Sacrifice (Ritual Sins #2)

10. Sebastian

10

Sebastian

I awoke to a throbbing headache, the pain in the side of my skull sharp and unrelenting. As I blinked the haze from my eyes, I saw that I was lying on the cold ground of a moonlit clearing.

The familiar surroundings sent a jolt of recognition through me—I was in the Covenant’s hunting grounds, littered with traps. If I rolled over the wrong way, I could find myself falling right into another fucking spike pit.

Shit.

How the hell did I get all the way out here? Was it just a dream? It certainly seemed like it, given the way my head was spinning, making me feel like I was on a theme park ride. The cold dirt and dewy grass below me felt all-too real, though. So did the pain in my head.

I winced as another agonizing jolt went through my skull, followed by a sudden rush of memories. “Oh, fuck,” I muttered to myself through gritted teeth.

Jean-Pierre had caught onto my scheme and taken me by surprise in a lightning-fast attack. After he knocked me out, he must have brought me out to the hunting grounds to kill me.

I struggled to sit up, expecting to see him skulking around the area. To my surprise, I saw both him and Rose standing by a large tree, their heated argument cutting through the silence of the night.

“Rosamund, I told you to leave it alone!” Jean-Pierre was saying, raising one arm to pin her against the trunk. “Stop fighting me and return to your home! Now!”

“No! I won’t let you hurt him!” Rose said, shoving at his chest. He didn’t budge, so she slapped him in the face with a loud crack that echoed throughout the clearing.

I watched groggily, still half-wondering if this was all a dream. Rose wasn’t supposed to be here. She was meant to be safe at home with her father. This couldn’t possibly be happening.

As Jean-Pierre instinctively raised one hand to rub his smarting cheek, Rose ducked under his arm and started running toward me.

“Stop!” Jean-Pierre whirled around and grabbed her again. “You cannot defend this man. He took you, Rosamund! He was going to kill you!”

“It’s not true.” Rose’s voice trembled with desperation as she lunged against his firm grip. “I went willingly. I made him lie about everything! I sent those ransom messages myself!”

“Lies. All lies. He has brainwashed you, Rosamund.” Jean-Pierre squeezed her arm tighter, making her wince. “I need to protect you. He must be dealt with.”

“No!” Rose kept struggling valiantly. “You can’t kill him! I won’t allow it!”

“You cannot stop me,” Jean-Pierre snarled. “The second you cease this pointless little fight of yours, I’m tossing him in that pit.”

“You won’t get away with it!”

Jean-Pierre let out a bark of dry laughter. “I will. The outsiders know he’s accidentally fallen in one of our traps before, so I’m sure they’ll easily believe it happened again.”

“No!” Rose shrieked and broke away from his grip once more, but he was too fast for her. He grabbed her by the front of her dress and threw her backward, aiming for the thick tree trunk.

My foggy mind was still struggling to process the scene, but instinct took over the second I saw Jean-Pierre’s attempt to hurt my girl.

I pushed myself up, the world still spinning around me, and with a burst of adrenaline, I roared and launched myself at Jean-Pierre, tackling him to the ground. Behind us, Rose narrowly missed the tree, landing on her ass beside it with a strangled gasp.

Jean-Pierre and I rolled across the ground, wrestling for control. The struggle was ferocious, each of us fighting with every ounce of strength and resolve we had. Rose cried and begged for us to stop the whole time, warning us of the proximity of the hunting pits.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my gun lying near the base of the closest tree trunk. It must have flown out of my pocket when Jean-Pierre unceremoniously dumped me on the ground earlier.

I scrambled to grab it, but he growled and smashed me in the side with one fist, knocking me sideways. Then he got up and went for the gun himself, his face a mask of fury. I ignored the pain bursting in my head, rose to my feet, and grabbed him by the back of his collar, yanking him backward before delivering a heavy blow to his jaw. He responded in kind, smashing his meaty fist into the already-throbbing side of my head before attempting to tackle me back down to the ground.

As we grappled and grunted, the clearing around us seemed to blur, everything fading into the night except for the fight for survival. Jean-Pierre’s eyes were wild as he tried to overpower me, his face contorted with fury and desperation. I could feel his immense strength pushing against mine, every muscle straining as we continued our struggle for control.

With a final, desperate shove, I pushed him away from me, and he stumbled backward, his eyes widening in shock as he lost his footing. Time seemed to slow as he teetered right on the edge of the open spike pit behind him; the same one I’d fallen in only days ago.

“No!” Rose screamed from somewhere behind me.

With a sickening thud, Jean-Pierre fell backward, his guttural cry cutting off abruptly as he landed on one of the deadly spikes. The stake drove straight through his heart, the life draining from his eyes in an instant.

I stood there gasping for breath, my body shaking from the exertion. Rose rushed to my side, her eyes wide with a mix of relief and horror. “I couldn’t let him kill you,” she said, chin wobbling as she spoke. “But I… I didn’t…”

I pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly against my chest. “I’m sorry, baby,” I muttered. “I know you didn’t want to see anyone get hurt or killed. But that motherfucker tried to hurt you. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“I know.” Her body shook against mine as she let out a wrenching sob.

“Rose. Baby. It’s okay,” I said soothingly, rubbing the back of her head. “He can’t do anything to you now.”

“I just… I really didn’t want him to die,” she said thickly, voice muffled by my jacket.

“I know, but he tried to hurt you, so he had to be stopped,” I muttered, still stroking her hair. “He killed my mother too, so he had to pay for his crimes one day. I guess this is how it had to happen.”

She jerked her head back. “No. Sebastian. No. It was me.”

I stared at her, uncomprehending. “What was you?”

Tears were rolling down her cheeks now, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I killed your mother,” she murmured. “It was my fault.”

I almost laughed at the sheer absurdity of her words. “What the hell are you talking about?” I said, shaking my head. “You were only a child when she died.”

“I know. But… my father… he just told me,” she choked out, overcome by her emotions. “It was me. My… my fault she died.”

I steeled my jaw, nostrils flaring with fury. That fucking asshole. After all these years of his sick, twisted bullshit, Augustus was still lying to my girl. Still trying to fuck with her head until she didn’t know who or what to believe.

“Rose, your father is full of shit.” I cupped her chin in one hand, forcing her to look at me. “You know that. He’s a liar. He’s just trying to confuse you and make you feel bad for leaving the Covenant.”

She shook her head, tears still flooding her cheeks. “No. This is different. He wasn’t lying. I could tell.”

“What exactly did he say?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “How did you supposedly carry out such a terrible murder at the age of four?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

“What do you mean?” I shook my head, brows furrowing. “How can you not know?”

“I didn’t hear every word Papa said. I think… I was in shock. Then I ran away from him because I wanted to tell you right away.” Rose’s voice cracked as she spoke. “I wanted to tell you the truth. You deserve to know it, Sebastian. It’s my fault.”

“It’s not the truth,” I said sharply. “Your father is lying to you. He and Jean-Pierre killed her, and now he’s obviously trying to pin it on you to make you feel bad. There’s no other explanation. You couldn’t possibly have killed my mother. You were just a child.”

A familiar voice drifted through the clearing. “That’s not true, Sebastian. Rosamund was responsible for what happened. At least she was in a sense. If it wasn’t for her, Miranda would still be alive today.”

I jerked my head to the left to see Augustus emerging from behind the same tree Rose was pinned against earlier.

“I thought I heard your voice, sweetheart,” he went on, eyes focused on his daughter. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. You need to come home so we can talk properly. Finish our earlier conversation.”

“No fucking way.” I held out a palm, signaling for him to stop. “You need to stay away from her. She doesn’t need to hear any more of your bullshit.”

Augustus didn’t reply. His eyes had fallen on the spike pit beside me, and his eyes had gone saucer wide. “What happened?” he asked, shocked gaze snapping back to my face.

“Jean-Pierre attacked me and brought me here,” I said, motioning toward my bloodied forehead. “He attacked Rose, too. I wrestled him away from her so he couldn’t try to hurt her again, and then… well, he fell into the pit. It was self-defense.”

“I don’t understand. Why would Jean-Pierre attack you ?” Augustus asked, forehead wrinkling with confusion.

I stared at him, mouth agape. Was this man ignorant or plain stupid?

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said. “Why don’t you take a wild guess, Augustus?”

He stared back at me, head slowly shaking. “Perhaps I am tired from the late hour, or perhaps my mind is muddled from the shock of tonight’s events,” he said, gaze flicking between me and Rose. “Either way, I’m afraid I don’t follow, so you’ll have to spell things out for me.”

Jesus Christ. He really was fucking stupid. How the hell did this man ever get into law school, let alone a governing position over an entire village?

“Jean-Pierre attacked me because he found out the truth,” I said coldly. “I guess he was smarter than you.”

As I spoke, I quietly motioned one hand toward Rose. When I knew I’d caught her attention, I dipped my chin toward the left, hoping she’d take the hint to grab the gun lying in front of the tree. She did. She slowly sidled away from me, and her father didn’t even notice; too caught up in the conversation with me.

“What truth?” he asked, eyes laser-focused on my face.

“Rose was with me all those weeks,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “Not a gang of outsiders, or my father, or the fucking Entity. Me. And when she leaves tonight, she’s coming to live with me.”

Augustus was silent for a moment, mouth opening and closing as he tried and failed to find words. “Oh,” he finally said. “I see.”

“I’m genuinely shocked at your level of ignorance, Augustus. I mean, you really didn’t suspect anything at all?” I shook my head, nose wrinkling with derision. “You really trusted me ? A fucking outsider?”

He nodded slowly. Perhaps it was a trick of the moonlight, but I could’ve sworn his eyes were shimmering with tears. “Maybe I am nothing more than a simple old fool,” he said. “But I wanted to trust you, Sebastian. So very much.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

“Why?” he repeated, lips spreading in a mirthless half-smile. “Well, then. I see I am not the only ignorant fool here.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Use your brain, Sebastian,” he said softly. “I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out already.”

Rose returned to my side as he spoke, and she quietly pressed the gun into my hand. I lifted it and aimed it right at her father.

“No more fucking around, Augustus,” I snapped, flicking off the safety. “For once in your life, tell the fucking truth . You can start with your daughter. Tell her you lied to her tonight. Tell her she didn’t kill my mother.”

Augustus fell silent as he regarded the gun pointed at his face. “It wasn’t a lie,” he finally said. “As I stated earlier, it was her fault that Miranda died, in a sense. But it was wrong for me to bring that up in such a terrible manner, and I am deeply sorry for it.”

“It was Rose’s fault in a sense ?” I shook my head, eyes widening with incredulity. “Man, the fucking mental gymnastics you people do is insane. Just tell the fucking truth!”

“It is the truth,” he insisted. “I always planned on taking that secret to the grave, but I allowed my emotions to get the better of me tonight, and I will forever regret that. Truly.”

Rose cut in before I could say another word. “Why did you want to keep it a secret?”

“I was protecting you, sweetheart,” Augustus replied. His gaze swiveled back to me. “Just like I’ve protected you all this time, Sebastian.”

“Protected me?” I shook the gun to remind him it was there. “You didn’t fucking protect me! You murdered my mother!”

Augustus’s shoulders sagged, and he shook his head, tears slipping down his cheeks. “I didn’t kill her,” he said gruffly. “How can you still not see it?”

“See what ?”

“That it wasn’t me. That I would never, ever hurt Miranda,” he muttered, wiping his cheeks with one trembling hand.

“You did,” I snarled. “She saw the truth in Alderwood, and you hated her for it.”

“No. Never. Don’t you see yet?” He lifted his chin, looking me right in the eye. “I was in love with her, Sebastian. I loved her.”