Prologue
Five years earlier…
Emily
“Run!”
Momma’s strained hiss into my ear before she pushes me away chills my already frigid heart and I jerk into action. I want to stay with her but I can’t. A plan has been put into motion—a plan that involves me. Staying would mean death.
And seventeen is too early to die.
My boots clomp across the wooden porch as I tear off toward the line of trees that are nearest to our property. When I reach the edge, I hop down into the dirt and don’t hesitate before sprinting toward the woods. With each panicked stride, the thick dress I’m wearing tangles between my long legs. I trip and nearly topple over, but instead manage to grasp the fabric and yank it up above my knees.
“Emily!”
The voice, a familiar one, shouts at me from somewhere. I won’t stop though. Momma told me to run and never look back. To never step foot again in Empyrean. My past and present. But not my future.
The place I’ve called home for seventeen years has morphed into something dark and malevolent overnight.
When the tree line seems within reach and my lungs threaten to burst inside of my chest, I slow. It’s growing dark and the woods are dense. Papa and my older brother Jordy have shot plenty of bear and elk just inside the thicket.
What if a bear attacks me?
But if I stay, they’ll attack me. And, it’ll be much worse.
With a new fire fueling me, I pick up my speed and charge into the darkness. The shouts aren’t as loud and I thank my lucky stars for making it this far. Branches whip at me, scratching and biting my exposed arms, but I don’t slow. The tiny pricks of pain only drive me to move forward. Away from this wicked home of mine. Away from my family.
The woods become almost black the farther I get away from the lights of Empyrean. If I can keep up my pace for a few more hours, surely I can make it someplace safe. Maybe find a nice family to take me in for the night. To protect me from the bears and much worse, those whom are after me.
I’m so focused on my escape that I completely miss the fallen tree in front of me before it’s too late. My boot catches and I flip face first over the tree. I cry out the second my face slams into the trunk of a much thicker tree growing from the earth.
Dizziness washes over me and blood, from having gashed my lip with my teeth, gushes down my chin.
I have to get up.
Blinking several times, I attempt to push away the lightheadedness and regain my strength to keep running.
Get up!
The ground tilts and shifts below me which only serves to cause me to grow nauseous.
“There!” a voice shouts from nearby.
Jordy.
Tears well in my eyes and I want to call for him to help me—to pull me into his arms and take me back home. But I know it is a little girl’s dream, an attempted escape from this evil. Jordy isn’t looking to save me—he’s trying to capture me.
With newfound determination, I rise on wobbly legs and keep pushing through the forest growth, away from the voices and bouncing lights that are now becoming visible.
Keep going, Emily.
I think I’ve finally managed to chase away the vertigo from my fall when my hair is yanked with such force that I yelp in pain.
“And where does the little virgin think she’s running off to?”
Hot breath that reeks of onion, skitters over my neck, tickling me. I struggle to free myself, but the man tightens his grip around my waist and holds me against his large, thick frame.
“Let me go! You can’t do this!” I scream.
He chuckles, malice leaking from it and it saturates my pure soul with his dark one. “This is the way it has to be, Emily. It’s your time.”
The voice finally registers and I recognize it as that of my father’s dearest friend, Jude. He’s always been a rule follower and his sights have always been set on a seat in the council. Capturing me will no doubt earn him his beloved chair.
“Please, Jude,” I beg, “They’ll kill me. I thought you loved me!”
For almost eighteen years Jude has been in our lives. Every birthday, except my very next. Every autumn gathering. Every Sunday dinner. Every waking moment, helping my father in any way he can.
“Of course I love you, Emily. You’re like a niece to me. But you know the law.”
His grip never wanes and my hopes are squashed. I’ll never get out of here, despite my Momma’s wishes. She showed me what my future holds. And even though she wanted me to create my own future, the truth is that I have no future.
My future ends tonight.
“Excellent work, Jude,” my father’s voice booms as he nears.
I’m not sure why I thought it would be any different—that Papa would somehow disagree with the council. The sick pleasure in his voice at my imprisonment in Jude’s arms tells me otherwise.
It is the law.
And Papa always abides by the law.
“Take her to the circle. Everything is prepared and the elders in town are waiting. Time is of the essence,” Papa grumbles from behind us at Jude, clearly annoyed that I nearly foiled their plans.
I let out a strangled sob and stop wiggling in Jude’s arms. “Papa, please. Don’t do this. I don’t want to die. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
He steps into my line of vision, his lamp casting an eerie glow on his rugged, bearded face, and scowls. The strands of grey aren’t visible in the darkness, but his dark hair instead takes on a yellow, sinister hue.
“You’re giving our town the greatest gift, Emily. It will be done.” His tone is firm and unyielding. “Jude, you know what to do. I want her ready.”
Papa turns on his heel and trudges away from us without so much as a backward glance at his only daughter. My heart shatters and all hope is lost. It all ends now.
When Jude’s palm slides up over my breast through my dress, I let out a garbled scream.
“There, there, Emily,” he growls into my ear and yanks on the fabric, ripping the buttons off that hold my dress together from my collarbone to my belly. The cool night air chills my now exposed flesh and I become dazed again. “It’s time to show the elders your pure, white flesh before we stain it red with your blood.”
No future.
Only certain death.
I pass out in his arms.