Deep Redemption

I let her words sink in. I tasted my falling tears on my lips. “I am so confused,” I admitted. “Too much has happened. I . . . I do not know what to think anymore . . . I . . . I . . . ”

The front door opened, and my heart fell when Mae’s love walked through. In the light, I saw him up close for the first time. He was tall and broad, with searching hazel eyes. His skin was covered with colored ink markings. He was terrifying to look at.

As if feeling my stare, he looked over at me, and I could feel him assessing me too. He shook his head in disbelief.

Mae went to his side. Despite our presence, Styx pulled her in for a heated kiss. I blushed at the sight. I knew then that this man was powerful. He took what he wanted, whenever he wanted it.

When he broke the kiss, he lifted his hands and communicated something to Mae. I saw my sister pale.

“No,” she said in shock. Styx stood stoic in response.

“What?” I asked.

“Can I tell her?” Mae asked. He nodded. Styx kept his eyes on me as Mae spoke. “Rider has informed Styx that The Order plan to attack us.”

My heart raced as I remembered the gun practice, the prophet arming our people for the end of days, the sermons of hate. “Yes,” I said. “Judah is preparing them for the end.”

Mae looked down at the floor. “So the Hangmen are going in first.” She paused, then added, “The Hangmen and Rider.”

White-hot fear surged through my veins. “No,” I whispered. “He will kill Rider. Judah, his twin . . . he will kill him.”

Styx shrugged, the action igniting a fire inside me. Without conscious thought I found myself rushing forward to where he stood. “Bella,” Mae called, reaching out for my arm. I wrenched it away from her touch.

Styx raised his eyebrow at me, crossing his arms over his chest. It only served to infuriate me more. “You have no idea,” I said, trying my hardest to control my overwrought emotions. “You have no idea what Judah has been doing to Rider for weeks and weeks. He has hurt him in every way possible. He cast him aside, severing any fraternal bond they might have once shared. And it broke Rider’s heart. His only family, the only person he has ever loved, tossed him aside because he tried to do the right thing.” My legs shook with anger, but I did not back down. “Rider killed a man when he finally witnessed a Lord’s Sharing. He went against all that he has ever known to stop what he just knew was wrong. He was the prophet, yet he stopped one of The Order’s most important practices. Do you know what that was like for him? No, you could not, because you did not live in that place. But I did. WE did!” Mae tried to reach for me again, but I faced her and shouted, “NO!”

Mae stepped back, and I turned to face Styx once more. “He risked everything to save me. I do not know how he did it, but he switched places with his brother to save me from being taken by him. He turned on his flesh and blood to save me and return me to my sisters. And now you send him back into their arms . . . they will kill him.”

I waited for Styx to speak, to say something. But all he did was run his tongue along his bottom lip and shrug. I reared back in shock. I looked at my sisters. Lilah and Maddie had their heads bowed, and Mae . . . Mae rocked on her feet, yet she said nothing.

“What kind of people are you?” I asked, feeling ice trickle down my spine.

Mae’s lover used his hands to communicate with her again. Mae paled further and shook her head. He worked his hands more insistently, and this time, Mae looked at me and said, “Styx wants me to tell you . . . tell you that you do not know Rider like you think you do. And that now you are here with us, you have no place with him. Rider will never be welcome here. Ever.”

I laughed. I laughed and laughed as I shook my head in disbelief. “Bella,” Mae said. She was upset by this sudden tension between her love and me, I could see it.

“No,” I said softly. “I just . . . I just need to sleep. I need to be alone.”

“We just got you back,” Maddie said, and my heart almost broke for my timid little sister.

“I know, sister,” I said. “But I cannot take all of this in. I am struggling to see how this life is different.” I met eyes with Styx again. “To me it appears that you have simply exchanged one controlling environment for another. I am worried that you are not free here at all. You have simply been given a greater cage in which to roam.”

My words were like a trigger to Mae’s lover. His face reddened with barely suppressed rage. Mae took hold of his arm and made him face her. She put her hands on his cheeks, and he closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. Her touch seemed to calm the man down.

“Maddie,” Mae said. “Please show Bella your old room. She can rest there.”

Maddie took my hand. I let her lead me away, up wooden stairs to a bedroom. Maddie hovered by the door as I walked to the bed and sat down. I let my eyes drift around the pretty furnishings, then out of the large window that overlooked a grass verge.

“Bella,” Maddie finally said. I looked at my sister. Her head was down and her hands were clasped in front of her. “I just . . . I just want you to be happy.”

My heart shattered at her words, because I knew that she meant it. Maddie had the kindest heart I had ever known.

“I know you do.”

Movement from the window caught my eye, and I saw a large dark figure emerge from the trees. My stomach flipped. He was the most terrifying man I had ever seen. “Someone is coming,” I announced. Maddie sighed.

“That will be Flame. He never leaves me for long.”

“That is your husband?”

Maddie nodded, and I saw her happiness light her from inside. “Yes. He is the one I love. He is the other half of my soul.”

Flame stopped below the window and stared up at me. He looked to my side, and his lip curled into the beginnings of a smile. Maddie. Maddie had moved beside me.

My sister pressed a kiss to my cheek and walked toward the door. I dropped my head, feeling an ache begin to throb behind my eyes.

“Bella?”

“Yes?”

“I do not know much about matters of the heart. But I know what it is like to harbor feelings for a man people greatly disapprove of. Who people regard as wrong, unsalvageable or sinful.” Maddie blushed. “But I also know what it is like when you are in their arms. In their hearts. It is different. You can make them different . . . you can show them that they too can be saved, even when they believe they are a lost cause.” Maddie looked me directly in the eyes. “I know what Rider has done is bad. And I can see how much of a toll all this has been on you. But . . . but I do not believe he is evil. He may be lost, confused . . . but I believe he can be saved. You, Bella. You can save him. You have that ability.”