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Tiny and black.

My wrist pulses and the seed falls into my palm.

And suddenly… I understand. Not because someone tells me. Not because the field whispers. Not because a dead woman crawls out of the dirt.

I just know.

Life.

Waiting.

Not demanding.

Not hungry.

Waiting… for me.

I close my fingers around it and the corn rises. All thirteen stalks. Then they go still.

Rhett watches me. “Well?”

I look at the seed. Then at them.

“The fourth heartbeat.”

Ezra goes pale.

Malakai steps closer. “What about it?”

“It wasn’t something growing inside me.”

Silence.

“It was this.”

I open my hand. The tiny seed rests against my palm.

Malakai stares. “The land put it inside you.”

“No.” I shake my head. “The Communion did.”

Ezra’s jaw tightens. “For what?”

I think, I know.

I cross to the empty patch beside the corn and sink to my knees. My fingers press into the dirt, ready to bury the seed.

But I stop.

The three men watch. Waiting.

I smile. “See?”

Rhett frowns. “What?”

“It isn’t doing anything.”

Malakai understands first and his expression softens. “It’s waiting.”