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The temporary camp was set in the shelter of a tall hill outside Ronan’s lands, guarded by several Congregants to protect their battle gear, drones, and supplies, and after Rhyder had left, I was sitting in a tent with the flap open when something flickered in the fog.

It was probably just a wild animal, maybe a deer. But I still sat curiously straighter, putting down the mug of mountain tea Rhyder had made for me even though he was preparing for a bloody slaughter, my eyes straining in the fog. But by the time the shadows had turned into the shape of a very tall man, it was too late.

The shriek was ripped from my throat as the camp guard finally turned around. Too late though. He had barely gotten his knife out when the other man attacked, an efficient brutal thrust into his gut.

I saw blood spurt from the guard’s chest as he fell in awful agony. The other two guards were on him with a roar, but the shadows had moved and I recognized the attacker now, because he was the man Rhyder had gone to kill, the only man I knew who had actually given Rhyder a scar.

Ronan

He was quicker than both of the guards, kicking one brutally away with his boots, and his hand moved like a flash over the other one, a vicious fast slice across the throat.

Then he bent forward and stabbed the first man in the heart, a quick cruel twist of his weapon.

I clutched the sides of the tent and tried to sink further back into the dark corner as he wrenched his knife out.

Other men materialized out of the fog now, and Ronan pointed to the temporary camp.

“Take what is valuable. Burn and destroy the rest.”

I wanted to disappear.

What if they found me? Would they recognize me as the woman who had been with Rhyder and kill me on sight?

I smelled fire. Should I make a run for it?

Suddenly, I felt the tent flap pulled back and I met the bright blue eyes of a man with shaggy brown hair.

Fuck. It was Edmund.

“Ooh, hello little one,” he said, stepping closer to me.

“Stay away from me,” I croaked.

My brother was three times the size of this man, and I suddenly realized what it was like to live in the world of the Congregations without Rhyder’s protection.

I didn’t want to do it anymore.

The world was cruel and harsh and I wanted my brother’s protection.

The smell of the fire as the other men burned our Congregation’s tents was sharp and acrid in the air.

“You’re a pretty little thing, too,” he said appreciatively. “And don’t I recognize you?”

He smiled at me, crooked and gleaming, then he put an arm on the tent flap and pulled it back.

“Ronan! I’ve found something I want.”

I heard a low curse, then their Prophet walked in the tent.

Fuck

Up close, he was even taller than I thought, and his face harsher, the splashes of blood only emphasizing the jagged planes of his face.

He looked at me without interest. “Leave her,” he said.

“This is Rhyder’s woman,” Edmund protested. “You know we’re entitled to the spoils of war. Isn’t it my right by the Allfather to take her as my concubine? Serve that asshole right for me to keep her.”

“You already have a godsdamn concubine,” Ronan said abruptly. “You’re not going to have another one. Put her in the back of the truck and let’s see if Rhyder comes looking for her. Besides, you need to be figuring out how their godsdamn machines work.”