I’m frozen. My brain and body are trying to comprehend what just happened to us.Holy fuck, I’m going to die. I’m going to die right here surrounded by Brotherhood men who hate me.This can’t be my end. I can’t let them take my life, like they have taken everything else from me.FIGHT, my mind, and heart scream within me.
“Atasi!” Abe desperately attempts to rise to his feet, but one of the guards slams his arm into his back before another kicks him, landing a blow to his side.
“DINAH! I’m going to kill you, old man!” Sammy’s scream echoes out of my sight, filled with rage and desperation, before pained grunts meet my ears.
“You see, Dinah, you cannot fully corrupt my useless son with your sinful ways. There is still a part of him that belongs to me and the Brotherhood. Isn’t that right, son?” Noah questions, his voice laced with dark satisfaction, as he wipes his bloody hands on his pant leg with distaste.
“No...” The whispered word leaves my bloody lips as my vision dims.
Noah crouches before me, vehemence emanating from his pores as his green eyes sparkle with hate as they meet mine. “You have made the right choice here, Ezekiel, just like you did when it came to that traitor Gabriel Camrose. He was a threat to our holy Order, just like she is.” Noah drags a finger down my cheek as my brain tries comprehending everything he says.
“Don’t touch her!” Ezekiel shouts, trying to rip out of his guard’s hold.
“You were right not to give him a warning, son, when we discovered that he was plotting with the rebels to overthrow our government. You shall do the right thing again, Ezekiel. You shall honor your vows to the Brotherhood, where you will grow in power, son,” Noah intones, his words heavy with ominous authority.
Devastation makes its way up my spine, as everything this monster says clicks in my head. I’m not the only one who’s putting two and two together. Abe’s lips part in a shocked gasp and his murderous glare shifts from Noah to Ezekiel. He tries once again to break from the guards restraining him. “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU. I’LL KILL YOU ALL!” One of the guards slams his knee into Abe’s face, and he drops to the floor with a gush of blood.
“YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!” Sammy’s hoarse voice echoes in the room, accompanied by a grunt.
I lunge for Noah again, only to be dragged back by my hair, with my broken arm yanked painfully behind my back. “Settle down, demon!” The guard hisses behind me.
“ATASI!” Abe tries to crawl across the floor towards me, his nose gushing blood and his eyes wild with fear.
At this moment, I realize that my suspicions were correct all along, despite their claims of innocence mere hours before; one of them has betrayed me and my family, only it wasn’t Abe. He wasn’t a party to my brother’s death, and his shock and devastation confirm that he didn’t know. No, it wasn’t him. He wasn’t privy to Ezekiel’s treachery. Ezekiel not only abandoned my brother to a horrific death, but was complicit in it.
I should have listened to my gut feeling, and murdered Ezekiel Rothesay weeks ago. I spared him on that cliff, the weak and sentimental girl inside of me who longed for the boy she used to care for. Look at what has befallen me for allowing my emotions to lapse my judgment. I was forced to marry a traitor, a deceiver loyal to the Order, after all. He’s been playing me all this time.
Abe struggles against the confining restraints the guards have placed on him, dragging two of them forward as he attempts to get closer to Zeke. The rage and disbelief on his face wars within me. We have both been manipulated by someone who was supposed to have cared deeply for us. Who led us to believe that he would protect those he loved, and yet my brother is dead, and I’m not far from meeting the same fate.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS HE TALKING ABOUT, ZEKE! How could you fucking do this? Tell me they’re lying! TELL ME!” Abraham shouts as tears race down his bloody face.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Noah! I’ll kill you all! Release me!” Abraham shouts as three guards hold him back.
Worse than knowing I allowed Ezekiel Rothesay to play me for a fool, is knowing that I let him infiltrate the dark recesses of my heart, convincing myself that he genuinely cared for me and would protect me, when nothing could be further from the truth. He betrayed me; if he ever had real feelings for me, he was able to put them aside. Something that I was unable to do, and look where it has led me.
Noah looms before me, his fingers trailing down the side of my head in a twisted display of false tenderness. I feel like a chained beast, subjected to his sick version of affection. His voice oozes with malevolence as he utters his ominous words, “I warned you, Ezekiel.”
He turns his gaze away from me and glares at his son. “When you made your threats, you forced my hand, son; I knew the day would come when you’d pay, and here it is wrapped in a pretty package.”
“Don’t make me do this, please. Please, Father,” Ezekiel begs, but his face is filled with rage. Rage that is consuming him now that his treachery has been exposed.
Noah’s fingers dig into my scalp, eliciting a small whimper that escapes my lips, a testament to the pain coursing through me. I grit my teeth, determined not to grant him the satisfaction of my cries. I try to pull away, and turn my face to sink my teeth into any part of his flesh that I can, but the pain rising inside of me threatens to overwhelm me, and my vision keeps flashing in bright colors before my eyes.
“You see, son,” he sneers, “just like Icarus, you flew too close to the sun. And just like him, you have fallen from the sky, crashing down into the merciless sea. You’ve fallen from grace.” A malevolent smile twists his face.
“You have broken our laws, Ezekiel. You have allowed your Sacred Wife to be defiled by a man of sin, a lowly guard. You have corrupted another Order brother to commit sins against the Brotherhood, and our Lord and Savior, with you.” His malignant glare focuses on a struggling Abe as one of the guards restraining him uses the taser once more.How much more can he take before they kill him?Fear soars within me for his life.
“And if none of that was sinful enough, your Sacred Wife is a psychopathic murderer who kills members of the Brotherhood. Her soul cannot and will not be redeemed. She has doomed herself to eternal suffering in hell, where she belongs. To save you, boy, and cleanse you of your sins, this temptress and murderer must die.” Noah grabs a fistful of my hair and yanks me forward on my knees. The pain is sharp, but it’s no match for the fear rolling in waves through me.
My eyes desperately seek out Abraham and Sammy, both restrained. Their figures are almost obscured by the overpowering amount of guards surrounding them. “DINAH!” Sammy’s frantic scream pierces the chaos, reverberating through the air, and is soon accompanied by the sound of flesh striking flesh.They are going to kill him with how many blows he keeps taking.
“You fucking traitor! I’m going to fucking kill you, Zeke! How could you betray her? How could you do that to Gabriel?” Abraham shouts, and a few guards give way under his forceful attempt to reach me. All the while, Zeke refuses to look in their direction.Fucking coward.
“You’ve finally done the right thing, son. By choosing to sacrifice the whore, this demon trying to corrupt you, and save yourself, you will be forgiven. All of your sins will be cleansed. The Holy Father doesn’t need to cast you into the fires of hell. When the time is right, you will be given another Sacred Wife, and this one will be wiped from the pages of history. Forgotten.”
“You piece of fucking shit!” Sammy’s voice rings out.
“Her fortune is yours, son. You have gained even though you have sinned. You will serve penance, but then you will see everything will be alright in the end.”