Page 77 of The Sin

He didn’t expect an answer, but he did deserve one. And yet, even though Geneva had clearly chosen to sacrifice me, I remained loyal. The Sisterhood was more than Geneva, Calista, Eliza and Rose. The Sisterhood was every Sister of Capra, and all the grandmothers, mothers and daughters they stood for.

That was a lot of lives, too much responsibility, no matter how much I trusted Roman.

Julian returned to our end of the hall, anger blazing in his eyes. Curiously, not directed at us.

“Excessive force is unnecessary,” he berated General Bickens.

“Have you seen the state of my guards?” the general stamped out.

“Are you suggesting a defenseless lady is to blame?” Julian demanded.

The general blustered something unintelligible. A network of thin, purple veins erupted on his nostrils.

The other councilmen gathered around us, expressing various states of wariness, distaste, and in the case of Councilman Thorpe, outright hostility. There was so much livid anger in the man, the sagging, loose skin below his jaw seemed to be oscillating with it.

“This is an unholy mess,” Thorpe clipped out.

“We can contain it,” Councilman Chesterfield said snidely, looking at me down his narrow, hooked nose.

“Are you proposing some form of mass rehabilitation?” Councilman Otter said. He didn’t sound opposed to the idea.

Ice slid down my spine. Mass rehabilitation? What did that even mean?

Roman reached blindly, his fingers linking mine as he slid our joined hands between us. I glanced at him, but he was staring straight ahead from beneath a severely lowered brow.

Councilman Langley turned an incredulous look on Otter. “It’s not just in here. The screening showed all over town. The square. The pavilion.”

“And it’s still playing on a loop,” Thorpe spat at the general.

“Do you think we haven’t tried?” General Bickens glowered at him. “The square and pavilion are overflowing with the festivities, and the screening caused a damn frenzy. The crowd is thick and packed around those screens. My Guard can’t get near them. I only have sixty men and they’re spread thin with this shit show.”

The number sixty shocked me.Is that all it’s taken to control us?

“If you’d done your job properly,” Thorpe fumed, “there wouldn’t be a—”

“What do you suggest?” The general sneered. “Should we Taser half the population? We don’t know where they’re feeding their screening from. They’ve hijacked our communications.”

Julian slashed a hand between the general and Thorpe. “This isn’t helping.”

Thorpe sucked in a deep breath, his nostrils flaring, and exhaled. “We instated you as general, and we can un-instate you just as quickly. I suggest you get out there and dosomething.”

General Bickens turned on his heel and stalked out the hall, barking orders as he went. A handful of the Guard remained behind to oversee us, the rest filed out behind him.

I zoned out as the councilmen resumed their discussion on how to manage the situation. My gaze swept across the hall, and collided with the hawkish stare of Mrs. Bickens. Her brow lifted, and her stare intensified. I couldn’t tell if she was disappointed that I’d gotten myself caught, pleasantly surprised I hadn’t gotten away, or if she were trying to convey a message across the dancefloor.You got what you wanted. The truth is out there, now.

Whisper. I’d wanted to whisper the truth, not put a target on my back. Not get Roman nearly killed.

This was what the Sisterhood wanted. This was how they operated. Rose had once said it to my face.We will sacrifice the few for the many.

This was the way of the Sisterhood.

And not just the Sisterhood, this was the way of Capra. I’d been born and bred for the greater good of humankind.That’show they controlled us with a mere sixty guards. We weren’t docile sheep. We were fierce and passionate, and we would sacrifice everything—almost everything—for the greater good.

The greater good was practically written into our DNA.

My spine stiffened.

What was done could not be undone.

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