Sacrifice (Ritual Sins #2)

12. Sebastian

12

Sebastian

I stared at Augustus, thunderstruck. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“It was your father. That was who Miranda should’ve been afraid of that evening,” he replied in a wooden tone. “But she didn’t know any better. We went there to warn her, but… things went awry.”

I was so furious, so filled with boiling rage, that I couldn’t bite out another word. All I could do was stare and try my best to stop myself from shoving Augustus right into the same fucking pit Jean-Pierre had wound up in.

“Papa, what are you talking about?” Rose asked, eyes wide as saucers.

Augustus let out a heavy sigh, head shaking. “As I said before, it is a very long story. I will have to start from the beginning for any of this to make sense to you.”

“I thought you had started from the beginning.”

“No, darling. This story began hundreds of years ago, before any of us were even conceived.”

“Jesus Christ,” I managed to grind out through clenched teeth. “This has to be a fucking joke.”

Augustus raised a palm. “It is not a joke,” he said somberly. “Please, allow me to speak.”

“Fine.” I threw up my own hands and let out a bitter, mirthless bark of laughter. “Have at it. Tell your bullshit stories.”

He ignored my jibe and began. “As you know, the Covenant was founded by Jean-Baptiste Dubois and Matthiew Brouxard. They discovered the forbidden cave and received sacred knowledge from the Entity there. Knowledge that would allow them—and all their descendants—to live freely and happily in their own corner of the world for as long as time existed.”

“You mean they ate those red mushrooms and ended up tripping balls and hallucinating shit for three days straight?” I said, raising a scornful brow.

“I suppose that is one way of putting it,” he replied, expression remaining neutral. “They discovered and ate some of those mushrooms, and they experienced visions afterwards. Visions they interpreted as the sacred word of our world’s true God, which they named the Entity.”

“What are those mushrooms, exactly?” Rose cut in, brows dipping in a frown.

“It is an extremely rare fungus species. So rare that it only grows right here on Covenant land. It has never been observed anywhere else in the world,” Augustus explained. “We have searched high and low across the wilderness. Many others have too. But that cave seems to be the only place where it naturally occurs.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question,” Rose said. “Are they a sort of drug, like we assumed earlier?”

“Yes. But they aren’t like other psychedelic mushrooms. They can make a person hallucinate, or ‘trip balls’ as you said, Sebastian,” Augustus said, raising a brow. “But in smaller doses, they can produce a euphoric high without any hallucinations. It is one of the most wonderful sensations a human can experience. Like you have stepped directly into heaven. Hundreds of years ago, it seemed like pure magic bestowed upon the world by the Entity, but modern science tells us exactly how it works. Ingestion of the substance activates certain pathways in the brain that other drugs simply cannot activate. That is why it is such an effective drug.”

“Papa,” Rose cut in, eyes narrowing. “Is this what you lace the ritual wine with during our eclipse ceremonies? Is that why we are always so euphoric on those evenings?”

“Yes, darling. Of course we share our land’s bounty with our people. It’s natural and it’s beautiful.”

I lifted a hand to interrupt. “So basically, Dubois and Brouxard realized they’d stumbled upon something amazing, and they decided to make up an entire religion around it to keep themselves and their people here forever? To profit off it?”

Augustus shook his head. “Not really. You are correct in saying that they immediately realized the importance of what they’d stumbled upon, along with the subsequent need to hold onto this piece of land. But they truly believed in the things they saw and heard during their shared visions in the cave. They saw it as a gift from the Entity; believed that he had chosen them to share the truth with their brethren. They knew they had to guard that truth carefully while simultaneously teaching it to their people for generations to come.”

“What truth?” I asked, upper lip curling with derision.

Augustus spread his arms wide. “Everything. The truth of our whole world,” he said, as if that really explained anything. “The way we should live. The things we should believe, love, and revere. The things we should fear, too, such as the Darkness that resides in the forbidden cave along with the mushrooms that bring so much light to our world. It is all a balance between the counterparts, you see. Dark and light. Love and hate. Fear and hope. Good and evil. Each force in this world exists in relation to the other, defining its opposite, giving it meaning. The forbidden cave is where these dualities meet. That is what the Entity told our founders.”

I frowned. “So you really believe that the Darkness is real, and that it lurks somewhere in that cave? You really believe everything in the world will go to shit if outsiders ‘let it out’?”

“Of course I do,” Augustus said. “And my faith in that was proven when your mother went in the cave, because that act of hers let some of the Darkness seep out. After she did that, everything went wrong, and as much as we worked to contain it… well, we’ve spent the last twenty years hoping and praying that it isn’t too late. We’ve been counting on the Tetrad ritual to reverse the damage that was done, but of course, that hasn’t been completed yet. So we shall see.”

He looked pointedly at Rose as he spoke that last part.

“Shit.” I slowly shook my head. “You really believe all this stuff, don’t you?”

“Of course. I’ve always said that.”

“I know. I just—” I stopped abruptly, still shaking my head. “When I first realized what was happening up here, like the sacrifices, and all the other shit… I honestly thought you guys just didn’t like or respect women. But that’s not true, is it? You genuinely believe in everything the founders laid out for you. Even if it means sacrificing your own daughters.”

Augustus nodded. “All we can do is follow the word of the Entity. It is the only hope we have against the Darkness, especially since your mother let some of it seep out twenty years ago, as we already discussed.”

“Right. So what the fuck does any of this have to do with my father?” I asked, cocking my head.

“You’ll have to allow me to continue the story of our history if you want to know the answer to that question,” he said. “As you know, the Covenant were some of the first people in this region, but eventually, others began to settle here too. For example, Pinecrest Falls was founded in 1675 by English settlers, and soon after that, several other towns sprang up nearby. The Covenant elders, including Dubois and Brouxard, welcomed these outsider settlements despite their desire for seclusion, because they knew that the arrival of other people in the region could be a boon to Alderwood. After all, they needed certain materials in order to build up a properly functioning town, and there were various other things they needed too. Livestock, crop seeds, and so on. Our Covenant ancestors realized they could trade what they had for what they needed.”

“Papa, we already know the Covenant has traded with outsiders for hundreds of years,” Rose cut in. “How is this relevant to Sebastian’s father?”

“You’ll see,” he said, giving her a hard look. He turned his gaze back to me. “Sebastian, your family arrived here about three hundred years ago. In Pinecrest Falls, that is. They developed and owned the logging industry in this region.”

“Yeah.” I nodded slowly. “They traded with the Covenant, right? That’s where you’re going with this?”

“Yes. The Covenant approached your ancestors, showed them what we had, and told them what we needed in return. At first, they assumed we wanted to sell the sacred mushrooms to them, but we have never used money in our village. We simply wanted to trade. So for many years, that was how things worked between us and the Thornes. We gave them dried mushrooms that they—and those they shared them with—greatly enjoyed, even more than alcohol and other remedies that were available at the time. In return, we received construction materials and other such necessities.”

“I’m guessing things soured between you eventually,” I said curtly.

“Not for a very long time. But things did change. More and more people moved to the region, and the Thornes realized they could branch out from the timber industry and make even more money by selling our mushrooms for a high price all over the East Coast. A lot more money.”

I scoffed. “You’re saying my ancestors were some sort of drug dealers?”

“That’s exactly what they were. It made them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.”

“Bullshit. They made most of their fortune from the logging industry.”

Augustus sighed. “Please, just let me continue.”

My lips thinned. “Fine.”

“The Thorne patriarchs approached the Covenant and told them just how much money they could all make if they went into business together, with the Covenant growing the mushrooms and the Thornes doing all the distribution work. However, the Covenant elders made it quite clear that money was never going to be much of a priority to them. Aside from the relatively small amount we needed for purchasing necessities from outsiders who refused to trade, or paying for outside education for our healers and engineers, we really didn’t need much. So the Covenant declined. At least they did at first.”

“What changed?”

“The Thornes told us they had something else to offer. Something that they’d realized was far more important to us than massive piles of money.”

Rose’s eyes widened. “What was it?”

Augustus was silent for a moment. Then he looked back at me, brows raised. “You very astutely brought up a certain point on your first day here, Sebastian,” he said. “With the Covenant’s particular way of life, which included a staunch refusal to allow outsiders to join, we ended up with a very serious problem after a while.”

My mind flashed back to the first few conversations I’d shared with him after my arrival. Then I nodded slowly as it dawned on me. “Inbreeding.”

He nodded. “There were only a few families here at the start, and… well, we saw what happened firsthand with such a lack of breeding stock, for want of a better term. We had many babies born with health problems. Many premature deaths, too. I’m sure you can imagine.”

“Yeah, I can,” I said gruffly.

“Your family was already extremely wealthy back then, because of the timber business, but they eventually decided to branch out into healthcare in the 1800s. The drug dealing was part of that decision, really, because owning and running hospitals makes a good cover for the distribution of drugs,” he went on. “Anyway, back then, it was considered terribly scandalous for unwed outsider girls and women to have babies, but it happened quite frequently anyway. They would give birth at the Thorne-owned hospitals, and often they would tell the doctors and nurses that they wanted to give the child up for adoption.”

“You’re saying my ancestors started giving the babies to the Covenant?” I asked, brows rising. In return for the drugs that made them millions?”

“Yes. That way, we had more genetic material in our midst, which eventually helped with the inbreeding problem that plagued us. The babies were with us a few days after their birth, so none of them ever knew they weren’t born directly into the Covenant,” Augustus replied. “In return for the babies, we gave the Thornes as many mushrooms as we could possibly grow. They sold them up and down the country, made an unfathomable amount of money, and gave us ten percent of the profits as our cut, along with the infants.”

“And that ten percent was used to pay for the necessities and university educations you mentioned earlier?” I said, nodding slowly. It was all starting to make sense now. I’d always known their money had to come from somewhere. I just had no idea my own fucking family was involved. Hell, not just involved. They’d been knee-deep with the Covenant for centuries. Totally enmeshed.

“Exactly. As I said, we didn’t need much. That is why we were happy to take such a small percentage despite owning the means of production, so to speak.”

“And this went on for two-hundred-odd years?”

“For the most part, yes. Some problems arose in the early twentieth century. Record-keeping and government regulations in the healthcare industry became far more stringent, and it became harder and harder for the Thornes to obtain babies for us. Sometimes, the Covenant would go for whole decades without a single child delivered to us. In fact, between the years of 1936 and 1983, we only had three babies given to us for adoption.”

“I’m guessing that soured the relationship.”

“Not exactly. That happened later. Much later,” Augustus said. “The Covenant knew it wasn’t the fault of the Thornes that it was getting harder to find babies. But we still needed them every so often, to keep our population growing without the old inbreeding issue cropping back up, so things started to get a little strained. But then the Thornes gave us a miracle solution in the 1980s.”

At the mention of that particular decade, something began to needle at my mind. A split-second later, every single one of my recent conversations with Jesse came rushing back to me, along with the sudden recollection of the locked freezer that Rose and I couldn’t access when we ventured into the forbidden cave earlier this evening.

“IVF,” I said woodenly. “They gave you stolen embryos, didn’t they? To provide you with new DNA.”

Augustus nodded. “That’s right. Your family’s hospitals were providing the service to outsider families, and they used it to help us too.”

Rose looked between us helplessly. “What’s IVF?”

“In-vitro fertilization. It’s a type of assisted reproductive technology for people who have trouble conceiving babies,” I explained. “Basically, a woman’s egg is fertilized by sperm outside of her body. Once it successfully turns into an embryo, it’s implanted in her womb, where it continues to grow so she can eventually give birth.”

“So the Thorne family did this for us?” Rose asked, tilting her head. “They helped us have more babies?”

“In a sense, but… not exactly,” her father replied. “As Sebastian said, the most important thing to us was different DNA. Something new to put in our gene pool. So, on occasion, when an outsider couple had several viable embryos, the Thornes would ensure that one or two of them went missing.”

Rose frowned. In her beautiful eyes, I could practically see her mind ticking over as it processed all the new information. A moment later, her lips tightened. “So… they stole people’s babies. Or future babies, anyway.”

“Yes. No one ever noticed. A couple might be told that they had five viable embryos, when in actual fact, six were created. They would never question it. They had no reason to believe any of the hospital staff would lie to them about such a thing. And the hospital staff didn’t even know it was a lie, because the Thornes would ensure all the appropriate paperwork was changed when it went from the labs to the reproductive medicine wings of each hospital.”

“But it’s still wrong!” Rose shook her head, eyes wild with anger at her father’s admission. “It’s not like stealing a loaf of bread. It’s stealing a potential life ! Taking them from their real family!”

“The biological parents never knew, so they weren’t hurt, and it was all for the greater good,” Augustus said. “We needed the genetic variation for the health of our people. But we knew most people wouldn’t view it that way, so we kept it quiet from the majority of the Covenant. Only the elders, healers, and alchemists know the full truth about what goes into maintaining our lifestyle.”

“So that’s what the fertility rituals are about, right?” I cut in. “The IVF stuff?”

“Yes. Once the technology was learned by our healers, we incorporated it into the fertility rituals that we already had in place. Each chosen couple is taken into the private hut and given a ceremonial drink to imbibe. The woman’s drink contains a natural sedative that stops any discomfort as the embryo is placed via catheter by the healer, and the couple is told the process is all part of the ceremony. Afterwards, they go outside and consummate their union in front of everyone. That way, it seems as if the resulting baby was conceived from that exact sexual encounter between the husband and wife, when really, it came from an embryo that belonged to neither of them, genetically speaking,” he said. “The Thornes told us that sex and other physical activities shouldn’t be carried out directly after IVF embryo implantation, because it can affect the implantation and stop it from happening, but we have to take the risk, unfortunately.”

“Otherwise everyone would start to suspect the truth—that the babies here aren’t really being conceived from sex,” I finished for him, eyes narrowed. “Jesus. You really have it all planned out, don’t you?”

“As I already stated, it’s for the greater good of our people,” Augustus said smoothly.

I clenched my jaw and swallowed thickly. “My mother tried to access the IVF archives in my father’s hospital back in 2004. Just before she died,” I said. “This is why, isn’t it? She saw a hell of a lot more than just mushrooms in that cave.”

“Yes. Like I said earlier—she saw how we kept our community running, in more ways than one. The mushrooms and the frozen embryos.”

“Wait…” Rose tipped her head slightly to one side. Her eyes were wider than I’d ever seen them. “Am I your real daughter, Papa?”

“Of course you are.”

She shook her head. “No, I mean... I know you’re my father, and I know that Mama carried me in her belly, but am I biologically related to either of you? Or am I one of these stolen embryos?”

“You were conceived naturally by your mother and me,” Augustus said. “Even if you weren’t, you would still be our real daughter.”

Twin flames of anger and doubt ignited in Rose’s eyes. “Are you lying?” she asked sharply, folding her arms.

“No. Not every baby here is conceived via IVF. Only enough to maintain some variance in our gene pool.”

I lifted my hand. “Hold on. What the fuck does all this have to do with my father? Apart from the fact that he presumably knows about this IVF shit.”

Augustus let out a heavy sigh. “When I found out that your mother had been in the forbidden cave, I knew she would eventually realize the Thorne family’s connection to us and the whole scheme. Then she’d undoubtedly confront Adam over it all. And then…” He trailed off and cleared his throat. “I knew she was in danger.”

“Why?”

He shook his head, gaze focused somewhere in the distance behind us, as if he were staring into the past. “She was so sure she knew him. That he was a nice family man, apart from his slightly controlling tendencies. She never would’ve dreamed that he’d hurt her. But I knew better. I knew she wouldn’t remain unscathed if she confronted him over this issue. He’s a dangerous man. Always has been.”

I narrowed my eyes, not believing a word he said about my father. He was obviously just trying to shift the blame regarding my mother’s murder so that his daughter wouldn’t hate him.

“You really think you know my father better than his own wife knew him?” I said scornfully.

“Yes,” he replied, looking directly into my eyes. “You’ll recall that I went to university with him and shared a dorm with him. Also, even before that time, his family was long acquainted with mine due to the business relationship we shared. So I knew him very well. I knew all about his hair-trigger temper. The way he would suddenly snap when something didn’t go his way.”

I opened my mouth to reply and promptly snapped it shut again as several recent memories floated into my mind. I hated to admit it, but Augustus was right. My dad did have a hair-trigger temper.

He’d be fine one second, and then he’d suddenly lose his cool and explode a second later. Like the incident several weeks ago, for example, when I’d told him that I still planned on going to Alderwood against his wishes, and he suddenly snapped and slammed his hand down on the table so hard that I was surprised it didn’t splinter. I’d barely even reacted to the sudden outburst at the time, because he’d been doing shit like that all my life.

He always apologized for his outbursts immediately afterwards, and I’d never once seen him resort to violence during one of them… but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable.

Still, it didn’t mean he was guilty of fucking murder . Everyone lost their cool once in a while.

“Like I said before, I knew Miranda was going to tell Adam everything,” Augustus continued. “I knew she’d tell him what she’d seen in the cave, and that she’d figured out his family’s involvement in the scheme. I knew she’d probably also threaten to go to the authorities about it. She’d probably tell him about our affair, too. Everything was going to come out. Everything. Because of that, I knew how much danger she was in. I knew Adam would never let her destroy his family’s reputation and livelihood. I knew he’d rather kill her than allow her to blow up his life like that.”

Rose’s eyes darted between me and her father. “So… you tried to stop her?”

“Yes. Jean-Pierre and I went to the vacation house in Pinecrest Falls to tell her she wasn’t safe anymore. She’d told us where the house was many times before, so we knew exactly where to go. Then—”

“Shut the fuck up!” I spat out. “I was there that night! I remember what happened. You weren’t trying to help her escape my dad’s wrath. You and Jean-Pierre fucking abducted her. I saw him tie her up after you told him to grab her!”

“I understand what it must’ve looked like at the time, especially to an eight-year-old boy,” Augustus said softly. “But we were desperate to help her, and we knew we might not have much time. We only tied her up like that because she was struggling so much and refusing to come with us. But we didn’t want to hurt her. I swear on the Entity.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s the truth. We just wanted to help her. But after we got her into the car, we started to realize that it might already be too late. She told us she’d told Adam everything just a few hours before. Everything she knew, and everything about the affair with me as well. She also told him that she wanted to take some time away from him to think things through before she decided what she was going to do about it all,” he said. “We knew then that we were right—she was in imminent danger. Terrible, terrible danger. We intended to take her to a safe place on a vacant property outside of town, well away from Alderwood, because we knew Alderwood would be one of the first places he went to look for her if he couldn’t find her at the vacation house.”

My mind whirled through recent memories all over again, and my father’s words during his most recent explosive temper tantrum flashed in front of me like neon lights.

That slimy bastard stole your mother from me! You think I ever want to speak about him? he’d shouted at me across the hospital room when I brought up Augustus.

At the time, I’d assumed he was referring to Augustus and the Covenant ‘stealing’ my mother’s life by murdering her. Now I knew it could’ve been about her affair with Augustus instead. He perceived Augustus as having stolen his wife by seducing her.

But if that was true, and my father knew all about the affair between the two of them… then that meant he had to know about all the rest too. About my mother’s journey into the cave and her discovery of the Thorne family’s connection to the Covenant operations, including all the drug dealing and embryo thievery.

It also meant he’d hidden it all from me, for all these years. The cops and FBI, too. That opened him wide up as a suspect.

“What happened after you took her?” I asked in a low voice.

“Well, you already know that Rosamund was with us that evening,” he said. “She was sick, so I brought her with me because I was worried. Also, to be honest, I thought her presence might aid in convincing Miranda to come with us. She loved Rosamund.”

Rose took a deep breath, upper body stiffening. “What then?” she asked.

“There was a struggle. We had to tie her up. You already know that part.” Augustus waved a hand and went on. “We took the car down the back road that leads off your property, Sebastian. We had absolutely no idea that your father was already so close. That he was already looking for her everywhere.”

I nodded slowly. “He arrived at the house a few minutes after you took off. I remember that. His first words before he realized I was hiding under the table were: ‘ Miranda, where the hell are you? We need to—’ . Then he cut himself off when he saw me.”

Augustus nodded. “He was probably going to tell her they needed to talk about her earlier revelations. But he never intended to talk to her. I can assure you of that.”

“What happened then?”

“She was very unhappy to be with us. She kept telling us she didn’t need our help or protection. That Adam would never, ever hurt her. We knew she was wrong, so we kept going, and we didn’t let her go.” Augustus hesitated and turned his sorrowful gaze to Rose. “That’s where you came in, darling.”

“I did something to her?” Rose asked, brows shooting up.

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Unbeknownst to us, Miranda had her cellular phone in one of her pockets. She couldn’t get it out herself because she was restrained, so she must’ve asked you to do it for her. Then she must’ve told you how to call someone. Adam . Jean-Pierre and I didn’t actually hear the conversation in the back seat, because you were presumably whispering, and it was also raining very heavily, so we can only assume that’s what happened.” Augustus paused, frowning. Then he slowly shook his head. “All those decades ago, it wasn’t as easy as it is now to trace a person’s location via their cellular phone, if the phone in question wasn’t in use at the time. But if the phone was in use, the call could be traced and narrowed down to an almost-exact location via signals bouncing from the closest phone towers, if I recall correctly.”

“So Rose helped my mother call my father, and my father was able to track her down from that call?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

“Yes. Because of that, he found us only twenty minutes after we left the property, and he caught up to us on the road very quickly,” Augustus replied. “Like I said, it was raining heavily, and I’m not an experienced driver, so I was driving very slowly. Your father was very experienced as a driver, even in stormy weather. He was able to navigate those slick roads much faster than us.”

“So what happened?” I demanded.

“When he caught up, he rammed into us and forced us off the road. I can only assume he intended to kill us all, but we survived. I was knocked unconscious by the impact, as were Rosamund and Jean-Pierre. When we finally came to… Miranda was gone. All that was left was her phone. The last outgoing call on the log was to her husband, and the timestamp showed us that it was made when she was in the car with us.”

Under the bright moonlight, Rose’s eyes were shimmering with tears. “So that’s why you always blamed me? Because I made the call that enabled Adam to track her down?”

Augustus swallowed audibly. “I… I didn’t blame you, Rosamund. Not really. I admit, I held some resentment, but I knew it was completely illogical. You were just a child. You had no idea what you were doing. But at the same time, my love for Miranda clouded things so much. She was ripped away from me so cruelly, and I just… I blamed everyone I possibly could. Sometimes, I even cursed the Entity for allowing it to happen.”

“No, Papa! Tonight, you directly said that it was my fault she died!” Rose said, voice rising to a fever pitch. “Those were your exact words!”

“I know.” His lips tightened. “I will always regret saying that. I spoke in the heat of the moment and allowed my emotions to get the better of me. I shouldn’t have said it, let alone thought it for one second. The true blame for Miranda’s death lies squarely at Adam Thorne’s feet.”

I swallowed the hard lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat at the sight of Rose’s distress. “What exactly did my father do?” I asked in a low voice.

“We aren’t entirely sure of his exact movements, as we weren’t conscious when he took her from the car. What we do know is this: he killed her because he was furious about the affair, and he also didn’t want his family’s secrets exposed. After all, the whole lot of them would end up in prison for their culpability in the scheme they shared with us.”

“Is it possible she actually died in the crash?” Rose asked, voice hitching slightly. “That way she wouldn’t have suffered much. It would have been instant, wouldn’t it?”

“She didn’t die in the crash. She was alive when Adam took her, because the wounds he inflicted upon her occurred while her blood was still pumping. The coroner who performed the autopsy was able to determine this. So the real question is: was she conscious while he hurt her, or did the Entity grant her the small mercy of rendering her unconscious from the crash throughout the entire mutilation?”

My stomach lurched. I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe my father would do such a thing.

“You’re lying,” I said through gritted teeth. “It was you.”

Augustus wearily shook his head. “No, Sebastian. It was Adam. He killed her, and when he realized what he’d done, he decided to try and pin it on the Covenant, because he knew we were the easiest target. After all, people in these parts were already wary of us,” he said. “If you don’t believe me… ask your uncles.”

I jerked slightly backward with surprise. “My uncles ?”

“Yes. They know what happened. They were part of the family business too. So when Adam emerged from his blind rage and realized the gravity of what he’d done, he called them to beg for their help. They gave it to him, but only if he agreed to a certain deal. A deal that they eventually approached us with as well.”

“What fucking deal?”

“Well, they knew their brother’s attempt to frame the Covenant for Miranda’s murder would destroy us and send me—and the other elders—to prison. They also knew we’d probably tell the police everything about the drugs and embryos in an attempt to save ourselves. That way, every single Thorne would wind up in prison too,” he said. “They didn’t want that to happen, for obvious reasons. They also didn’t want to end our business relationship, surprisingly. They wanted to keep taking the mushrooms from us, because it’s such a highly profitable drug, and business was booming. Apparently, a derivative of the dried mushroom can be added to almost every other street drug to make them more effective. Produce a better high, as they phrased it, and command a higher price. So the industry was worth a lot, as you can imagine. Still is now.”

“Right.” I gritted my teeth. “So what was the deal?”

“We would keep working with the other Thorne brothers and producing the mushrooms for them. But only them. Not your father. He would no longer be part of the scheme, and the embryos we received in return for the mushrooms would only come from the other Thorne-owned hospitals. All we had to do was remain silent when we spoke to the authorities, in order to keep Adam out of prison for what he’d done. In return for that, we would receive the very best legal representation to keep us all out of prison too, despite Adam’s initial attempt to frame us for the murder.”

My mind whirled as I tried my best to process everything I’d just heard. “Hold on. If this is all true, why wouldn’t my uncles simply take advantage of what happened? Why wouldn’t they let you and all the other Alderwood elders go to prison, and then come in and seize the land—with the secret wonder-drug cave—for themselves?”

“Not possible.” Augustus lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “As I said earlier, the cave is very difficult to find without directions, which only Covenant members know, and the whole area is guarded with lethal traps that we’ve put in place. If any of the Thornes had ever decided to go down that path and tried to take our land for themselves, it’s unlikely they would have survived the attempt. But they always knew better. They made plenty of money from the scheme, so there was no sense in getting greedy and risking everything. They were happy to leave us alone on our land and keep us on as their growers.”

“Right. And my father hasn’t been involved with the scheme since 2004?”

“No. Only your uncles. That’s why you were never told about it,” he replied. “Usually, all Thorne children are told about the scheme as soon as they turn eighteen, so they can continue the family business when they come of age. But there was no point in telling you, seeing as you were never going to be part of it. You would just be a liability. Like your father.”

I rubbed my temples. “Jesus. This can’t be fucking real.”

Even as the words left my mouth, I knew they were wrong. This was real. Part of me had known something was off the second I saw my mother’s name on the hospital archive visitor list several days ago, and everything I’d been told tonight had simply confirmed that hunch before blasting me in the face with cold, hard reality: that my father was responsible for everything that happened to her.

“It is real, Sebastian. I’ve told you nothing but the truth,” Augustus said. “Your father killed your mother, and I— we —helped your uncles cover up the whole thing to save them alongside ourselves. If we hadn’t done that, the Covenant would’ve been destroyed. We would’ve lost Alderwood. Lost everything. So we had no choice, really. We had to help with the coverup. Had to stay silent all these years.”

I could barely think straight. Could barely even fucking breathe. Augustus’s words kept echoing in my head, crashing against each other, tearing apart the reality I thought I knew. My father— my fucking father— killed my mother.

I kept silently repeating it in my mind, but it still didn’t make sense. How could he? How could the man who raised me, who grieved with me over my mother’s death all these years, have done something so despicable? Twenty years I’d been haunted by the loss, believing she’d been taken and slaughtered by an evil extremist cult. But it was him. It was him.

My mind was spinning now, still trying to process it all. Every memory of us together, every family photo, every milestone—it all felt like a lie now. A twisted charade. For so many years, my father had watched me struggle with Mom’s death and seethe with hatred for the Covenant; watched me plot and scheme in order to force them into admitting the truth. The whole time, he’d stood by and watched, arrogantly assuming I’d never succeed in uncovering the truth.

My uncles were almost just as bad, callously playing their own part in the matter. Likely various other family members as well, like my cousins and grandparents. They all knew what really happened to my mother twenty years ago, but they were more interested in protecting their moneymaking scheme— and the Thorne family name and reputation—than getting any justice for her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rose’s expression. She looked as shocked and horrified as I felt; like she was trying and failing to grasp the enormity of the decades-long lie we’d unearthed together. Like she’d woken up to find herself standing in the wreckage of her own life without a clue how to put any of it back together.

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this, Sebastian. Truly, I’m sorry,” Augustus said. “When you came here looking for answers, I had no idea how close you’d get. I thought I could just pretend to go along with your mission to solve your mother’s murder so that you wouldn’t suspect our involvement in the coverup. I thought you’d give up and leave eventually, when no new information came to light. Until that happened, I was happy to spend time with you. It made me feel close to Miranda again, all these years later. It was…” He trailed off, voice turning gruff. “Well, it was nice to feel some sort of connection to her again. But as you pointed out earlier, I was foolish and ignorant to think it could last. I should’ve known Miranda’s son would be just as smart as her. Smart enough to uncover the truth.”

“Is that what you meant earlier, Papa?” Rose asked. “About protecting Sebastian?”

Augustus nodded. “Yes. I had to keep the truth from him,” he murmured. “For his own good. But it’s too late now.”

“For my own good ?” I said, narrowing my eyes. “You didn’t think I deserved to know exactly what happened to my mother? You didn’t think I deserved to know that my own fucking father is a coldblooded killer? Or that half my family is balls-deep in a fucking crime network?”

“It’s not about deserving. It’s about preserving. Your life, in this case.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

He sighed, raking one hand through his hair as he did so. “What do you think your father would’ve done if you knew the truth about what he did, Sebastian?” he asked. “If you hadn’t hid under the table that night, and Jean-Pierre and I took you as well as your mother… what do you think Adam would’ve done to you when he caught up to us?”

Rose cut in again. “Surely he wouldn’t kill his own son .”

Augustus gave her a hard look. “He killed his own wife to save his skin. That leaves me with very little doubt about what he might do to other family members. Even his own child,” he said. He paused, slowly shaking his head. “I completely failed to save Miranda, despite my love for her. The least I could do after her death was protect her beloved son, even if it meant hiding the terrible truth from him.”

“But Rose and I figured it out,” I muttered. “Enough pieces of it, anyway.”

“Yes. You did. And now I’ve filled in the rest of those pieces for you. You have every answer to every question,” he said. “Now I’d like an answer from you.”

“To what question?”

“Are you really going to take my daughter from me?”

“It’s her decision. Not mine.”

He nodded slowly and turned his attention to Rose. “Do you really intend to leave us, darling?”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, Papa. I want to go.”

“But you know what this will do to your people. Not just them. The whole world. If the Tetrad ritual isn’t complete—”

“Papa.” Rose cut him off with a raised hand. “I don’t believe in that anymore. I don’t think the Darkness lives in the forbidden cave, and I don’t think the eclipse sacrifices make any difference. I know you truly believe in it all, but… I don’t. I’m sorry. I’m not willing to give my life for something I don’t believe in.”

“But how can you not see it, darling?” Augustus shook his head as he spoke. “Look what happened when Miranda found the cave and ventured inside. That sinful action allowed some of the Darkness to seep into the world, just as our founders predicted would happen if an outsider ever went into the cave. We can see its effects everywhere.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“The outside world has grown worse and worse every year since it happened. More disease outbreaks. More pestilence. More war. More famine,” he said. “To be clear, I do not blame your mother for any of this. She wasn’t a believer, so she genuinely didn’t know what her actions would result in when she went into that cave. I blame myself, for falling for her and allowing her to reside in our community for so long, which in turn allowed her the means to locate the cave. It is my fault. Nevertheless... the world is slowly falling to the Darkness, which has been seeping outward ever since, and the Tetrad ritual is our only hope at containing it once and for all.”

“Papa, all these diseases and wars in the outside world—I think they were going to happen regardless of anything that goes on in Alderwood,” Rose said, lifting her chin high. “I don’t think it’s fair to put it all on me, or yourself, or the rest of the Covenant. It’s not fair to make us believe that we alone are responsible for the entire world.”

“But we are ,” Augustus insisted. “That is the whole point of our existence and the work we do here. We are keeping the world safe.”

Rose bit her bottom lip in contemplation. I was ready to step in and argue for her if she needed it, but right now, she seemed to be doing fine on her own. I was so damn proud of her for that—for seeing past decades of extreme mental programming and finally getting to the truth.

“Papa, I believe that the founders were wrong when they gave us this responsibility. I believe the doctrine they laid out is false. That is why I must leave,” she finally said, raising her voice slightly. “You told me it was my choice, and you told me you wouldn’t stop me. Is that still true?”

Tears were shimmering in her father’s eyes now. “Yes. The sacrifices are a personal choice, and we would never force anyone to do it. We are not complete savages. You know that. But—” His voice cracked, and he scrubbed a hand across his face. “Darling… please don’t abandon us. Please don’t give up on us. Our work is so important. Without you, the whole world is at risk.”

“Papa…” Rose sniffed loudly, clearly on the verge of tears as well. I stepped forward and placed a protective hand on her upper back. She sucked in a deep breath and spoke up again. “I love you, and I love Alderwood. But if I stay here, I know I must be sacrificed, and I don’t want that.”

“I told you; it is a personal choice. You wouldn’t be forced.”

“But it’s not a personal choice, is it? Not really,” Rose said, shaking her head. “There are over a thousand people here in Alderwood, and every single one of them is expecting to watch me meet the Entity on the Red Rocks in two days. If I refuse to do it… I know I will be guilted and pressured by all those people. The people I’ve grown up with and shared my life with until now. All of them begging and pleading with me, just like you’re doing right now. It will be too hard. Maybe even too hard for me to say no in the end, even though that’s what I want to say. So, I must go.”

Augustus wiped his face again and coughed loudly to clear his throat. “Please, Rosamund. Don’t do this,” he choked out. “ Please .”

“I’m sorry, Papa. I have to leave.” Rose sniffed back more tears and lowered her gaze to the ground. “I hope you can forgive me one day.”

Augustus closed his eyes for a moment, head tipped slightly downward as if in prayer. Then he cleared his throat again and opened his eyes. “May I have one last hug before you leave me?” he asked gruffly.

“Of course, Papa,” Rose murmured, stepping forward.

“Wait.” I held an arm out in front of her, eyes narrowed on her father.

He might’ve told me the truth about my own father tonight, along with many other things, but that didn’t mean I trusted the man. He was a true believer in his religion, and that meant he might be willing to do anything it took to make Rose stay tonight. He might’ve lied about the sacrifice being her choice, and he might be planning to grab her during this hug in an attempt to force her to stay with him.

“Sebastian,” he said softly, looking right into my eyes. “It’s just a hug. I swear. I am aware of the gun in your hand, and if I try anything, you are more than welcome to use it.”

I dipped my chin in a curt nod and lowered my free arm, allowing Rose to move again. “All right,” I muttered. “Go ahead, baby.”

I remained a few steps back, watching as she wrapped her arms around her father. He did the same, holding her like he never wanted to let go, his eyes closed as if he were memorizing the moment, every breath, every heartbeat. It was like time had briefly stopped for them. Just father and daughter, saying a goodbye neither of them wanted to say but both knowing it had to be done. I felt the heaviness of the moment in the air, the finality of it all, and my heart twisted painfully, knowing how long and how badly this would affect Rose. She didn’t deserve that sort of pain.

Finally, she broke away from the hug, wiping her tearstained face with one hand. “Bye, Papa,” she choked out.

“Goodbye, Rosamund,” he said, dropping his arms back to his sides. He glanced up at the dark sky. “If you change your mind, well… you still have two and a half days.”

“I know, Papa.”

I cleared my throat and took a step forward. “Will anyone try to stop us from leaving right now?”

Augustus nodded. “The watchmen at the gate will probably stop you at first, just to ask what is happening. But you can tell them that it is my wish for the two of you to leave. That the Entity has willed it. If they don’t believe you, tell them to come and find me. I will be right here. Thinking and praying.”

As the last words left his mouth, he sagged to the ground, gaze fixed on Jean-Pierre’s body in the spike pit.

Rose took one last lingering look at her father. Then she took my hand and turned away, heading for the trail that would lead us out of the hunting grounds.

When we arrived back in the village, we retrieved my bag from my room at the tavern, moving quietly so we didn’t wake anyone else in the building. Then we made our way toward the front gate together, hand-in-hand.

As Augustus predicted, the night watchmen spied us from their posts and ordered us to halt.

“What are you doing?” one of them asked.

“We’re leaving,” I said calmly. “Together.”

He looked taken aback. “I… I don’t think that is possible,” he said. “Of course, you are free to go whenever you please, Mr. Thorne, but Miss Trudeau must—”

Rose cut him off. “My father has given his permission, Mr. Bourdieu. It is the Entity’s will that I leave here tonight,” she said, loudly and clearly. “If you do not believe me, you can find him in the hunting grounds, by the old oak tree.”

“I... well… it’s not that I don’t believe your word, Miss Trudeau, but—”

“I understand,” Rose said in a resigned tone, cutting him off again with a wave of her hand. “You must go and be sure of the matter, especially after all the drama and confusion with my recent disappearance.”

“Yes. That’s right.” He exchanged a glance with the other watchman, who nodded curtly. Then he came down from his post and hurried away.

Rose and I waited in silence. The second watchman stared at us the whole time, expression mired in confusion under the torchlight.

The first watchman returned around fifteen minutes later, panting from the exertion of his run all the way to the hunting grounds and back. “They speak the truth,” he said, looking up at his colleague. “The Governor confirmed that Rosamund must leave the village right now. The Entity has given her an important mission in the outside world.”

I raised a brow as he spoke. Part of me had still expected some sort of fight ending with bloodshed or even death, but it seemed Augustus had been honest with us—Rose was truly free to leave if that was her final decision.

All she had to do was say it.

And it wasn’t just her. Augustus had told me the truth on my first day here: that anyone was free to leave Alderwood at any time. They simply never did because they never wanted to; never even thought to ask about it after being raised—well, brainwashed, really—with the deep-seated belief that it was their own version of paradise.

This whole time, my perception of Augustus had been colored by my belief that he, along with the rest of the Covenant, was the enemy. An embodiment of pure evil. However, while the Covenant had certain beliefs and practices that most people would consider deeply wrong or perhaps even evil, such as human sacrifice, blood consumption, virginity tests, and barbaric confession practices, they weren’t the true enemy lurking in the darkness.

No, all along, the true enemy had been much closer to home.

“Well, then.” The second watchman dipped his chin in another curt nod. “Unlock the gate, Denis.”

After the sturdy gate finally creaked open, we stepped through, our eyes locked on the shadowy path ahead.

Moments later, as we descended into the darkness beyond the village, one of the watchmen called out to us, voice partially fading into the distance behind us. “Miss Trudeau, you’ll be back in time for the Tetrad, won’t you?”

Rose bit her bottom lip and pretended she didn’t hear the faint question, keeping her eyes fixed on the moonlit path as she continued in her stride. Her face was tight, like she was trying her best to control her emotions, but tears began to slide down her cheeks a few minutes later. I stopped and pulled her into a tight hug. “I know, baby,” I muttered. “It hurts. You feel like you’re betraying your people.”

“Yes.” Her voice cracked as she bit out that word, and her shoulders crumpled, body sagging into my embrace. “I know it’s the right thing to do, but I feel so terrible.”

“I know, but you’ll be okay. I promise, baby girl,” I said, stroking her hair. “Everything will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”