said. “No, no,no.”

“Baby, it’s okay. I’m right here,” I muttered. “Just breathe.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said, voice catching in her throat.

“Me neither. Any idea how we got to Alderwood?” I asked, trying to turn my head to glance at her. “Or what the fuck is going on?”

“Your father,” she whispered urgently. I could feel her struggling against the rope, her breathing ragged. “He tracked us down and drugged the champagne. Then he made a deal with my father.”

“A deal?” My forehead wrinkled. “What deal?”

“He wants you gone so you can never tell anyone his secret, but he doesn’t want to do the dirty work of killing you himself,” she said. “So he gave you to the Covenant to be sacrificed. In return for doing it, they got me back too. For the Tetrad ritual.”

“Wait.” I blinked again. “No, that’s not possible. Your father knew you didn’t want to be sacrificed. He let you go.”

“Adam—I mean, your father called him and told him I changed my mind. He threatened me with a gun so I wouldn’t scream,” she said, voice cracking with a mix of terror and desperation. “Then he drugged me again. That’s all I remember before now.”

“Don’t worry, baby. We’ll get out of here,” I said, eyes flicking around the clearing.

“No. This is it, Sebastian,” Rose murmured woodenly. “They’ve obviously made up their minds. They won’t let us go.”

“I won’t let anyone touch you,” I said. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll get you out of here. I promise.”

“He’s here,” Rose said, voice turning shrill. She was panicking so much that my words didn’t seem to be registering with her at all. “Your father. He came to watch.”

I scanned the crowd until my gaze fell on a figure near the bonfire. Rose was right. My father was here. He stood apart fromthe elders, his expression a strange mix of smug satisfaction and unease, as if he wasn’t entirely sure how this would end but was confident enough that it would be in his favor.

“I want to fucking kill him,” I muttered, jaw tightening.

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