“I have another sister, Magdalene, but she had a different mother. She is painfully quiet, nothing like Bella and me. Maddie is so frightened by men, by everything really. But Bella was my best friend. We were always so close.”
As she lifted her eyes, she smiled. “She was beautiful, Styx. You should have seen her. So stunning. So perfect. So unbelievably kind. But that was Bella’s downfall, her allurement and exquisiteness; it was the thing to ruin her life.” I held her gaze as I tried to picture someone more stunning than Mae. I couldn’t, but she sure believed it to be true.
“Beautiful women were treated worst of all by the brothers. Prophet David and his chief elder, Gabriel, would say the devil had a hand in their looks. That they were designed, no, created, to tempt men. They had to be treated differently from plain females—watched… broken in like a horse. They were seen as cursed.”
Mae shifted uncomfortably and a tear fell down her cheek, so I moved over and kissed it. Her breath hitched before she exhaled slowly through her lips.
“Bella and I, we were classed as such ‘Cursed’ women; my goodness, we were referred to as the ‘Cursed’. My friend Lilah and my sister Maddie were with us too, all four in our own private quarters in the commune. We were kept separate for the high elders’ personal attentions—their special trainings. Brother Gabriel had Bella. Brother Jacob had me. Brother Noah had Lilah. The most sexually cruel brother, Moses, had Maddie—Magdalene. Moses said she harbored demons because she did not speak often, did not leave her room. But she was just quiet, reserved, barely spoke or revealed her true feelings to me.” Her eyes crinkled in pain. “The things he would make her do…” Mae trailed off and her throat caught on a cry.
“Shh, babe.” I tried to soothe her. But f**k, how could I respond to this f**ked-up tale?
“Gabriel grew more obsessed with Bella as she matured, even after he married another sister, then another. He joined with Bella every night, slept beside her every night. She ate with him, he made her bathe with him. He became crazed with his possession of her. But she hated him, Styx. She hated him with every fiber of her being.”
Mae drew in a deep breath and continued. “When I was thirteen, Prophet David declared me to be the prophesized seventh wife. The wife who will signal the return of Christ, the End of Days. When I turned twenty-three, I would wed the prophet. I had no idea why I had been chosen. I had never even spoken to the prophet. He was always kept away from his people. We only saw him at ceremonies, sharings, and prayers. But he would get the elders to video the young sisters of the commune… to see which ones he wanted to… bond with. Perhaps he saw me on one of those…” She pressed a kiss to my chest as though it gave her strength. I gripped her hair in my hand and my teeth gritted to the point of pain. Videoed? Shit! Oh, and I f**kin’ knew why she’d been chosen to be his wife. Hell, it was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes.
“The day I ran was to be my wedding day. The day you found me,” she explained.
It all made sense now. “The w-white d-dress—” I pushed out, unable to finish my sentence. I was losing control of my speech, too coiled up with the growing rage inside me.
She nodded. “Weeks prior to my wedding, Bella just disappeared. No one would tell us Cursed where she went, but Gabriel was always absent from our sector after that day. He was obviously with her. Then…” She sniffed back her sadness. “Then on my wedding day, Lilah found her. Bella was in a dark dirty cell; beaten, starving… dying. I stayed with her until she passed. Then I ran.” Suddenly, sobs wracked her body and, gripping the back of her neck, I pulled her to my chest. “I left them, Styx! I left Maddie and Lilah.”
“F-fuck Mae,” I said as I tried to work my throat free.
Abruptly rearing back, her face swollen and red, she said, “They will be searching for me. They will never stop. They believe I am the vessel who will save their mortal souls.” Glancing down at her tattoo on her wrist, I ran my thumb across the scripture, then looked once more to Mae.
“The End of Days is upon us. My marriage is the act that must happen to transport my people—The Order—into paradise.”
And there went that robotic shit spouting from her mouth again. Glazed eyes and all.
“Y-y-you…” I paused, breathed deep, calmed myself, and tried again. “Y-you ain’t l-leaving m-me. Th-they come f-for you, th-they g-gotta go through me… th-through the Hangmen.”
Her tight face softened. “Styx… I never want to leave you, but—”