Page 88 of Judgment Day

She glared. “Fuck right off.”

He grinned. “Come help me.”

“We have a Brotherhood meeting in three hours. Whateverfucking offyou plan on doing, you need to do it in the shower.” I smirked as I circled my arm around Lyric’s waist, then leaned into her ear. “And when we get back, you’re all mine.”

Lincoln tossed me his sweaty towel, then gave Lyric a wink.

“Go ahead,” I told her. “I need a minute with Ciaran.”

She leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to my lips, then followed Lincoln out of the room.

Ciaran tossed the gloves into the bin, grabbed a towel for his face and neck, then met me at the door.

“Come. Walk with me.” I draped an arm over his shoulder.

Outside, the leaves were just beginning to turn. The air was crisp and cool. The sun was starting to fade away into the night sky, giving the moon its turn. Crazy how that worked, how each of them knew they were exactly what the earth needed at exactly the right time. They gracefully stepped out of the way so that the other could have its moment, neither one trying to outshine the other. One thrived in the darkness. The other made its presence impossible to ignore. And every so often, on rare occasions, they came together in a collision of cosmic proportions. They shared the earth, and the earth was all the better for it.

I lifted my right hand from Ciaran’s shoulder. The ring on my third finger glinted in the fading sunlight. “One day, you’ll wear a ring just like this.”

The rings were new, a physical symbol Caspian and I had come up with for the members of the Brotherhood. They were solid gold with each man’s initial engraved on the front and a smooth piece of obsidian embedded in the band. It was one of the many things we’d changed over the past year.

The Consummation was the first ritual to go.

There was no more Judgment Day, but therewasa ceremony in which the men presented (consensual) women of their choosing to the Tribunal—not as an offering, but as an induction. There was no bypassing that, but they were no longer forced to comply. It was a choice, on both sides. The women in our world needed to be as mentally strong as the men. They were partners now, not servants.

The Initiation ritual had changed somewhat. We no longer allowed outside bloodlines within the Brotherhood. You were only allowed in if someone in your bloodline was already a member. There was still a process, though. Trust needed to be earned, loyalty proven, strength tested. There was blood on every hand that wore these rings.

We still gathered at The Grove once a year for the annual Hunt. There was fire and music, followed bythe chase. Caspian was into that primal shit. That ritual was here to stay. The only difference was that now, everyone and everything was consensual.

We’d paid the price in blood, sacrificed our souls and lost loved ones along the way. But we’d made a lot of progress, laid a solid foundation for our sons.

I moved my arm from Ciaran’s shoulder, stopping our stroll just outside the gardens. My finger traced the gold engraved letter. “It’s not just any ring. It’s a symbol. When people see this ring, they see power. They show respect. They swallow fear.”

He watched me in silence, telling me he was already invested in what I had to say. He wrapped the towel around his hand, then unwrapped and re-wrapped as he listened.

“A hundred or so years ago, a brotherhood began. It started off as a way to contain chaos, to obtain power and keep it where it belonged, to make sure it didn’t seep through our fingers and into the wrong hands. Every man involved in this brotherhood was carefully selected through a specific process. They called it Obsidian, like the stone formed from lava. Because only the strongest of the strong can be consumed in the fire and remain as solid as a rock. It symbolizes the truth in all things, the pretty and the ugly, the good and the bad.”

He stopped moving, held his breath, completely enraptured.

“My great-grandfather was a founding member of this society. My grandfather helped build the sanctuary in which the meetings were held. My father told me about all of it when I was your age. It used to be different. It used to be a true brotherhood, united in the same cause. Somewhere along the way, men started abusing their power.” I cleared my throat. “We took it back. The Brotherhood belongs to those who deserve it again. We put people in place who make the best decisions for the world as a collective. Bankers. Politicians. Leaders. We control what truths people see because people can’t always handle the truth as it is. And one day, you’re going to sit on the Tribunal and have to make choices—choices that will trickle down to people in places you’ve never even been. You’ll have to do things you’re not proud of. You’ll see things you can’t unsee.”

Most fathers were teaching their sons how to play sports or shoot quail. I was telling mine how to rule the world. His childhood had already been far from normal, and I felt like a cruel thief, robbing him of that once again. But our world, the one we lived in, the one we ruled, was never meant to benormal.

“It’s not official until you’re twenty-five years old. I’m telling you this now because when the time comes, you’ll need to be ready. This isn’t something you’re thrown into. It’s something you’re bred to lead.”Like I was.“If not, they’ll eat you alive.” I refused to let that happen.

“Do you want this? If you don’t, tell me now and I’ll release you from all of it. I won’t ever mention it again. You can live the rest of your life like the rest of the world.” It would kill me, but it was his choice, not mine. It was a choice I never had. None of us did.

Caspian, Chandler, and Lincoln were initiated at thirteen through bloodshed. At thirteen, I attended my first Brotherhood meeting where two men were forced to fight to the death. This could’ve gone a lot worse.

“I want it.” He straightened his shoulders and stared at me with the confidence of a man, rather than a thirteen-year-old boy. “I want to be ready.”

I pulled him into a hug, then kissed the top of his head. My heart beat with relief. The anxiety that had held on to my lungs loosened its grip on my chest.

I let him go, cupping his face in my hands. “You will be. I’ll make sure of it.” I dropped my hands as Lyric and Lincoln found us. “Go clean up before dinner.”

I circled my arm around Lyric’s waist and pulled her against me.

“You told him?” she asked as we all watched Ciaran walk back to the house.

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