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No.

Her love will be my prize. Because I won’t stop until I have both.

She’ll agree to the sacrifice. She’ll beg to be chosen. Because by then, she’ll do anything to please me. Even if it means vanishing into a new life when it’s over—cut off from her friends, her family, everything she thinks she can’t live without.

It will be a merciful end to our courtship.

It’s not like the Sacred Lights kill these girls anymore, though the more supernaturally minded of The Four Hundred still think we do. The Sacred Lights know better than that. They knowkeeping those barbaric rituals alive would eventually lead to our downfall.

My family learned that years ago, when a biological uncle found my father after taking a DNA test. Apparently, my grandfather got his virgin sacrifice pregnant.

That didn’t end well for my uncle, though he probably never even knew. The end came too quickly.

No one knows why we fuck a virgin to become a leader, only that it must be done. That’s the brilliance of The Four Hundred. They obscure meaning even from insiders. Ambiguity keeps the hierarchy intact. You can’t question a system if you don’t know how it works.

I turn the corner and find the library door. When I step inside, Hunter is there, waiting.

“How did tonight go?”

“I found my girl.”

His expression is blank. “Rhett’s girl.”

Something about the words “Rhett’s girl” makes my jaw clench. She’s not Rhett’s girl.

She’s mine now.

“Yes. She’s perfect.”

“I saw her with you. I couldn’t hear what you were talking about, but she didn’t look dazzled by you like I’d expect a nothing like her to be.”

I grin. “She wasn’t. That’s the best part.”

Hunter’s eyes narrow. “Why would you want to choose someone difficult? Why not just find a groupie to make it easy?”

I shake my head. “It needs to be her. I’m in the mood for a hunt.”

Hunter grunts. “Well if she’s not eating out of the palm of your hand in a week, I’d move on. This is too big of a deal.” His jaw hardens. “I don’t want Kane to become Prior.”

“The Sacred Light would never choose Kane. If I fail, he’ll pick you.”

His eyes flash. “I don’t want that either.”

“I know. The virgin sacrifice is the least of my worries. I have over two months. That’s more than enough time to seduce this girl. The real trouble will be Kane. Or his dad.”

“I don’t know about Gabriel. He has too much at stake to start a war, but Kane… He doesn’t think.”

“No. You’ll need to keep your whisperers on him. Many of them.”

He nods. “I did when the Sacred Light chose you.”

I pin him with a hard stare. “Put some on her too.”

His head jerks back. “On Rhett’s girl?”

I clench my jaw. “She’s not Rhett’s girl anymore.”

“Why would we need to keep a watch on her? She won’t be anointed for months. If something happens to her, you can just pick someone else.”