Page 82 of The Sin

Then Geneva started barking out commands and that moment fractured into a nightmare.

At first, the orders were justified. I stood to one side with Roman, saying nothing, watching with a stone-cold heart as the councilmen were rounded up. Their wrists were bound with ties, and more of our Sisters streamed in from the outside to assist as they were marched from the premises.

A couple of the guards were granted permission to collect General Bickens and cart him off to the clinic. Lisa and Mrs. Bickens went with them.

My brown-eyed guard, the one who’d surrendered and thrown himself over me as a human shield, was ignored. All the rest were bound at the wrist and marched off, and they didn’t put up any fight, didn’t show an ounce of resistance.

Maybe it was the show of weapons, and Geneva’s trigger-happy finger.

For some, it probably was.

For others, I wondered if it was their stories.

Then Roman was torn from my arms and they took Daniel, they took five other boys and men as well, all council heirs, and I couldn’t find Geneva to make her hear me, to make her give Roman back to me. She’d swept out of the hall at some point, and the other Sisters only cared about following her direct orders.

Rose was immune to my fury. “Let tonight play out, Georga.”

Play out how? Roman was injured. He’d been through enough without spending the night in a holding cell.

I stabbed a finger at her. “If they touch a hair on—”

She swatted my finger and my threat aside with the muzzle of her rifle. “We have our hands full right now, Georga. Do you not see what’s happening here? This isn’t a rebellion.” Her eyes glazed with fervor. “This is a full-blown revolution. We’re taking Capra for the Sisterhood.”

Of course I saw what was happening. How could I miss it? My gaze washed over the hall, from the shredded banner to the stain of General Bickens’ blood to the pale, shocked faces on the other side.

This was nothing like the gentle rebellion of my imagination. This was a war of blood, not a war of words and reason.

I got it, I seriously did, and that’s exactly why I had to ensure Roman didn’t end up one of Geneva’s casualties.

I wasn’t getting anywhere with Rose, though, or any of the other Sisters. I forced down a calming breath, and another.

I was the spark of this revolution.

I brought the flame.

I brought the fire.

I would not be helpless.

I would not be unheard.

25

Ihurried from the hall, through the vestibule, and rocked back onto the heels of my bare feet in an abrupt stop when I saw my mom clacking up the stairs. Her hair was styled in a waterfall of curls clipped to the crown of her head. She was wearing her evening winter coat, the velvet red with a faux fur collar, high-heeled ankle boots, and she had a rifle cradled in the crook of her arm.

“Georga,” she exclaimed as she reached the porch. “I heard there was an incident. General Bickens was shot! I was so worried about you, darling.”

I stood there, too stunned to say anything for a moment.

She cupped my cheek,with the hand not resting on the butt of the rifle cradled in her arm!“Are you okay?”

I gave my head a rattle shake and stepped back. “Yes, I’m okay, but…what? Did you know this was going to happen? You’re part of it?”

And she’d never breathed a word to me.

“The call went out through the network this morning,” she said, her voice growing more animated the longer she spoke. “Be Prepared.We had no idea, darling. I certainly had no idea you were at the center of it, but we knew something was about to happen.”

“I didn’t get any message,” I muttered. “I didn’t have a clue about anything, until my face lit up on the screen!”

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