Page 6

Chapter 2

“Temperance!” Rhyder bit out, his voice hoarse.

I hadn’t heard that name in so long. All women rescued from the Congregations were encouraged to choose new names to emphasize our break from life in the cults. I wasn’t expecting how it wouldfeelto hear my real name for the first time in so long. Tears almost sprung to my eyes but Eli had twisted around, my legs still dangling helplessly in the air.

“Let her go,” my brother said.

Eli lowered me to the ground, only for his big hand to close over my throat. I knew it was foolish to struggle, but I couldn’t help, my hands scrabbling desperately at his tight grip.

“Let her go,” Rhyder growled. “She’s mine.”

There was wild, feral threat running through his voice, and I saw his hand move toward his belt, flicking out a shiny jagged blade.

Eli sucked in his breath and tightened his hold on me.

“I saw her first,” he said. “Those are the laws.”

“I claimedhera long time ago,” my brother returned. “From our mother’s womb. When it was her birth-giving time, they told her Temperance was stuck, that she’d probably die. But when I came out my hand was wrapped around my sister’s foot, pulling her out with me. They said I wouldn’t let her go. And that is how it’ll always be.”

My heart was hammering in my chest, Eli’s hand tight around my throat.

“Interesting, Rhyder,” the Enforcer said. “You, who never partake of any of the whores, suddenly want to claim one for your own because she looks like your sister?”

His hand on my throat was terrifyingly tight, making dark spots dance in my vision. My feet still dangled off the ground.

Rhyder started toward me, but Eli’s hand only tightened around my neck, making the city street swim sickeningly before me.

“Not so fast. I could break her scrawny neck with one twist.”

My brother froze, the agony in his eyes palpable to me.

“What do you want?” he bit out. “Take what you want from me. Onlygive her to me now.”

“Why do you want this one so badly?” the Enforcer asked curiously.

“It’s Temperance,” Rhyder said, his Adam’s apple moving in agony.

For a moment there was silence, then Eli began to chuckle, a grating mirthless sound. His darkly yellowed teeth swam in my vision.

“Are you still a freak about your sister, holy warrior?” he laughed. “Is that why you’ve never even taken a whore? I remember you used to be fuckingobsessedwith her. But I thought you’d grown out of that.”

“No,” Rhyder bit out, his hand still on his knife, his legs spread wide apart, tense, coiled and waiting. “She is mine and that will never change.”

I felt a strange mix of fear and defiance from Eli. I wondered if the Enforcer felt threatened by my twin, by his ironclad devotion to the Allfather and his Prophet.

Eli loosened his hands around my throat a bit, just barely, so I could draw a gasping breath.

“What would you do to get her as your whore?”

“Name it,” Rhyder said, his voice low, making my gut twist.

My body seemed to vibrate with the awareness of his closeness, being in his presence after so long.