Page 38 of Cast Stones
Ashes to ashes…
“No…” she cries, the word caught somewhere between a plea and a prayer.
Neither will save her.
“Cara mia…”
“They’re going to kill me, aren’t they? After the Twelve rape me, they’re going to kill me and burn my body in their sick, sacred fire!” Dazed, Madi backs up a few steps as silent tears roll down her cheeks. I don’t chase her. There’s no point. After two years of captivity, she knows she can’t run from me.
But it’s not a lack of a viable escape that suddenly halts her movement. It’s recognition and then bleak understanding.
“I can’t stop it.” It’s not a question. It’s resignation wrapped up in a poisoned bow.
“No,” I say quietly. “But I can.”
“How?”
I answer her question with one of my own. “Do you love me, cara mia?”
“With all my heart.” She offers a watery smile.
“Do you love me enough to put your life in my hands?”
Her smile fades. “Luca, you’re scaring me.”
Good. She needs to be scared. Tonight will be a test of both of our strengths. “You turn eighteen tonight. Just before midnight, they will come for us.”
“Us?” she asks, hissing out the last consonant.
“It’s my job to prepare you.” At her horrified expression, I take her hand in mine and clarify, “To bathe you and dress you in your ritual whites.” Those bastards want complete purity. Too bad for them, hers has already been taken and branded onto my skin. “When we enter the sanctuary, I’ll be expected to join the congregation to observe the rite.”
“Rite.” She spits the word out with disgust. “You mean rape.”
“Are you strong enough to endure it, cara mia? Can you go somewhere else in your mind until it’s over?”
“Can you?”
That’s a question I can’t answer. I’ve purposely ignored thoughts of twelve other men seeing her. Touching her. Feeling the comfort and warmth of her pussy squeezing their cocks. My heart pounds as the black mist darkens to a smear of onyx fury.
Can you?
I’ll have to. It’s the only way she’ll not perish in flames.
I don’t answer her. Instead, I step forward and draw her close. Like the magnets we are, Madi folds into me, her chest fusing to mine in our own binding ritual.
A promise.
“When it’s over, do as they say. Let them lead you from the stone tablet back to our cabin.”
“I’m coming back to the cabin?” The spark of hope in her voice is like a dagger to my soul. “I thought you said they were going to kill me?”
I stare at the ground, wishing it would open up and drag me to hell. “This is my final test. I’m to ensure their seed remains within you while they build the funeral pyre and then deliver you to it.” Lifting my head, I slowly meet her frightened gaze. “I stole you; I end you. Ashes to ashes…”
“Oh God…”
“But it won’t happen, cara mia. There, in our cabin, where we share ourselves, where we fuck, I’ll take our revenge. I’ll make them all pay. I’ll spill blood for every tear you’ve shed.”
As God is my witness…
