Chapter 3

Ineed to remind myself to blink. My eyes are unbearably dry as I stare in horror at the dress on the hanger. The long, deep green number is sheer, leaving nothing to the imagination. Two slits on either side will pass my hips, and the neckline will plunge to my belly button. Never mind the low back that I pray will reach my arse.

‘Where's the rest of it?' I ask.

‘There is no rest,' my father replies. ‘This is what you will wear to the Rite tomorrow night.'

‘I'll have underwear, though… right?'

I turn to face him standing by my bedroom door. His brow furrows as if I've said something utterly stupid.

‘No, Ashe. Of course, you won't. What would be the point of that? Try it on,' my father urges. ‘You'll like it when it's on.'

No words come out of my open mouth despite plenty being in my mind.

What the fuck is the point of trying it on? There's no issue of it fitting. It's designed to give me an alluring covering. That's all. I'll practically be naked.

‘I'm not wearing that.'

The words slip out without any encouragement from me. It was a thought so strong and overpowering that it had nowhere else to go but out of my mouth.

‘You are,' he replies dryly. ‘All the females will be in much the same.'

‘We're all to be naked? And what of the males? What do they wear?'

‘You're not a male, so that is not your concern.' He nods to the "dress". ‘Try it on, Ashe.'

I pick it up and feel the smooth chiffon slide through my fingers. It has no weight at all. No substance whatsoever.

‘I could wear one of my mother's dresses,' I try.

His cane slams on the floor. A single and formidable thud that has me rigid.

‘Try it on,' he repeats. Each word is said through his teeth with a firm warning.

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.'

‘Then go for a walk by the river and take some time to clear your head before tonight. I will not have your aura contaminating the Rite.'

He leaves, and I throw off the dress before screaming into a pillow.

I'm not often permitted to leave the house unattended, so l gladly take the opportunity and head to Cole's house further into the village.

I know every female must endure The Rite. There's a reason they wait until we turn twenty to inflict it on us.

Sex is powerful. Passion and desire are excellent fuel to boost the renewed energy we supply to the coven.

It's the law to be a virgin when we add our blood.

Something about purity. Not that it won't still work, but it just won't be as powerful.

Cole and I have been together for what feels like forever. We've grown up together. The coven leader's son and me, a poor girl with minimal prospects.

His father disapproved of me when Cole declared I was his choice of wife. It took a good couple of years for him to accept it. In the hopes of making me a more desirable option, he gifted my father a large house and gave him a seat on the council. Now, I'm the daughter of a well-to-do gentleman, and he swallows that a little better.

Cole is kind enough. Fun. Clever and quick.

I think I could be happy with him. Content.

But so much inside me is desperate for more than just being content.

I want excitement and passion. Cole wouldn't know excitement or passion if it bit him on the nose. I want freedom and adventure. I want my power for myself. Not a diluted version because the rest of the coven is syphoning it off.

When I knock on Cole's door, Mr Fayler answers. The formidable man, whom I have never seen smile, tells me Cole isn't home and to return at the agreed time for my lunch.

He then slams the door in my face.

Prick.

I leave and head to the woods instead, thinking I'll explore the stream for a few hours and then head back.

The sun is out today, and no clouds can be seen. It's a beautiful day. As I walk through the village, I smile and pass on my hellos to the villagers, all busy getting on with life. I pass some of the girls I went to school with. Bitches made my life a misery.

They hated that I was Cole's favourite and still do, judging by the severe glares they give me as I walk past.

‘Good morning, girls,' I call over cheerfully, waving and smiling.

I laugh at their hatred.

They'll be there tonight, too. Suffering the same as the rest of us.

It takes me less than an hour to reach the stream. It's wild and ancient. Huge boulders covered in moss break the babbling water, and great trees with twisting roots and sweeping branches grow at the stream's edge. It's all green. Everywhere. A sumptuous canopy covers the water. Ivy smothers every trunk, and the ground is soft from the sheer amount of clover.

It's my favourite place to be. Cole always teases me, saying I'm more of a water witch than earth and that if the fire declares me as such, he'll have no choice but to kidnap me to keep me.

But my father is most certainly an Earth witch. And my mother was too before she died.

Only the fire knows. Only the fire declares.

I wonder what would happen if I was declared a water witch at the Rite. I hear the water witches are kept by the sea in a similar settlement to ours. The fire witches live in a fortress by the mountains, and the air witches live in caves.

We're kept separate and never allowed to mix beyond the Rite in case we join forces and decide to want more than the human king gives us.

Like the blood witches did.

I do love the water, though. I always have. The sound distracts my thoughts. The coldness makes my skin come alive. Its wildness speaks to me. If the water wants to cut through a mountain, it will. It may take centuries, but it will if it wants to.

I take off my shoes and step into the stream, tucking the hem of my dress into my belt. Then, I walk against the current, following the winding water towards my most adored place on earth. To the waterfall at the base of the hanging cliffs.

It's where Cole proposed to me.

When I reach the clearing, I stop dead.

‘What the…'

On the same rock I sat on, when Cole got down on one knee, my best friend is naked and bent over.

Behind her, my fiancé is slamming himself into her.

She whimpers and sobs, clawing at the rock. I'm ready to attack. To tear him away from her.

Until he speaks.

‘You fucking like that, don't you?' Cole grunts, rutting into her. ‘You like it up the arse, you fucking bitch! You dirty little whore!'

‘Yes!' she cries. ‘Yes, I love it!'

She lifts her head, and despite the tears, she's grinning from ear to fucking ear.

‘It's all you're good for, isn't it?!' he says. ‘A dirty bitch that likes her best friend's fiancé to shove his cock up her arse!'

‘Yes!' she says in a high-pitched whine. ‘Harder. I'm yours. Always!'

I stand frozen, looking at the grotesque display. There is no way in hell she's enjoying that. She's clearly in agony but letting him pound into her anyway.

I can't seem to move. I'm frozen solid as if stuck looking at some horror that I can't turn away from.

My best friend and my fiancé.

What the actual fuck?!

Thalia sees me.

‘Cole!' she hisses, reaching back and smacking his arm. ‘Cole!'

‘That's it. Say my name, bitch.'

‘COLE!' she snaps, her eyes wide and on me.

He follows what has her staring in this direction. The bastard sees me.

‘Ashe?' he says. ‘W-what… wait!' He looks between her and me. ‘This isn't what it looks like.'

‘Really?' I laugh angrily. ‘Because it looks like your dick is up my best friend's arse hole, Cole.' Still laughing, I shake my head and turn away.

‘WAIT!' he calls after me.

Like hell. I wade through the water and haul myself onto land. I hear him wading after me.

‘I said wait!' he grabs my arm and pulls me back.

‘Get your fucking hands off me,' I warn, pulling away. ‘Don't you dare touch me, Cole. Not ever.'

‘This means nothing,' he insists. ‘She means nothing.'

I look behind him, where Thalia pulls on her dress and watches us. I knew she liked him. But I never thought she would do this to me. I never thought he would! I wasn't even the one who pushed for marriage. It was him. All him.

He reaches out for me again.

‘I mean it. If you touch me, I'll break your hands.'

‘Let me explain. I beg-'

‘Okay,' I interrupt, folding my arms across my chest. ‘Explain.'

I don't think he expected me to say that because he just blinks at me. I raise my brow in anticipation.

‘It's just… it's nothing!'

‘Looked like something.'

‘Everyone does it, Ashe. It doesn't really count this way. It's just… it's just…'

‘Well. I can assure you that no man is shoving his dick up my arse, Cole. So I'm pretty sure everyone is not doing it.'

‘Well. Of course no one is doing it with you,' he scoffs. ‘You're mine.'

‘Oh. I am, am I?' I look past him to her. ‘I think she's more yours than I am. I hope you'll be happy together.'

‘Don't you see? I would never be this way with you. I have needs, Ashe, and I don't want to subject the woman I love to those kinds of urges. She's just a release. You'll get me in a much better way.'

‘I will, huh? Lucky me. So, you won't call me a dirty whore who likes to take my best friend's fiancé's cock up her arse? I should be honoured. But hey. At least I got a mention in your painful anal play. Because all I've gotten so far from you are unskilled fingers and kissing that feels like I'm with my father's goat.'

Again, I turn. He grabs my hand. I react and slam my fist into his face, knocking him down.

‘If you or your shit-covered dick ever come near me again, Cole, I'll kill you.'

The bewildered and guilty look has gone. Now he looks pissed, sitting in the water and clutching his bleeding nose. He stands.

‘You are an ungrateful little bitch. I could have chosen anyone to marry.'

‘Well, Thalia seems more than up for it. Marry her because you sure as hell aren't marrying me.'

‘Oh,' he laughs. ‘I'm still marrying you.' He spits a mouthful of blood. ‘You better believe that, Ashe.'

‘You're deluded.'

‘No. I'm in love. We will marry.'

‘I know where you've been. No. We are not marrying, and if you come near me tonight, I will end you.'

He steps forward. I refuse to back away.

‘If you forgive this indiscretion and go ahead with the marriage, I will ensure that no one else will touch you tonight at the Rite except me. And I vow this will never happen again.'

I won't even dignify that with an answer.

I turn.

‘Or,' he calls after me. ‘I will make it so all my friends will come for you.'

I look back at him.

‘You remember Eve? She died last year. She betrayed her partner, and he and his friends ensured she paid for it. Or perhaps you will end up like Tasha, my cousin's partner, who decided he wasn't good enough and ended up unable to walk for the rest of her life. She took three men at once before they heard something inside her snap.'

There's such a darkness in his eyes as he speaks. Such malice and threat.

Then he smiles that calm and charming smile again.

‘I love you, Ashe. I do. This means nothing, and if you are unhappy with this arrangement, I will fulfil this side of me with you. I just thought I was doing you a favour by getting it out of my system with another. I don't want to hurt you.'

‘But you'll set your friends on me tonight if I refuse to marry you?'

‘I will do what I must to be happy.'

‘Then marry Thalia.' I walk away but hear him coming after me.

‘Ashe.' I look back. He's furious. ‘Ashe, stop. Before I make you!'

He lunges for me. I shove him as hard as I can, and he falls.

‘I didn't even want to marry you, Cole. We are done. I'll take my chances with your friends at the Rite. Perhaps one of them will know what he's doing because you have no fucking idea how to make a girl anything but unsatisfied.'

I see something inside him snap. The feral fuck he was when he was inside my friend takes over.

‘Come here.'

‘No,' I reply.

‘COME HERE!'

As he launches himself at me, I turn, and I run.

I know these woods. I know them like the back of my hand. As I run, Cole is right behind me.

I realise that I'm not running home. I'm running deeper into the woods.

To the boundary of the village.

‘Where are you going, Ashe?' he bellows, struggling against the trees. ‘You have nowhere to go!'

I don't care. I'm not staying here to be this bastard's wife or ripped apart by his friends at the Rite.

I keep running as hard and fast as possible until I see the line of stone pillars ahead. They encircle the entire village, sealing us inside and keeping everyone else outside. Unless given permission, I know I can't leave. But I have to try.

I glance back, seeing Cole tugging against some vines wrapped around his ankle. When I face the pillars, a dark figure stands ahead of me. They raise their hand, telling me to stop.

I reach the stones and slam into the invisible boundary. I get knocked back, the force of the shield hitting me hard. I land on my back, dazed and stunned. The shadow who tried to warn me has gone. Instead, Cole stands over me, panting furiously.

‘You always have been a hard-headed and stubborn little thing,' he snaps, reaching down to grab me. I look beyond the boundary. Whoever was there is gone. My eyes roll into the back of my head as Cole scoops me into his arms. ‘Good thing I love you, Ashe. Or this birthday would be your last.'