Page 19 of Their Blood Rite

I know better than to argue.

‘Can I have some privacy?’ I ask, keeping my gaze on his feet.

He turns around and I pull off my nightgown, replacing it swiftly with the dress.

I look in the mirror. It covers nothing. I see my breasts. My nipples. My… well, all of me. Every inch.

It says everything about tomorrow’s vile ritual. What we are is all you see. A body. A pair of tits. A cunt and an arse to fuck. To own.

‘You will wear your hair up,’ my father says, appearing behind me. The eagle atop his cane is hooked over his arm as he twists my hair into place, letting a few loose strands fall over my shoulders. ‘A little make-up. Not too much. And this.’ He holds out his other hand. A delicate silver chain tumbles between his fingers, dropping a small pendant before me. A small heart with a red ruby in the setting. It’s the only gift he has ever given me.

‘What’s this for?’

‘For your birthday. Happy twentieth year.’

I watch him in the mirror. He meets my gaze and offers a smile. A painfully empty smile with bitterly cold eyes.

‘I don’t want to wear this dress.’ My voice trembles through anger and disgust. ‘I don’t want to do the Rite.’

‘You have no choice.’

I turn to face him, ignoring the chain he still offers.

‘Please, Father. I don’t want to go through with this.’

‘Ashe,’ he warns. ‘Stop. It is already in motion. There is no stopping it. And it needs to happen. You know that.’

‘Is a big house and bragging rights worth more to you than my life? Than my happiness?’

His hand slams over my mouth and pinches my nose shut, and in a quick and violent move, I’m pinned to the wall.

‘More than you could ever comprehend. Yes. As planned, you will perform the Rite tonight and join this coven in blood and obedience. Then, you will take every male who chooses to claim you beneath the blood moon. In any way they choose. That is your duty. That is your purpose.’ He lets me go, and I take in a much-needed breath.

‘It’s rape!’

‘It is tradition. All the other females are excited. They are proud to be joining this coven.’

‘I assure you they are not.’

‘Well. I assure you that no one cares. At least you have a proposal at the end of it. You will marry Cole and become the Coven leader’s wife. Understood?’ When I don’t reply nor nod, he rests the head of his cane beneath my chin. ‘Am. I. Understood?’

‘Yes,’ I reply.

‘He loves you,’ he says simply. ‘Any fool could see that. Gods know why, but he does. He will be good to you.’

He probably will. He has been so far. But I will be his wife. His property. I will be kept in his house, bred like a bitch, and hardly see beyond his manor.

That is if I survive tonight.

Last year, one girl died from internal injuries. Another’s hips were so badly broken she was left unable to walk.

‘Hang the dress and get yourself ready.’

‘For what?’ I ask, swallowing down the sobs and rage in my throat.

‘Your birthday lunch with your fiancé.’

‘It’s not for another five hours.’

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