Chapter 27
Ryven
The church is a sea of black—cloaks, shoes, masks. Shadows are in motion. I too, wear all black and my colored mask is over my face as I watch each member pass by.
Members from every district appear, stalking behind the door Cedric won’t let me cross. So I wait, like a loyal dog behind a closed door.
“The meeting will start in just a minute, so make sure you’re ready,” Cedric says, clapping a hand on my shoulder.
I nod and stand against the wall by the door. I’m supposed to just listen, sit outside and pick up scraps like a beggar. I’m not too sure what the point of this is, but I’ll do his bidding if it means I’ll learn any inside information about the council.
A loud bang sounds, like an anvil hitting a table just beyond the door, and people hush one another as the meeting starts. It’s louder out here than I anticipated. I can stand here more casually than expected and listen in on the meeting without looking like I’m snooping.
I can work with this.
As the meeting proceeds, multiple different voices sound. The people who decides who lives and who dies. One of which is Cedric’s. “He will be a good addition. I’ll vouch for him,” he states.
Who does he vouch for? What’s happening? I instinctively edge closer to the door to hear a little better.
“You say you’ll vouch for him, but you only gave him rank the other day. What the hell makes you think he’s capable of such a task?” a voice I’m unfamiliar with asks.
Someone inside clears their throat, and I listen harder to hear what happens next. “Ryven is one of my best. Loyal to the cause. Loyal to you, Your Majesty. Please take me for my word and trust me.”
He’s talking about me. What the fuck? He’s vouching for me with his life—and he couldn’t be more wrong.
Another voice speaks, lower and harder to make out. “If we are still losing members, someone is feeding information. A leak.”
I go still. That’s me.
“We’ve already lost three confirmed cells this month,” the voice continues. “The pattern is too precise. Too surgical. The rebels know more than they should.”
A pause. The tension behind that door could cut steel.
“If it continues, we’ll start vetting from the inside. High ranks included.”
Shit, no one is safe.
That’s the real reason Cedric wanted me here. Not to test my loyalty—to protect himself. He’s sweating just like the rest of them. One wrong whisper and the council will slit his throat to make a point.
And now I know they’re scared.
That’s valuable.
“It wasn’t him.” Cedric’s voice fills the silence.
“If you say so, but he’s your responsibility. If he fucks up, you’ll pay with your life,” the man replies.
“Thank you, sir,” Cedric responds.
Cedric really thinks I’m loyal—to the cause, to him, to any of this twisted shit. He has no idea. He’s betting his life on a lie, and I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for him.
If he dies because of me…good. He’s the one who brought me into this hell, gave me a mask and a number, and told me I’d be reborn. He stripped away everything that mattered. Joey. My future and any piece of myself I didn’t lock behind this mask.
Let him rot for it.
I’m not loyal to Cedric. I’m not loyal to anyone in the cult. I’ll play their game as long as it serves me, but if he thinks I’d hesitate to kill him instead of keeping Rory safe—he’s more delusional than I thought.
He threw his life on the table like a fool. If the council comes for him, I won’t flinch.
It feels like I’ve been sitting outside this door for hours. The council has been deliberating over so many useless things, so I began tuning them out a while ago. Talks about the price of rice coming from the districts and the other food sources fluttered in the air.
I’m zoning in and out when the door to the meeting room opens, and people begin to filter out. I quickly stand up straighter so as to not give away the fact that I was bored.
Cedric exits and heads straight for me. “Well?” He raises his brow. “Did you hear anything interesting?”
I smirk. “You were in there. You know what I heard.”
He laughs and claps my shoulder. “I unfortunately was. It was boring, as usual,” he replies with a smile, and we head toward the car. Before we get inside, he turns toward me. “I meant to ask you, have you seen Wes around today?”
I tense at his question. Can’t exactly say, ‘he’s dead, and I buried him behind your church.’ I shake my head. “No, sir.”
His mouth forms a flat line as he hops in the back seat of the car. “I swear that kid is going to be the death of me.”
We’re quiet on the way to the church. Cedric sits in the back seat, looking out the window, and I sit next to him as his driver takes us.
A masked member is walking out of the front door when we arrive and Cedric already has his hand on the door handle before the car stops. He opens his door and says, “What’s going on?”
I follow suit and stand next to him as the member seems like he’s in a panic. I take a step forward and place my hand on his shoulder. “Take a breath, brother. Tell us what’s happening.”
His frantic eyes meet mine, and suddenly, he calms. “My partner is dead, and Westley is missing, sir.” He clears his throat.
“What do you mean?” Cedric asks from behind me.
“I don’t know. I followed my orders for the day and things went smoothly.
I did my sacrifice without my partner because he never showed to the location of the ritual.
He told me he would be a minute and then never came back.
So after I was done, I went back to our target’s house and found him in the hallway, dead. ”
I release his shoulder and take a step back. “How was he killed?” I ask.
“Shot in the back of the head, sir.”
Fuck me.
“Well, who the hell did it? Was there anyone else there with you? Did you guys check behind you when you entered the house?” Cedric starts rattling off questions.
The member frantically shakes his head and holds out his hands. “No, no! The coast was clear. There was no one in sight. Everything ran so smoothly,” he whispers the last part like he doesn’t even believe it anymore.
Cedric looks over at me, his face hard as stone. “We do not leave our brothers behind.” He nods toward the church. “Bring this traitor to the basement.”
My stomach knots as the cult member in front of me pisses himself, the smell hitting a second later. He knows what happens in the basement.
Everyone does.
Nothing comes back from down there.