There was nothing warm in this room.
Where was he?
“This way,” Thomas said, his tone bitter and dry.
I swallowed, but it was the only emotion I allowed myself to feel. It was easy, sliding back into who I was with him. I wondered if it would ever be difficult. To not feel. To shut down. To be his perfect little Favorite.
I focused every ounce of attention I had on the feeling of the eyes on my skin, searching for the warm gaze among the chilling ones that told me he was here, but I couldn’t find them.
Not when I stepped in front of the congregation of Pillars and Leaders.
Not when Thomas led me up the steps.
And certainly not when we stepped onto a white carpet lined in red.
My heart picked up, the panic settling in my bones. Where was he? Why wasn’t he here?
The music continued to drift, and I was standing up here alone, the eyes of everyone on me, waiting, watching. As if they expected me to do something.
Terror filled me and my ears strained. Were they pulling on their cocks again? One last time before I was someone else’s forever?
“It’s a shame,” I heard one of them sigh. “I had hoped I would get another go at her after Thomas married her.”
“We were robbed,” another said. “To take her away so quickly and only allow the Leaders access? We should have been allowed more time.”
“We would have had it not been for the money.”
I felt everything in me still at that. They weren’t touching themselves, they were talking.
“The church needed it.”
“We are an empire, we didn’t needmore. What we needed was a taste of that sweet little pussy of hers.”
I wanted to adjust, the weight of their eyes too much. Where was Azrael?
“I overheard a phone call this morning,” a woman whispered. “Apparently, she’s held to a higher standard.”
“Because she’s the Blessed One?” another woman asked.
“Many of the other churches have already requested her appearance.”
“They know they won’t be able to touch her now, don’t they?”
“They all got a glimpse at the last convention. They don’t want to touch her or take her to the Back Hall, they just want to see her. See why we all think she’s so blessed.”
Silence touched the sanctuary.
“It’s a genetic condition, how on earth does that make her blessed? She’s just another whore,” the woman went on. “There’s nothing special about her. Honestly, all these years having all of you act like animals simply because of her genetics, it’s disgraceful.”
I continued to stare at my boots. Why did they keep calling me that? A whore. I wasn’t a whore.
“Rumor has it that the Elders want to see her though,” the first woman stated. “So she’s blessed enough for that.”
My eyes narrowed. The Elders wanted to see me? Would that help Azrael in his assignment? I had to remember to tell him—
I heard the doors open on the far side of the sanctuary and my heart stopped as those warm eyes fell on me, along with others. I felt more warm eyes, but I couldn’t distinguish how many. Had he brought friends?
Whispering started across the congregation.
