Not just a little, something had happened. Something serious. I could feel it in the air. I could feel the tension, the anger. Everyone was mumbling about what would happen next, what the next steps would be, and this talking wasn’t just among the Leaders, but among the Pillars too.
One of the branches had burned to ash. Mr. Alascer, who had been visiting at the time, almost died. Luckily for him, he had been running late to the service, but I truly wouldn’t have minded if he had died too.
There had been a Favorite there as well, just one. A very special Favorite from what Thomas had said. Mr. Alascer had been planning on bringing her here to introduce to Pastor Masters, but then the fire happened and nobody survived.
There was anger in the air, and I half wondered if it had something to do with The Family.
They were taking out the Church of Daylight slowly, just like what Thomas had said all those years ago, and now the Leaders were angry at Pastor Masters for not taking it more seriously when Mr. Nelson had died.
If I were them, I would have been angry at the Elders as well, being as how they were supposed to be protecting us like God protected his sheep.
Why were they truly coming after us? Why weren’t the Elders doing anything about it?
I suppose I held no real complaints. Maybe I would die in the crossfire just like the other Favorite, but I was curious why they were doing it. It couldn’t have just been about Mr. Alascer’s daughter, there had to be more to this.
I knew that there were other churches out there, not just ours. Lots of other churches that went by different names and taught different things, but Thomas promised that we were the One True Church, so maybe that’s why they were coming after us.
Maybe they didn’t want the true message to spread.
I wouldn’t want that either.
Maybe The Family was filled with people the Church of Daylight had wronged, just like Mr. Alascer’s daughter. Maybe they had claimed more women who perhaps didn’t like when men broke the rules and so they were going after them in revenge for all they had lost.
How nice.
I hoped they succeeded.
I hoped they burned this whole place to the ground.
And I hoped that when that day came, I at least had the strength within me to look up and watch as the world turned to ash.
I kept my eyes on my feet. I was wearing black clogs today and my pastel green sweater, paired with a straight black skirt that fell to my ankles. Thomas was standing a foot away, having ordered me to remain so he could speak with one of the Pillars.
They were talking about the fire, about what this meant going forward. He couldn’t give away too much. One, because the Pillar wasn’t on a high enough level, and two, because he didn’t know much.
As far as I could tell, his father wasn’t telling him much of anything regarding that fire. Nothing more than ‘it was tragic’ and ‘it’ll create a dent in our business’.
I wasn’t sure how much of a dent because from what I heard, the Delepski’s hadn’t been a part of the church for too long. Whatever they were doing had been against the rules anyway, and Mr. Alascer had gone there to not only pick up the Favorite, but to deal with their rash decision-making, which had started within the Church of Daylight they had built in Russia.
He hadn’t come back yet, Mr. Alascer, but I could feel a pair of familiar eyes resting on me that told me that today of all days, Azrael had come back.
“Have you ever heard of wild roses?” I heard him ask just before his shoes slowly walked into my line of sight.
Thomas was quiet a moment before he dismissed the Pillar he was talking to and turned his attention to Azrael. “Heard of what?”
There was something chilling in his voice this time around. Something that made my entire body taut with a feeling I couldn’t quite understand.
“Wild roses,” he said again. “I’ve heard their thorns are razor sharp, especially when touched by hatred and rage.”
After all this time, I knew how he spoke. I knew what that meant. He wasn’t talking about roses; he was talking about a Favorite. Just like his daffodil and little mouse. This wild rose was another woman, and she sounded angry.
She sounded so filled with rage that it burned sharply and painfully through her. Just as I imagined my pain and rage would burn if I could feel anything at all.
Was she the Favorite who had died in that fire? Had she been Azrael’s Favorite or just a woman he had wanted as his Favorite? He had to have known her to know that much about her. So perhaps it had been his Favorite. Perhaps Mr. Alascerhad been bringing her back here for him so that he could finally have a Favorite at this church. Payment for helping with the transportation.
Thomas released a breath. “I don’t have time for your word games, Thorin, we’re dealing with something much more important.”
“Why is her hair like that?” he asked suddenly, causing my heart to flip. “The rules state that Favorites aren’t meant to dye their hair, yet hers has been like that since I arrived—”
