Page 31 of Spark of Madness

“Yet, we must humble ourselves in God’s good graces. We must seek absolution for the sake of this sinner’s soul.” Killian paces dramatically along the step beneath me as he speaks. “Though her dishonorable choices must be punished, we must offer her a chance.”

Achance?

A chance at what?

I’m motionless, waiting on bated breath.

“The Elders have offered us their guidance and we are all in agreement of what must be done.” Killian stops, turns his head over his shoulder to glance at me with a smug grin before turning to face the villagers again. “Mercy Madness is set to participate in the Trials of Dissension.”

My ears roar, not with the murmurs and cheers that swell from the villagers, but with the quickening thrum of my pulse.

The Trials of Dissension?

I shake my head. “No,” I whisper, but no one hears me. “No! This is a death sentence!”

“Pass the trials, and it’s not,” Arlo says.

I turn toward him as rage takes hold of me, his grip loosening and letting me go. “No one has ever survived the trials. No one.”

He leans forward, coming into my space, making me crane my neck to look up at him as he bends over me. I can smell his minty breath. “Then perhaps you’ll be the first.” An arrogant grin spreads through his cheeks.

We both know that won’t be the case. No one ever survived because the trials were designed to push one past their boundaries in the ultimate acts of service. Every last participant has met their death at the end of these torturous trials.

I’m disgusted by Arlo, sickened by all the men surrounding me—smug, righteous, arrogant, power-hungry men.

Does no onesee it but me?

My mother did, but she was so misled that she still mistrusted her instincts.

“Get out of my face,” I hiss.

Arlo’s grin remains, though his blue eyes roam my expression.

What is he thinkingwhen he looks at me that way?

And why doI care?

“You’ll hold your tongue with me and show respect, Mercy, or I will make your numbered days a living hell.”

I swallow the weight of his threat, feeling my eyes widen as the smug expression melts with the honesty of his words.

Abruptly, he turns to face the villagers. “I’ve been appointed warden of our trial participant,” Arlo says. “Mercy Madness will be my charge and my responsibility from now until the trials have concluded.” He turns toward the servants, all grouped together beside the other villagers. “Servants, as is tradition with the Trials of Dissension, you are all granted the choice of participating. Those of you who are proud servants—graceful in your acceptance of your role within our community, honorable in the eyes of God—you should find it an easy choice not to participate.

“But should any of you feel a blasphemous urge to participate in these trials along with Mercy, we are granting you the right to make the choice. If you pass the trials and prove yourself through the ultimate acts of service, then you will be granted reprieve from your role as a servant and assigned a domestic life.

“But make no mistake, the trials are brutal, and none have survived before. I suggest you think again should the unholy urge to participate arise. God does not show favor in this life to those who wish to deflect their duties.” He looks over at me and catches my gaze with an unexplainable heat in his eyes. “Mercy has lost her way. She travels a trail of sin.” He looks back to the servants and I blink away the invisible hold he has on me. “If you’re a woman of God, you’ll ensure you do not follow the path she has made with demons.”

Arlo Rainn—my warden, my jailor, mycaptor.

I’ll be his until the day I die.

chapter eleven

Mercy

I JERK MYarm from Arlo’s grip and plant my feet in the center of the foyer as the men come to a stop in front of me. The door slams shut behind me as the Control circles around, making me feel caged in.

Because Iamcaged in.

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