“Alexei?” I began climbing the tree. Emma used her wings to flutter upward, and both of us sat in the thick branches of the largest tree in the clearing. Alexei was curled up in the nook of the tree, looking like a lost child. He wept as he wiped his face with his sleeve.
“What was all that about?” Emma asked kindly. She grabbed a branch overhead, to lean in closer.
“It’s nothing. You wouldn’t understand.” Alexei sniffed again and curled his arms around his legs.
“Try us,” I offered. “We can’t help you if we don’t know what the problem is.”
Alexei coughed. After a moment’s hesitation, he cleared his throat and said, “I’ve been thinking of coming clean for a really long time. But I’ve been so afraid of what you guys would think of me, I’ve just been holding it in.”
“Holding what in?” Emma asked.
“The truth. Nobody will want me in the group anymore once they know my past. Especially you, Ethan,” Alexei said in a choked voice.
“Alexei, you’ve fought beside us so many times, and been loyal when few else have. You’ve earned your place among us,” I insisted. “Nothing could make us turn our backs on you now.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see in a minute,” Alexei said bitterly.
“We know you have a complicated past. Maybe it’s time to open up about it?” Emma offered kindly.
Alexei’s voice stabilized. “I don’t know if you’ll forgive me.”
“What could we possibly forgive you for?” I asked.
Alexei’s eyes seemed dead. “I was raised in the Black Claw.”
Distaste immediately flooded my mouth. Alexei had been acultist? This felt like a horrible betrayal. There was nothing I hated more than the cult, and to think that someone I cared about had been a part of it was abominable. Alexei caught the disgusted look on my face, and nodded, like he knew his assumptions had been right. I felt telepathic pressure from Emma to stop acting like a jackass.
I quickly rearranged my features and reminded myself that this was my friend. I wouldn’t judge Alexei until he’d had a chance to tell his story. I forced my knee-jerk reaction aside and said, “Tell us about it.”
Alexei swallowed. “I was in the cult for years. I didn’t have any say in it,” Alexei began. “My parents joined before I was born, so for years, I didn’t know any better. I thought that was just how life was.”
He unfurled his arm from around his legs, and stretched outward as he spoke. “I don’t have Unseelie blood. My parents are full Seelie. But they thought that it was unfair how the Seelie treated the dark fae, and they wanted dark magic to be legalized. They thought that if the fae could just get along, we’d have a better Malovia. They desired peace, and for the country to change, to come together and unite the two halves of our people. But more than that, they just wanted to be accepted.”
Alexei looked skyward, through the leaves of the trees. “As I heard it, my parents didn’t have much. They’d both been kicked out by their families, and were dirt-poor. They were all but homeless before the Black Claw took them in. The Black Claw promised them resources, as well as an opportunity to change Malovia for the better. They were pregnant with me at the time when they joined, so I feel pretty guilty about it. Maybe they wouldn’t have signed up if they didn’t feel like they needed to give me a home.”
He took a twig and snapped it in half. “The memories of my childhood are far from perfect. Everything in my life was about making the cult better. I didn’t go to school. The cult didn’t teach us anything, so I didn’t even learn how to read. Because of that, I was brainwashed. The only teachings I ever received were about the cult itself. It was pounded into my head that the Black Claw were Droga’s chosen people, and anyone who went against the teachings of the acolytes was disobeying Droga’s will, and they’d be punished eternally in the Underworld. It was said that once the blood of the Worldweaver was used to raise Droga from the dead, the Black Claw would live in paradise as his servants, and the rest of Malovia would suffer for not following him. I was so scared of being sent to hell, that I just… accepted what they said. What else was I to do? I never had an outside opinion, and my parents were afraid of the acolytes. My parents wanted me to believe what the acolytes said, because if I didn’t, they’d get hurt.”
“What did they do?” Emma whispered.
Alexei began to shake. “People who disobeyed the teachings, or tried to leave… they were sacrificed in ceremonies to Droga, and we were all forced to watch. The acolytes were all Seelie. They couldn’t do dark magic, but they were obsessed with the powers of the Unseelie fae, and thought that if they sacrificed enough people to Droga, he’d grant them the ability to cast Unseelie magic.”
“Unseelie magic doesn’t work like that,” Emma said gently. “You have to be born with it.”
“Tell that to the acolytes.” Alexei scoffed. “They couldn’t let go of the idea that Droga would gift them dark powers. They promised us that if we were faithful, and if we followed the teachings of the cult to the best of our ability, Droga would reward us, too. I tried and tried, but the dark god never granted me any power. I thought I was doing something wrong. It confused me. I loved Droga— or at least, I thought I did. I wanted to praise him. I didn’t understand why he was so mad at me, or why he wouldn’t answer my prayers. After all, I’d done everything the acolytes asked without question. But still, it was never enough.”
All the murders the Black Claw committed were beginning to make sense. These cultists weren’t just sacrificing people to Droga. They wanted to earn his favor, so they could be gifted dark magic. It was so cruel.
Alexei shook his head. “We moved so many times. The cult was always in danger of being discovered by the police, so we were never in one place longer than a few months. The acolytes didn’t permit us to have possessions. I had a few clothes to my name, but besides that, everything my parents had was technically the property of the acolytes. The cult forced my parents to get jobs, and took their paychecks to use for the cult’s purposes. They followed them everywhere. If they weren’t working, they weren’t allowed to leave the compound.”
“What did you do, if they didn’t allow you to go to school?” Emma asked.
“If I was lucky, the acolytes would make me work. Stuff like keeping the compound clean, doing laundry, or tending the herb fields for their potions and spells,” Alexei said hoarsely.
“And what if you weren’t?” Emma asked. I feared his answer.
Alexei seemed to draw into himself. He got this far-away look in his eyes that made me wonder if he was here with us anymore. “The cult uses children. The acolytes have sickening fantasies. They abused us, and made us abuse each other. I was no exception. They said if I didn’t allow them to use my body, I’d be cursed to the Underworld, and Droga would damn me forever.”
“They convinced you it was in your best interest, to save your soul?” I asked, aghast.
