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“Anyway, the family has the plot by the main fields. Their eldest son is . . .” She smirks and fans her face dramatically. “H.O.T,” she spells out with a giggle. “You never know, maybe your father will marry you off to get rid of you.”

I sigh dreamily. “Imagine.” It would never happen. Daughters born from warriors are made to serve their families in any way required. Sons are sent to work in the fields during harvest, and eventually, they’ll marry and have their own families.

“Abel mentioned more children arrived recently.”

She gives another sad smile while hanging the meat onto the hooks. “Yep. It’s heartbreaking when they first come through those doors looking so lost and scared. The youngest looks about three years old.”

“Did you manage to ask any of them about their life?” It was a plan we’d come up with together so we could try and suss out the outside world.

Jade shakes her head. “The eldest is around five, Wynter. All they do is cry for their mothers. Plus, the carers are always watching us like hawks.” The carers look after the children when they first arrive.

“They’ve already introduced the cattle prod. ”

“I’m running out of ideas,” I mutter.

“Are you sure we should even be trying?” When I stare at her, she sighs. “It’s just that you’re already in so much trouble. Everyone in the village knows what you did. Some of them are blaming you for the rain we’ve had over the last week. They think God is punishing you.”

I roll my eyes. “Idiots.”

I turn as the fridge door opens and Jade’s father leans against the door frame. “Well, if it isn’t trouble.” Jade gives him a pleading look, and he shakes his head. “I can’t have you calling in at unsociable hours anymore, Wynter.”

“My father asked me to come to explain we’re feeding an extra guest.”

“Thank him for letting me know. I’ll make sure to add to your weekly delivery.” He opens the door wider. “You should go.”

As I head out, I hear him lecturing Jade, and I pause to listen. “I’ve told you already, you cannot be seen with her anymore. It’s bad for us. The other villagers will tell her father, and he’ll punish us.”

The fact my father is already trying to destroy everyone I love plays heavy on my mind as I leave, closing the door carefully behind me.

Abel rushes to catch me up as I head up the hill back home. “What are you doing out and about? Why aren’t you at the ceremony?”

“I’ve been in exile, in case you haven’t noticed,” I say with a small laugh. “They banned me so I can’t mess up another.”

“Wanna come and see whose turn it is?” he asks.

I frown. “Not really.”

“Please,” he argues. “If it’s Livia, I’ll die on the spot.”

I smirk. “You’re so dramatic.”

I follow him along the path that leads to the main doors of the church.

It’s silent inside, and Abel slowly opens the door, giving enough space for us to peer in.

I clamp a hand over my mouth, staring wide at the vision of Livia as she rides Wrath.

There are no tears or dramatics as she cries in pleasure.

Wrath has a hand wrapped around her waist as he grunts with each thrust. “Holy shit,” I whisper.

“My life is over,” Abel mutters.

“Or just beginning,” I soothe. “You could offer her a shoulder to cry on once the baby is born.”

“As soon as the baby arrives, she’ll be married to someone from one of the families. Probably Dudley,” he says with disdain.

I frown. “The cousin of Lucas Perez is not going to marry Livia.”

“All I know is it won’t be me.”

I step away and head back along the path with Abel hot on my heels. “Who knows? My father is already changing the rules to suit himself.”

“I heard about the new family and his liking of their daughter.”

“She hasn’t even had a child with a warrior, so how is she in his bed?”

“Do you think he’ll let villagers marry the warriors’ castoffs one day?”

I laugh, shaking my head. “Probably not.”

The sound of chains has us both turning, just as Jax and Lenny reach us with their warrior. We immediately step to one side so they can pass. Wrath locks eyes with me, and for a second, I can’t breathe, like I’ve forgotten a basic function. “Here she is, the fuckup,” sneers Lenny.

“I’m sure her father will be pleased you’re speaking to his daughter like that,” Abel snaps.

They pause, and Wrath’s eyes run down my body. I look away, embarrassed by his nakedness. “Her father doesn’t give a shit,” says Lenny, laughing. “Not since she embarrassed him.”

Jax’s hand darts towards me, and I flinch. Wrath growls, his eyes blazing with something I can’t quite place. Jax glances back, frowning. “What’s the matter, Mute? Do you hate the entitled princess too?”

He wraps a piece of my hair around his finger, and when Abel squares his shoulders, Jax holds his cattle prod up in warning.

“Well, that’s something we have in common, warrior,” he adds in a low whisper as his eyes run over my terrified face.

He smirks, letting his finger trail down my cheek and over my collarbone.

“Maybe I should offer to take you off your father’s hands so he doesn’t have to worry about you messing up his name. ”

Wrath pulls on his chains, anger burning brightly in his light blue eyes, and I get the impression he isn’t aiming it my way as he glares at where Jax’s fingers touch me.

Jax glances back a second time, sneering.

“You don’t want me to touch this one, Mute, is that it?

” he asks and then grabs my throat. I gasp, wincing as his fingers dig into my neck.

Wrath lunges forwards, hitting Jax in the side of the head with his fist, forcing him to release me so he can catch himself as he hits the ground.

I grip my neck, staring wide-eyed at the beast as he tries to pull towards Jax.

Lenny presses a button on his radio before pressing his cattle prod to Wrath’s thigh.

It does nothing—the spark only seems to anger him more.

I see more guards running up the hill with cattle prods in their hands, and I panic, rushing towards Wrath and placing a hand on his.

He stills immediately, staring at my touch with curiosity.

“Calm down,” I whisper, “or they’ll hurt you.

” His mouth opens and closes before his eyes meet mine.

We’re locked in something I can’t explain, and all I see in his stunning blues is pain. “Thank you for saving me,” I add.

He suddenly falls to his knees, his eyes rolling to the back of his head and his body stiffening as prods are pressed to him. “He’s calm,” I scream as Abel pulls me back. “Get off him. He’s calm again.”

“Wynter?” I turn at the sound of my father’s voice. The disappointment I see in his eyes is a reminder of his hatred towards me. Beside him is Cornelius, Adrian, and Silas. The heads of all four families are staring at me . . . again.

“Anthony, this cannot go on,” Adrian says firmly. “She came here to disrupt my daughter’s ceremony.”

I shake my head, glancing back as Wrath is taken away, his feet dragging over the stone path. “I didn’t . . . I haven’t . . . that’s not what I was doing.”

“Sir, if I may,” Jax interjects, holding his head where he was hit. My father gives a stiff nod. “I found them together, getting intimate. They distracted me from my duties, and Wrath got in a lucky hit.”

I gasp, glancing at Abel, who looks just as mortified. “We were doing no such thing,” I argue.

“Intimate?” my father repeats, arching a brow.

“No, we just wanted to see the . . .” I pause before admitting the truth. “We were watching the ceremony.”

“And then you got intimate with a man from the village?” Cornelius accuses. “Ceremonies are a ritual we have performed for many years. How dare you let the devil corrupt your behaviour and make your thoughts dark.”

“I didn’t,” I argue again.

My father steps forwards, striking me across the face. “Do not argue,” he bellows. “Go home and wait for me there.” Abel turns to leave too, but my father adds, “Not you.”

I glance back at his terrified expression, praying to God nothing bad happens to him.

Wrath

Over and over again, I’m kicked and hit with objects, yet I don’t feel a thing because the only image I have in my head is of her.

The woman with the green eyes. I glance at my hand, to the spot where her fingers touched me.

It still feels warm there, and I almost smile.

“This is just the beginning, Mute,” pants Lenny. “The boss has some plans for you.”

The door opens, and they all pause their assault. “Get him cleaned up.” The boss never comes down here, and as she looks around my room, she turns her nose up in disgust. “And get this shithole cleaned up. I can’t have my top warrior living like this.” Then, she turns and leaves.