+ Read the First Chapter↓

“Present yourself across the altar, child. Remember what I have taught you.”

Tears seeped from my clenched eyes.

My pulse beat hard and fast.

A shiver chased up my spine, but I was ready regardless.

He was hovering over my body, preparing.

“Your needs are his. You are the gift that will open the gates…”

Trapping my bottom lip between my teeth, I laid my body down.

“You were born for this. You are pure.”

Lying prostrate in a candlelit room, my chest was pressed to the ground, and my arms were spread out as if I were flying.

A blindfold covered my eyes stealing my sight. My forehead was pushed painfully tight to the floor. No person could question my faith. Not Elijah. Not my family. No one.

Only I knew that I wasn’t the person I pretended to be.

Large, warm hands explored my ankles and calves. Reaching my knees, they tugged the hem of my dress.

Higher and higher he pulled, until frigid wind and warm breath mingled across my skin.

My shame almost exposed, I dragged in a deep breath, my body prickling from the cold. Anticipation and fear collided as a wicked, ravenous storm inside me.

Small flames illuminated the large space, large black candles that somehow stole the very light they gave off. Wind whispered through the large room despite the closed doors and sealed windows.

A crowd had gathered, a sea of faces that included my parents, my brother, and my friends. They sat as silent witnesses watching me become lost to the moment.

I lay in acceptance of the acts. I spread my body out in devotion. My faith was the tether keeping me still.

A draft caressed my bottom, the tip of a thumb trailing up the cheeks. I shivered at the soft touch, my teeth clenched painfully tight, a sliver of anxious dread crawling along my spine. This moment would rid the sin from my body. His hand would force it to the surface, would expel it from my skin and destroy it with a blast of God’s light.

Elijah’s knees lowered to the floor on either side of me. His hands touched me. His fingers gripped my hips, lifting just that part of me that spoke of good girls and poisonous kisses.

I struggled to move from the position I’d held for over an hour. Was it normal not to be scared? I was exposed, helpless, and being touched in a room full of people.

They could see every mark, could plainly witness my temptation. It wasn’t fear that ran through my blood at that moment. It was piety, it was trust, it was need. But fear was absent. What kind of person did that make me?

Elijah’s voice was deep and calm – hypnotic in the soft accent to his words. Saturating the air, it vibrated against my skin, reminiscent of a whisper as he instructed the gathering to begin their part. Words rolled over their lips, notes softly hummed and rattled from their chests.

They watched, they participated, and they stood behind us with blind eyes opened wide.

Lowering his body over mine, Elijah’s lips touched the rim of my ear. He spoke to me alone, reminded me what he would do to make me his.

I felt his knees move between mine, but I kept my toes pointed out as my legs were spread apart. My forehead pressed closer to the floor, the pain forcing tears from my eyes.

Desire was my constant companion, the phantom that would drag me away from salvation’s gates.

There was no question that I would fail.

I was a sinner and he was pure. He just didn’t know it yet. Hands slid along my thighs, slowly moving over my hips. His fingers entwined with the fabric of my panties, slowly pulling, revealing me to his silver-blue eyes.

I refused the urge to push away, to move, to escape.

I refused the urge to push back, begging for more.

What I did didn’t matter. Within seconds, the choice was no longer mine.

The fighting started slowly, growing louder until one familiar voice rose above the others.

There was a struggle above me and I was pulled from the floor. My feet barely held my weight when the blindfold was ripped from my head.

Opening my eyes, I saw my brother’s face, his mouth open, anxiety, anger and fear rolling behind his eyes.

Time snapped into place all at once. I heard one word that woke me from my stupor, a word that made me realize what I had to do.

It was my brother’s voice that screamed, a voice that I trusted above all else.

One final word breaking my faith.

One warning that rang out above all.

My brother wasn’t only fighting, he was screaming for me to run.