Page 74 of Descent

“What story?”

I scoff, rolling my eyes.

“The story where you had a fiancé and now you don’t?”

He’s quiet for several seconds as if he were trying to gather his thoughts before he speaks.

“Her name was Madison Williams.”

My mouth parts at that. “As in…”

“Annie’s older sister, yes,” he finishes.

“So, you were engaged to her sister and now you’re expected to marry Annie? What, as a replacement?”

Ronan shrugs.

“Well, what does Madison have to say about this?”

His eyes stay on mine, a darkness coming over them.

“Nothing. She died when we were twenty-two.”

“What?” I ask hollowly. “What the fuck is it with all the women in the Brethren dying?”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I mean, Madison, my mother, your mother, Asher’s mother, Vincent’s mother. Everyone’s mom, sister or aunt is dead. Why?”

Ronan mulls over his answer for a while, his mouth opening and then closing before he finally spits something out.

“Women are…the Brethren don’t hold women in high value. They are seen as bargaining chips, incubators for heirs and then…nothing. Madison tried to run away, she wanted me to come too. She wanted out of the Brethren, away from our families, on our own.”

I frown. “Did you want that?”

He hesitates before nodding.

“I had my bags packed and car waiting for her outside her house. We were going to run to Canada, then get on a plane toPrague. I don’t know, she said that’s where she wanted to go and I…”

“You were in love with her,” I guess.

He nods. “As in love as I was capable of being at the time. I was a lot different man than I am now. I’ve grown, learned a lot. The most important thing that I’ve learned though, is that there is no escape.”

His words are heavy and ominous, like a dark black sludge seeping into me.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Her dad found out about our plans, at least the part about her running. I heard a gunshot in the house and by the time I got to the door, Annie was there, covered in her sister’s blood, sobbing,” he says, a shiver running through him that he tries to conceal.

Lifting my hand, I cup the side of his face.

“Ronan…I’m so sorry.”

He leans into my hold and gives me a sympathetic smile.

“It was a long time ago, baby. I’ve coped, moved on. The next morning, I asked my father if I could pursue swimming as a distraction; miraculously, he allowed it. He clearly didn’t know I had the same intentions as Madison, otherwise he would have killed me, not let me go off to compete in the Olympics,” he laughs bitterly.

“Still, you loved her. That’s not something you just forget,” I say.

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