I should feel lucky. Thomas brought me everywhere. He could have just ordered me to stay at his house and clean or do whatever it was he wanted me to do, but instead, he allowed meto come with him everywhere. To see the ground of the buildings he visited. The church, the van, this cathedral, the grass in the cemetery.
I wondered what the other Favorites saw in their homes. Even after marrying, Pillars were allowed to continue to have as many Favorites as they wanted. I even heard of some marrying multiple Favorites, they married their most favorite of them, giving them rules about never being shared again, and then married their other Favorites and shared them with whoever they wanted.
There were even some Pillars that coveted all of their Favorites. They had six or more of them and didn’t share them with anyone.
I think that would be nice. To be coveted that much by my Pillar that he didn’t want to share me ever again.
Thomas had already made his promises though. We will be married, but I would still belong to all of the Leaders. It wasn’t something I was looking forward to, knowing what that meant.
Once Thomas penetrated me, anyone could. Marriage was a sacred covenant between a husband and his wife, unless that husband wanted her to continue to worship man as God intended.
“Thomas.”
He paused for half a second before his feet switched directions, and I quickly followed after him. I couldn’t feel the warm gaze, but I wasn’t worried. If he left, I wouldn’t have expected anything less.
However, he was a Pillar working his way up to Leader, Pastor Masters should have required him to be here. To attend. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t made a Leader in lieu of Mr. Nelson’s passing. Maybe it wasn’t just because of what Thomas might have told his father, maybe it was also because he had missed too many days.
We walked into a room with stone floors, just like the other rooms, and a round red and gold rug.
“Should she be here?” Mr. Kels spoke.
“She is well trained,” Pastor Masters assured them. “We all know that very well. Thomas, shut the door.”
I remained as still as possible, glancing around the floor just long enough to take in the feet of every Leader in our church except for Mr. Bastrom.
I heard the door shut behind me, Thomas’s shoes appearing a second later. “Go stand in the corner.”
I turned and walked towards the corner, a large window on my right, the door to my left.
I glanced towards the window, praying it was low enough for me to look out, and it was, but only a few inches. I could see some of the grass from here, but nothing else. No sky, no anything, just the green of the wet grass and some gravestones.
I remembered how beautiful the skies were. Bright blue or storming and filled with dark clouds. Today, they would have been filled with dark clouds, maybe they would have even lit up with lightning, although I had yet to hear any thunder.
I missed the sky. I hadn’t seen it since the day of my mother’s funeral.
“Mr. Bastrom will go through the initiation on Sunday morning,” Pastor Masters told the group. “Thomas, you’ll be leading it, leave her in the pew, the church will look after her.”
“And why didn’t you choose precious Thorin?” Thomas asked bitterly. “You two have been so close these last three years.”
Two years, 9 months and 13 days.
“He and I have an arrangement,” Pastor Masters answered. “He’s been vital for our transportation needs.”
“But you haven’t given him the title yet?” Mr. Kels asked. “That’s pretty risky, considering.”
Considering everything the church has gone through since hearing about his daughter. Why take such a risk?
“Things have changed,” Mr. Alascer stated coldly, “haven’t they, Garrett?”
He was asking for reassurances, I could hear it in his voice. He needed to know that they were still on good terms. But why? It’s been a long time since what happened in California. Why was he still worried about his position?
“You were getting careless,” Pastor Masters replied. “Louis followed in your steps. You were lucky, he wasn’t,” he stated simply.
“Not my steps,” he said icily. “My steps were far different, led by the help ofYoung. My steps were careful. Louis was careless when he took the advice of his son rather than listening to us. We will follow the same path if we continue going after them. We need to learn to leave well enough alone.”
“They won’t,” Mr. Edgars noted. “Charles and Louis started something we clearly haven’t been able to stop.”
So, they did try and make some sort of move on The Family. Clearly, it didn’t end well if Louis’ death was caused by them.
