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Accept it as my sacrifice

Cover Temperance with it

Let my righteousness cover her

Wash away the cities

Leaving her cleansed and pure

He had a low, gravelly bass singing voice, and it had always been the strongest, most comforting sound of my childhood, but now I looked at him in mute astonishment.

Was that where we were always going to end up—Rhyder over me, opening his body as a sacrifice to the Allfather? I pictured the Allfather opening the door to heaven for Rhyder with his long list of faithful deeds and me getting sent down to The Gray for being nothing more than a dirty whore. I knew my brother wouldn’t even let me have any peace in Hell. He’d storm down there, spit in the devil’s face, and drag me up to heaven with him.

His blood felt heavy and viscous, endless, as Rhyder sliced in a circle, twisting his own flesh to get more out.

I tried to duck down, maybe even fall to the floor, anything to stop the terrible weight of his righteousness.

And the way hisfacelooked. His eyes glittering like he’d dig down to the bone, open every vein, if it meant I would be right with the Allfather.

But as I tried to fall to the floor, he gripped my chin, easily keeping me in place.

In the name of the Allfatherhe intoned.

Take and drink

His voice seemed to rumble so deeply it vibrated through me, filling me with a deep, uneasy fear.

And Rhyder thrust his wrist over my mouth.

The blood streamed down my head, trickling down and pooling in my ears.

I tasted his salty blood in my mouth, tried to pull away, almost windmilling my arms in my efforts to get away from the depravity, the sick wrongness of it.

But Rhyder put his other big hand on the back of my neck, holding me firmly in place.

Take and drink, sister,he ordered again, his voice like steel, his grip like iron.

He moved his wrist up and down, smearing the blood all over my mouth. My lips were stretched wide around his wrist, the blood sticky and slick, my tongue trying to cringe away, but I couldn’t escape it.

His blood filled my mouth, metallic salt and darkness, and then Rhyder was massaging my throat with his other hand, stepping so close to me that his masculine scent overwhelmed me.

“Swallow, sister, swallow!” he urged. “This will protect you.”

The Holy Relic on his leather chain dangled in front of me and I had the crazy urge to grab it, try to rip it from his throat. Do something that would break his obsession.

I shook my head back and forth, refusing to swallow.

“Temperance,” he growled, and I gathered the blood in my mouth and spit it in his face, splattering across his strong jaw and the handsome cruel planes of his face.

“I don’t want it!” I hissed at him. “Let me go to the fucking Gray in peace, Rhyder, fuck!”

“No,” my brother said, his eyes glittering at me, his big body looming over me, the incredible power of his massive hands. “You can’t go anywhere in this world or the next to be free of me.”

Then he reached for my jaws, prying them open with both hands as he pinned me against the wall with his hips. I pushed him as hard as I could and he sucked viciously on his own wrist, tearing it open further with sharp teeth.

I wailed in fear and terror with my helplessness before my brother’s monstrous obsession with me. His hips dug into the soft skin under my breasts, and I had to clench my thighs together so I wouldn’t faint.

And Rhyder filled his mouth with his own blood and leaned over me, one hand on my upper and lower jaw, forcing them open, and he spit the mix of spit and blood directly down my throat with a harsh, sharp sound.