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Ms. Wykes stepped to the front of the church, clasping her hands in front of her, her gaze traveling over the two pews where they sat. “Good evening, girls,” she said, her lips curving upward in a smile Kandace could only describe as wicked. “As you know, the Religious Guild will be joining us for service tonight and you will be enjoying refreshments afterward. These men are pious, upstanding, and very important members of our community and we are blessed by their presence.” She looked pointedly around. “As always, I have no doubt you will give them the reverence and respect they deserve.”
Kandace’s nerves felt raw.
These men had come once before when she’d first arrived at Lilith House. She turned along with the other girls as the doors to the chapel opened again and eight men walked in, single file, just like the first time. Each was wearing an identical white suit, and each looked fastidiously groomed. All of them looked ancient, easily over the age of forty.
Her gaze moved over them. She thought these men were different than the first group that’d joined them for a service. She hadn’t paid much attention to those men then. She’d all but rolled her eyes and turned her thoughts away. She hadn’t considered who they were or why they were there. Of course, Kandace had been different then. Then, she had practically laughed at their ridiculous ceremony and thought what weird, religious fools they were. She hadn’t thought to look at them with suspicion. She hadn’t thought to wonder what her role in the ceremony was.
Kandace was inquisitive by nature, and her life thus far had ensured she was plenty cynical, but this? This was completely out of her purview. She had to believe that was the case for every girl there. Maybe it was why they were more easily influenced, their learned behavior more . . . pliable. Lilith House left them all flailing for something that seemed halfway solid to grasp on to. Rules. Obedience. It was what Lilith House offered. And if you accepted, you felt at least halfway in control of your own fate.
The nervous fluttering quickened in Kandace’s belly. Yes, this was . . . odd. And unnerving. Why did a group of old men want to join a religious service at a girl’s school a good distance outside town?
“Why do they come here?” she whispered under her breath.
She didn’t realize she’d said it loud enough for Sydney to hear, until her roommate whispered back. “Who knows. They’re stuffy, but fine.” She itched her neck and hazarded a quick glance behind her. “And them being here means we get dessert.”
Ah, yes. There was that. The girls of Lilith House were denied sugar. Except when the men of the Religious Guild paid them a visit. They’d go back to the dining room where trays of decadent sweets would be passed around, the girls allowed to partake in one of the only pleasures they were briefly permitted.
As the service began, and they all bowed their heads in prayer, Kandace took the opportunity to turn her head and peek back at the group of men as Sydney had done.
None of them were praying. All of them were looking around at the girls. She met the gaze of the balding man sitting at the end of a pew and the look on his face was so openly lascivious that Kandace drew back, turning quickly, a shiver racing up her spine. He’d looked at her as though she were naked.
Religious Guild? They didn’t seem very godly to her.
They seemed like nasty old men there to gawk at the “bad” girls.
“Gentlemen, if you’d like to give a blessing to our girls, we would welcome it,” Ms. Wykes said. “Girls, bow your heads.” Kandace obeyed along with the others, and heard the men stand and then saw their legs—all clad in the same exact suit pants so none could be separated from the other—begin walking in front of the pews where the girls sat, heads bowed. Kandace’s eyes followed them, trying to determine who was who without lifting her head. But with their identical clothing, and not having seen these men before, she simply couldn’t tell. Last time she’d taken the opportunity to catnap. Now she was wide awake. Now she was paying attention.
A man sidestepped through the narrow pew in front of her, placing his hand on her head and then allowing his hand to graze her cheek as he pulled away. Kandace closed her eyes and held herself completely still, resisting the urge to wipe her face as if she could somehow erase his touch. Resisting the urge to raise her head and glare at him. To see who he was.
One of the faceless men had put his hand on her head the first time too. She’d barely noticed.
