Page 38 of Sacrifice

As the last words left his mouth, he sagged to the ground, gaze fixed on Jean-Pierre’s body in the spike pit.

Rose took one last lingering look at her father. Then she took my hand and turned away, heading for the trail that would lead us out of the hunting grounds.

When we arrived back in the village, we retrieved my bag from my room at the tavern, moving quietly so we didn’t wake anyone else in the building. Then we made our way toward the front gate together, hand-in-hand.

As Augustus predicted, the night watchmen spied us from their posts and ordered us to halt.

“What are you doing?” one of them asked.

“We’re leaving,” I said calmly. “Together.”

He looked taken aback. “I… I don’t think that is possible,” he said. “Of course, you are free to go whenever you please, Mr. Thorne, but Miss Trudeau must—”

Rose cut him off. “My father has given his permission, Mr. Bourdieu. It is the Entity’s will that I leave here tonight,” she said, loudly and clearly. “If you do not believe me, you can find him in the hunting grounds, by the old oak tree.”

“I... well… it’s not that I don’t believe your word, Miss Trudeau, but—”

“I understand,” Rose said in a resigned tone, cutting him off again with a wave of her hand. “You must go and be sure of the matter, especially after all the drama and confusion with my recent disappearance.”

“Yes. That’s right.” He exchanged a glance with the other watchman, who nodded curtly. Then he came down from his post and hurried away.

Rose and I waited in silence. The second watchman stared at us the whole time, expression mired in confusion under the torchlight.

The first watchman returned around fifteen minutes later, panting from the exertion of his run all the way to the hunting grounds and back. “They speak the truth,” he said, looking up at his colleague. “The Governor confirmed that Rosamund must leave the village right now. The Entity has given her an important mission in the outside world.”

I raised a brow as he spoke. Part of me had still expected some sort of fight ending with bloodshed or even death, but it seemed Augustus had been honest with us—Rose was truly free to leave if that was her final decision.

All she had to do wassayit.

And it wasn’t just her. Augustus had told me the truth on my first day here: that anyone was free to leave Alderwood at any time. They simply never did because they never wanted to; never even thought to ask about it after being raised—well, brainwashed, really—with the deep-seated belief that it was their own version of paradise.

This whole time, my perception of Augustus had been colored by my belief that he, along with the rest of the Covenant, was the enemy. An embodiment of pure evil. However, while the Covenant had certain beliefs and practices that mostpeople would consider deeply wrong or perhaps even evil, such as human sacrifice, blood consumption, virginity tests, and barbaric confession practices, they weren’t the true enemy lurking in the darkness.

No, all along, the true enemy had been much closer to home.

“Well, then.” The second watchman dipped his chin in another curt nod. “Unlock the gate, Denis.”

After the sturdy gate finally creaked open, we stepped through, our eyes locked on the shadowy path ahead.

Moments later, as we descended into the darkness beyond the village, one of the watchmen called out to us, voice partially fading into the distance behind us. “Miss Trudeau, you’ll be back in time for the Tetrad, won’t you?”

Rose bit her bottom lip and pretended she didn’t hear the faint question, keeping her eyes fixed on the moonlit path as she continued in her stride. Her face was tight, like she was trying her best to control her emotions, but tears began to slide down her cheeks a few minutes later. I stopped and pulled her into a tight hug. “I know, baby,” I muttered. “It hurts. You feel like you’re betraying your people.”

“Yes.” Her voice cracked as she bit out that word, and her shoulders crumpled, body sagging into my embrace. “I know it’s the right thing to do, but I feel so terrible.”

“I know, but you’ll be okay. I promise, baby girl,” I said, stroking her hair. “Everything will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

13

Rose

It only tooka few minutes of walking down the path away from Alderwood for the full weight of my decision to hit me. The village was already behind me, up on the mountaintop, but I could still feel it—every stone, every shrub, every face, every memory, pulling at me like invisible threads.

Twenty-four years.My whole life, my wholeworld, was back there in the village. I kept telling myself that it was the right choice, that leaving was necessary for my survival, but knowing that didn’t make it any easier. My father’s heartbroken face was lingering in my mind’s eye, haunting me, and I had to grit my teeth and physically stop myself from turning around and running right back like nothing had ever happened.

Sebastian squeezed my hand again, flashing me a faint yet reassuring smile as we trudged down the moonlit path. I returned the smile, eyes conveying a silent message:Thank you.

He was the only person I knew beyond Alderwood; the only reason I was able to find the strength to break away from all the years of conditioning and take my first steps into the outside world.

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