Page 9 of Viking

She glares as if she wants to tell me to go fuck myself, but scrambles to her feet. “Can I at least finish my shower first?”

“No. Get the fuck out before I throw your whore ass outta here.”

“It’s true what they say about you.” She sneers. “You really are a cunt, Viking.”

I roll my shoulders under the hot spray. “Yeah, that’s what my friends tell me.”

She pushes the curtain back and climbs out of the shower. Then she wipes her face on my goddamn towel, gathers her belongings from the bathroom floor and leaves.

Bitch.

She isn’t wrong, though.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Arie

The sun beats downon me, and I crawl a few feet up the beach toward an empty wooden structure that appears as broken as my body feels. Everything hurts and my throat burns from the screaming and the salt.

The wooden shed is rotted through, and there is a lock on the door similar to the ones the brothers use on the church rectory. I slump against the sea-swollen wood and the whole shed rocks. If I had the strength, I could probably push the door off its hinges, but my wounds are bleeding again and my head spins, so I simply lean up against the structure and pray to the Mother that she will provide shelter and relief from the sun soon.

She doesn’t appear to be listening today.

***

ONE MOTHER’S MOON HASpassed since I stabbed Prophet Job and threw myself at the mercy of the sea. My mouth is dry and every time I swallow, my throat feels as if it is overflowing with salt and sand. My alabaster skin has blistered from the sun. His cruelty truly knows no bounds. I will die here if I do not move, and yet, I haven’t the strength to do anything but wait for death. The Mother is punishing me. I know I deserve her wrath, and still I beg for mercy.