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Well, his instincts were screaming that something was wrong in Sage’s world. The way her family had acted at the shop when there really wasn’t much wrong with the car told him it was more a tale of showing ownership. Either Sage had given away her feelings for him or the mother had. No matter which because Sage was terrified when she spoke up to her father. And even more so when the other man had put his hands on her.
Loch had raged inside when she shot him that fearful glance. He’d wanted to remove the person’s arm from his body and beat him with it. Having no idea at the moment about what to do or how, he was forced to let it go until she directly asked for his help.
Chapter Two
Faith is not knowing what the future holds but knowing who holds the future.
Sage was terrified. Her father had her locked in her room for three days as he planned her cleansing. Her entire life, she’d always recognized that she and her siblings were held to a higher standard in the community, that their punishments would be more severe for disobedience. However, not once had any of them suffered the fate she was about to.
Tru, Porter, and Jossilyn spent the past three days trying to convince their father to let her repent while Anastasia and Kaidence ignored her like so many others until her cleanse was complete. She was ostracized from every
one.
At mass on Wednesday, her father had made it clear that no one was to speak to her. That she was the devil’s sinner. For Sage, this was equivalent to death given that she thrived on being social. She loved being able to teach and play with the children. Working in the gardens had always been soothing for her troubled mind.
She had become a burden to those around her now. Even if she were declared reborn after the cleanse, she would never be looked at the same again. She would be forever tainted. Broken. Everyone would feel she was going to bring hell to their home. No amount of praying to her Lord had given her insight into why this was happening either.
Hearing the door to her room being unlocked from the outside, she quickly turned from the window and sat cross-legged on her bed, ready to be done with the whole ordeal.
“Sage,” Jossilyn called her name softly. As the second youngest at eighteen, her sister often felt as trapped and confused as Sage.
Standing, she asked, “Is it time?” Trepidation shook her voice.
“No.” Joss shook her head. “I’m going to town with Momma. That man you mentioned, I’m calling him. You need to leave this place, Sage.” The stark terror in her sister’s gaze had Sage’s spine straightening as she closed the door behind her.
“Why? What’s happening?” Their words remained hushed.
“Morgan is calling for your deflowering within twenty-four hours of the cleanse.” The urgency in her sister’s voice scared her. “He’s a bad man. His last wife didn’t die from an illness, he beat her to death.” Shocked, Sage’s jaw hung open.
“What do I do?” Her words were too quiet to be heard.
Jossilyn gripped her shoulders and shook her body. “You have to remain strong, Sage. Do not waver. God will pull through for you.”
How could she believe that when her parents were about to let a man more than twice her age steal her innocence after traumatizing her in the snake pond?
“Get your things together. Porter and Tru are looking for a way out for you. Somewhere no one will see you leaving.”
“Where will I go?” She didn’t know life outside of the compound. She barely knew anything about the real world.
“What’s his name?” Joss asked her.
“Who?” Her mind was too confused to piece anything together.
“The man from Loveland. His name, what is it?” Footsteps could be heard as Sage struggled to come to grips with all this new information and think coherently. “Sage!” she snapped.
“Lochlan.”
The door burst open, and there stood their father. A man she used to look up to, respect. A man she now feared. “Jossilyn, what are you doing in here?” The menace permeating his voice had them both shaking.
“I came to help Sage before the cleansing.” Her sister was so strong. Sage’s voice would have wavered, she would have cowered back. Jossilyn stood tall, sure in her words.
“Leave.” His command sent her sister stumbling through the open door. Once she was gone, the bishop closed it quietly, a betrayal of the anger burning below the surface of his calm demeanor. “You are a disappointment, daughter. You never learn to just be, you always need answers. Well, after today, you will either change your ways and accept your fate as the wife of Morgan in two weeks or after the cleanse, I will give you to him so he can clean the devil from your body with his seed.”
“You can’t do that,” she whispered.
“I can do as I please!” His bellow made her flinch.
“It’s illegal. I don’t want him. I don’t want him as a husband or in my body. It would be rape!” she screamed back. Her fear of becoming tainted in the eyes of the man she would one day have as her own forgotten in the face of being forced to comply.
