In reality, they were kneeling among killers.
Killers they were about to join.
When Bass finally emerged again, he dragged in a woman dressed in white, blindfolded, bound, and gagged. Tears streaked her splotchy face as the cloth tied around her mouth drowned out her cries. A collective gasp erupted through the eight initiates.
“This woman has threatened one of our brothers with her lies,” Bass said, an eager grin curving his mouth. “Brothers above all. We protect our own, and she must be dealt with.”
The Grand Domnus shortened the distance between us and placed the dagger in my hand. “You pick the candidate.”
I knew just the man for the job. Thankfully, the mask hid my evil smile as I slipped behind Micah and used my pocketknife instead of the ceremonial dagger to cut the ropes from his wrists.
“It’s your time to shine, Preston,” I whispered and hauled him to his feet. “Fail and you’re out.”
He licked his pale lips. “W-What am I supposed to do?”
“What do you think?” I slapped the dagger into his palm. “We’ve made it easy for you. Aim for the mark on her chest.”
Sweat poured down Micah’s face as he studied the blonde woman who couldn’t have been older than twenty-one. “You really want me to kill her?”
I chuckled at the unadulterated fear in his hazel eyes that had his knees quaking. “If you can’t handle it, drop out now. Maybe you’re just not cut out for this.” Once the initiates completed this test, there was no dropping out.
His hand trembled as he lifted the knife, positioning it over the snake and dagger symbol drawn on her chest in red. His hand stopped its movement. “I-I can do it.”
Part of me was hoping he’d pussy out. Then I wouldn’t have to see his smug face around here anymore.
The terrified Neophyte pushed his glasses back up his sweaty nose, panting as he teetered on the verge of becoming a killer. His entire body trembled, but before I could taunt him any further, he moved the dagger’s tip toward the woman’s chest—and pushed it in.
Her muffled shriek ricocheted against the stone walls, and she collapsed into Bass’s arms.
Holy shit. The fucker actually did it.
Micah sucked in a ragged breath and stood frozen, the dagger still buried in the woman’s heart as the horror of what he’d done sank in.
Then his expression faltered.
There was no blood.
His shaking hand pulled the blade free. The steel gleamed, clean and untouched. “It’s... not real?”
“But you believed it was,” the Domnus replied, steadying the woman on her feet. “The dagger is only a prop.”
Applause echoed through the chamber like thunder. Not because Micah had killed someone. But because he’d been willing to.
Micah sagged, and the sacrificial lamb smiled behind her fabric gag, revealing that she’d been part of the ruse. The other initiates gave relieved chuckles.
They had no idea what was to come. This made the whole thing seem like one big game, so they’d pledge their lives to the Serpents & Daggers without a second thought.
I took the knife from Micah’s trembling hand. “Rejoin the other Neophytes.”
Micah stumbled back to the seven other guys and crashed to his knees, his sweaty blonde hair sticking to his forehead.Another brother took the girl, Victoria Ashby, from Bass and led her through the door, her blindfold, gag, and binds still in place.
Outsiders were never allowed to see within these hallowed walls. And while the girl wasn’t one of us, most of the men in her family were, including her father. Jonathan Ashby was part of the Inner Circle, and he’d be the one to gut his daughter if she so much as breathed a whisper of this to another soul.
“Repeat this oath.” Bass lifted a golden goblet from the altar as if presenting a sacred relic. “Our blood is from one cup. Our bones are from one beast. Our soul is from the same shadow. Brothers above all. We enter this world together. And we shall only leave with a dagger pressed against our throat and the serpent’s poison in our veins.”
The words echoed off the stone walls like a curse.
The Neophytes repeated the oath they would soon live by and drank from the goblet as Bass pressed it to each of their lips. Gage stepped behind them to cut the ropes tying their wrists together.
