Page 124 of At Her Will

Rev ignored it, keeping his gaze on his cousin. “This between you and God. I’m here to make sure it’s done. If you push me for more, I will put your head through the fucking floor.”

He registered their shock, but it meant little to him. In his heart, all he saw was Veracity.

It flashed through his head again, that moment when the presence of Witford’s Lincoln at the mill had confirmed his cousin was involved. Him, Lawrence and Tiger coming up on the three men gathered around the lever for the wheel, working on it, Witford looking panicked and angry.

They hadn’t seen Veracity, but then Rev’s attention had gone to Tisha. Standing apart, her eyes fixed on the wheel itself, her face a mask of hatred and fear and triumph, a look he would never get out of his mind.

Rev had followed her gaze to the wheel and seen a nightmare. Vera’s bound wrists and curved fingers, the only thing above the water. He’d burst into a run and jumped into the well of water around the wheel. So cold. His Mistress was in that cold, dark water.

He pulled out his pocketknife and sawed through the ropes on her wrists, only to realize that wasn’t the only place she was bound. He took a breath and dove down. Lawrence had joined him. When he felt his way to her ankles, her hands were floating limply above him. He felt the brush of her fingertips, only there was no life to them. His heart had hammered like a blacksmith’s tool on cold steel. He’d sawed one ankle free, Lawrence the other.

Now, standing in the church that had been a haven for him most of his life, he thought about the damage to her face, the abrasions on her wrists, her torn clothing. Blood from a cut on her lip started bleeding again because her mouth had stretched out, trying to pull in air.

When her eyes had first opened, he’d seen the fear, because after something like that, it would take a moment for her to realize she was safe. It would take far more time for her tofeelsafe again.

They’d done that to her. His family.

Whatever Witford saw in Rev’s face was so close to the surface, it had him stepping back a pace.

Wrath. It was the right word.

I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

It was real fucking tempting.

Instead, he spoke through stiff lips. “I love her, and the Lord gave her to me to love and protect. She was a gift to me. You…” Rev stopped, shook his head.

He pivoted and moved into the pew. He sat down next to Tisha, leaving enough room that he could turn on his hip, put his knee up on the wood. He braced his hand on the back of the pew in front of him and gazed at his aunt. She looked frozen and afraid, her eyes on the cross at the front of the church. Her hands were clasped hard before her.

Her face was closed in on itself. Strong women did that when they were hurting, when they were confused, afraid. Even angry. And when they’d messed up so bad, they’d dropped themselves into a dark hole. Everyone was afraid in an abyss, because they thought no one knew they were there, or didn’t care that they were. That they were forgotten, unseen, out of the Lord’s favor.

He thought of Veracity blindfolding him, putting him in darkness, but her scent, her touch, her very presence, was sostrong. He’d known he wasn’t alone, no matter what, as long as she was near.

He had walked away from her, when it was the last thing he wanted to do. The damage from that decision could be irreparable.

No. The connection between them couldn’t be broken, even by something like this. He had to have faith in that, and do what needed to be done.

Tisha had broken out of her trance, and turned her head toward him. She had some strategy in mind, he could see it in her face. “Rev…Karman…”

He put his hand over hers. His grip was a little tight, because she winced. He eased it, which took a startling amount of effort. He wanted to squeeze until he ground bone, until she felt what he was feeling, all through his body.

“I can’t think of what you done. If I put it in my mind, in front of my eyes, I might burn this place down as an abomination in the sight of God.”

Her eyes widened, but he bowed his head. “Pray with me, Tisha. Pray the way you did when you was growing up with Teena Joy. When you couldn’t have thought you’d ever do something like this.”

“She was taking you away from us, Rev…”

“Hush,” he said mildly. “Do as I say. Really open your heart to what you done. Let God show it to you. Put down all the excuses and things you telling yourself to make it okay. All right?”

I’m lost, O Lord. She lost. We all lost… We need our Shepherd.

The words were in his head, then on his lips. He couldn’t sing it the way he normally did. His voice was broken and raw, but that was how it needed to be sung.

She’d bowed her head with him, but he felt her rigidity. She couldn’t find it right now. But it gave him a moment to take a breath, to find what he needed so he could make sure this went the way it needed to go.

Her free hand reached toward him.

“No.” His forbidding tone arrested the gesture. When he lifted his head, she’d closed it into an ineffectual ball that landed on her lap.

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