Page 45 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

"And you're better?"I question, a small smirk pulling across the man's lips.

"I see no need to make a grand display like this to feed. I don't need to prove to anyone I hold power as this young one does. If he wasn't so vital to the stability of the Precipice, perhaps I'd allow you to feed into the sick fantasy of tearing out his jugular where he stands."

"Allow?"I scoff."You seem to forget I require no permission from you."

Turning back toward me, he lowers his expression.

"You willing to draw blood to continue defending that point, sweet one?"

Lowering my head at the man's offer, I take a step back from pushing the man's authority, letting him continue on with examining the line up.

"The two eldest hold the most traits," Elyon sighs, glaring at the man and woman before him.

Holding hands, the pair wear bands, their hands grasping each other vigorously.

They're married.

Looking to her raised shirt, a deep scar runs across her lower torso, a wave of shame coming over me.

She's a mother.

"Well, don't let me stop you," Atticus coos, waving his hand in the air, allowing his men to excuse all of the others in the lineup.

Gasping with relief, those not picked silently sob, dragging their feet across the cool tile floor. Gagged and unable to get a word out, the couples muffled screams rip through the air, my focus on nothing but the woman's scar.

Ready to feed with no regret, Elyon slides a knife free from his waist, licking his lips as if the two Marked before him are just another meal.

"Ladies first, Elyon," Atticus smiles, his focus on my stare toward the woman. "Forest seems awfully focused on her," he snaps, pointing to the woman.

Taking notice of my already avoidant attitude these past few days toward his word, Elyon straightens his shoulders, tossing me the knife before I can object.

"I suppose you're right," Elyon smiles, my hand shakily holding the hilt. "How rude of me."

Moving away from the pair, Elyon gasps, his eyes wide with confusion.

"I almost forgot," he sighs.

Tearing off the pair's masks, their frantic eyes look over me, tears spilling free from each of their already reddened pairs of eyes. Walking past me with a coy smirk, I ready myself to hand the blade back, no longer wanting to entertain these games.

"I'm not-"

"Do it,"Elyon hisses, his voice echoing through my mind like a thunderstorm.

Watching him take a stand next to Atticus, the men watch me with amusement, mentally hoping I back down, giving them both a reason to look at me as the weak woman they view me as deep down.

Forcing on the cold mask I have grown accustomed to for the past nine months, I take a shallow breath, letting my expression drop, taking my kneeled position before the trembling couple.

Muffled and gasping, I gravitate the knife toward the woman, ready to do this as quickly as I possibly can.,

"One more thing," Elyon's voice chimes in, her screams drowning out my thoughts.

Flicking his wrist, the gag in the woman's mouth comes free, her and her husband's bodies held in place by Atticus's Hold. Gasping for air, her muffled cry becomes a shrill scream, her eyes puffed from the tears she has shed.

"You're the Apparatus," she gasps, her throat scratchy. "Why are you allowing this-"

"Not anymore," I cut her off, my voice cold and unwelcoming. "Things have changed."

Ready to force this knife into her neck and be rid of this interaction, her hand flails forward, her body lurching toward me. Feeling her hand pass over my torso, her eyes grow wide the moment she comes in contact with my skin, a feral rage overcoming me the moment she presses down on my stomach.

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