Page 83
He steps closer and the barn disappears again. Not really. But Malakai has a way of making everything around him feel farther away. The noise fades beneath the weight of his attention. The shouting, crying, the hundreds of frightened people packed around us all seem to drift farther away.
His gaze lowers to the red satin cutting into my skin. When he speaks again, his voice is quiet. “The first Bride wore red.”
My stomach turns.
“Okay.”
“Every Bride after her wore gold.”
“How many?”
His eyes lift. “Enough.”
I don’t like that answer.
“What happened to them?”
Ezra looks away.
Whatever amusement had been lingering on Rhett’s face disappears with it, but Malakai never takes his eyes off me.
My mouth goes dry. “What happened to them?”
His expression doesn’t change. “They were given to the Harvest.”
Mariah shifts closer to me. “What the fuck does that mean?”
I don’t think I want him to answer because somewhere beneath the panic twisting through my chest, I already know. Or at least I think I do.
“Killed?” The word barely makes it out.
Malakai doesn’t answer. He doesn’t need to.
My stomach rolls as the meaning settles over me. “No.”
“Sage.” Ezra says quietly.
“No.” I take a step back, shaking my head as if putting distance between us might somehow make any of this less real. “You’re telling me there was some fucked-up old cult here that sacrificed women?”
“Yes.”
My gaze drops to the strip of satin still cutting into my wrist. Suddenly, it doesn’t look like a stupid prize from a Halloween game.
It looks like a mark.
My eyes snap to them. “And my ribbon is part of that?”
“Yes.”
“And you three know about all of this because what? Your families were involved?”
Silence.
A sharp, ugly laugh escapes me. “Of course.”
I point at Ezra. “Ward.”
Then Rhett. “Winslow.”
