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Madeleine nodded, opened her mouth to say something, took one look at his thunderous expression, and closed it again.

“Where’s she buried?” I asked.

Madeleine frowned. “She’s not dead. She’s a dark servant.”

“You better be shitting me,” Keaton blurted.

I placed a hand on his shoulder, Keaton vibrating with pent-up emotion. “Rewind a step,” I told Madeleine. “What happens if you fail the test?”

“Nothing,” she said, “apart from you can’t go back to the castle, obviously. There is no place for dark servants there. What happens after the ritual is of no concern to the Beloved Father. He has played his part. The Lord has decided, and it’s in the Lord’s hands what happens to them. Not the Seekers.”

Keaton’s voice cracked. “So what you’re saying is that my sister is still out there somewhere? That he lacks the basic humanity to put her out of her misery.”

Madeleine’s face showed only confusion. “She is nothing to do with us anymore.”

I dragged Keaton away before he did something stupid like lunge at her, his expression stricken. “We’ll find her,” I promised. “Even if we have to comb every inch of this town and kill every single biter we come across.”

“Thinking of her like that… I can’t…”

“Yeah,” I said. “Trust me, I get it. We find her and then we kill him.”

“Promise.”

“I promise.”

Madeleine had closed her eyes again and was humming a tune I didn’t recognize. “Stay here. I’m going to deal with her.”

Keaton retreated to sit on a large rock while I retraced my steps. Saying her name made her open her eyes. “So what happens now?” I asked. “You just stand here and wait for it to rain?” I tipped my head back. “That might not happen for days. Longer, maybe. You could die of thirst before it rains.”

Madeleine gave a little laugh. “That won’t happen. In a couple of hours, the tide will come in, high enough that it will reach my neck. There’s enough virus present in the sea to test me. The time is carefully selected for that purpose.”

“Right.” I turned my head toward the sea. It was easy to forget sometimes that all water posed a risk if you didn’t adequately treat it. “Did you know,” Madeleine said with something close to childish wonder on her face, “that in the old world, people swam in it? Can you imagine that?”

“I did know that.” I watched the waves come in while I contemplated the fact that the August of a few weeks ago would simply have walked away and thought nothing of it. If there was any justifying that action, he would have told himself she’d made her choice. Keaton had changed that, made me see things differently. Madeleine was someone’s sister, too. Or if not a sister, then their daughter or their niece. “You don’t have to do this,” I said.

“Of course, I do. When I am cleansed, Beloved Father will be pleased. He will take another wife soon, and I’m hoping…” She didn’t need to say what she was hoping; it was obvious from the color that had crept into her cheeks.

“Another wife?” There was no keeping the disdain out of my voice. “How many does he have?”

“Five so far. Beloved Father doesn’t choose just anyone.”

“Oh yeah, I bet he’s real picky,” I drawled.

“It is our duty to provide healthy heirs to continue the Lord’s work.”

I’d heard enough. “Listen,” I said, pulling my knife from my boot. “I’m going to cut you loose. My advice to you would be to get out of here. Go home. Wherever that is. Or if you can’t go home, find a community nearby.”

“I cannot. My family is here. I must be tested.”

I’d heard enough, sawing through the ropes despite her protests. “Well, I’m giving you the choice. And if you want to speed things up, you can just wade into the sea.” Madeleine tried to squirm away, but it was already too late, her hands untied. “Think carefully,” I advised before walking away.

Keaton stood as I rejoined him. I wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him forward so our foreheads pressed together. “We can’t look for her tonight, before you suggest it. It’s too dark. We won’t see shit, and we won’t find her if we get eaten.”

Keaton’s nod was a long time coming, but it happened eventually.

I turned to look back before we left the beach. Madeleine hadn’t moved, her hands clasped behind her as if they were still tied.

There was no helping some people.