Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 114247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“No!” Mae shouted, when Styx began to sign something to the brothers. My heart pounded as loud as a storm’s heavy rain hitting a window. I did not know what was being said, and from out of nowhere, a surge of anger inflamed my very soul.
The brothers began arguing with each other. Mae was pleading with Styx to refuse my request. And I shook with white-hot anger, incandescent at being ignored. I had been ignored enough in my life, pushed aside, thought of as weak and unimportant.
Not now. Not today.
“Stop!” I shrilled over the volume of frantic voices, my voice strong and unyielding. Suddenly, the room fell to into stunned silence. All eyes focused on me.
I fixed my eyes on Styx. “I do not need your permission. I am a grown woman, and I will not be discussed as if I were a child.”
“Maddie—” Mae tried to soothe, but I stepped away from her open arms and shook my head.
“Enough!” Mae reared back in shock. “I am doing this.”
“But, Sister, he is dangerous,” Lilah nervously spoke.
“We have been in greater danger than this in our lives, Lilah. And Flame saved me. Twice. If it is my turn to be his savior, then I will happily step into the fire.”
I looked up at Viking and ordered, “Take me to Flame.”
Viking did not even look at Styx for permission, he simply led me out of the door. As I passed Mae, she looked at Styx. “I am going with her.” I closed my eyes fighting back my anger. But as Mae fell in step at my side, I found her presence reassuring.
I turned to Lilah who was standing to the side of the room, the tip of her thumb in her mouth. I quickly walked over and quietly said, “I will be okay.”
Lilah’s blue eyes lowered. Taking my hand, she whispered, “Please, reconsider this, Maddie. Leave it to the brothers. The thought of you being hurt, of being hurt by the only man you have never feared fills me with dread.”
Squeezing Lilah’s hand, I said, “That is the beauty of freewill, Lilah. We choose our own actions. Unlike in commune, here we get to be the masters of our fate. I will go to Flame. Whatever transpires, transpires.”
“Maddie, I have heard things over the past two days about Flame. And from what I have heard described, he sounds possessed. I fear he has evil running through his veins. The way he behaves, the way he cuts himself. The darkness of his soul.”
I huffed incredulously. “And for years, sister, we—you, Mae, Bella and I—were viewed as inherently evil because of our looks. We believed it. We never doubted the scripture that affirmed it was so. I think perhaps, if you are told something often enough, you end up believing it. But maybe, just maybe, someone comes into your life and makes you question yourself. Makes you believe you are worth something.”
Lilah glanced away, then sighed in defeat. “Like Ky did with me?”
I nodded and added, “Like Flame does with me.”
Lilah gasped at my confession, then said, “But you have barely spoken to him. How can you think that way?”
I smiled, remembering his wish to touch me on my face. Of his shaking hand hovering in the air, and replied, “What are words? Sometimes the flick of a pair of eyes or the flush of skin reveals everything you need to know. Words can wound. Silence can heal.”
A tear fell from Lilah’s eye. Her grip tightened. “Madd—”
“He needs me, Lilah. He saved me from Moses, from all of the men that had… had…”
“Shh…” Lilah soothed. Trying to rid our days in commune from my mind, I said, “I would no longer be alive without him. Now it is my turn to repay in kind.”
Acquiescing to my unwavering resolve, Lilah pulled me into her chest. When she released me, Ky was by our side. Lilah turned to Ky and placed her hand on his arm. Ky nodded without Lilah saying a word. “I’m going with her, baby. Don’t worry.”
As Lilah pressed a kiss to Ky’s lips, I left the house. Mae, Styx and an anxious Viking, were waiting for me outside. Ky then ran out of the door and joined our little party.
Viking looked at me. “You sure about this, Little One?”
A crippling nervousness suddenly possessed me, but I hid it as best I could. “Yes.”
Mae walked beside me, holding tight onto Styx’s hand. I could see the worry haunting her beautiful face. When Styx released her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his chest, I felt guilty.
“I will be fine, Mae,” I said, as we broke through the line of trees and descended the grassy embankment.
Mae was quiet, then she simply replied, “I know. You are you, Maddie. You are the bravest person I know.”
This unexpected compliment almost made me falter in my steps. I found myself staring up at Mae. She smiled. Her confidence in me made me feel ten feet tall.
Viking led us down the trail toward Flame, AK and Viking’s cluster of cabins. Agonized screams suddenly erupted. My blood ran cold at the pained cries and tortured bellows coming from the cabins at the bottom of the hill.
As soon as Viking heard the screams, he picked up speed and hurried ahead.
“Is that him?” Ky questioned in disbelief, as we tried to follow.
Viking ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah. Shit!” he replied. The closer we got, the louder the screams became. This time genuine fear seized my breath. I would have been sure, before this night, that mankind was not capable of sounding so feral. But I was in no doubt that the Flame that I knew was not the man uttering these sounds. This Flame was undone. This Flame was in agonized pain.
“My Lord,” I heard Mae murmur under her breath, but I kept my focus on the cabin. I forced my feet to move. If I stopped, I was unsure if I could muster the courage to continue.