Dark Need (House of Sin 3)

Punishment.

But I am not afraid of pain.

I am only afraid of losing what I value the most … honor.

But it was fucking worth it seeing April’s smile.

Chapter 41

Soren

When we all arrive at the village, it is nothing like I remember. There are many more huts than there were years ago, with plenty more families and children running around. At the clearing in the middle is a giant bonfire along with a statue for worship, with loads of people paying tribute with food or a blood offering. One of the guys I trained with is chopping wood, his waist seemingly free of the chains that bound me so long, while his maiden watches the children. A picture so vividly painted in my mind when I was younger of what I would be offered when I returned.

“Up here,” Arvid says, walking up the small hill in the establishment that leads to a big hut with wooden steps leading to a door. Arvid holds out his hand. “Your bag.”

After I’ve given it to him, he goes up to the hut and slides the tarp aside. “He’s here.”

I wait down on the ground for whoever is in there to come out.

But I go to my knees the second I spot two Elders come out, with the last one following suit. All three here to judge me, their stares boring a hole straight into my chest.

All the villagers have come up the hill, too, curious about what would be so important that it would garner attention from all three Elders. My dishonor will be on display for everyone to see. Still, I have no regrets, and as I close my eyes while waiting for judgment, I picture April’s face in front of me and those pretty pink lips of hers smiling away as she runs into her home.

The fiercest Elder comes down the steps and stands in front of me in her cloak of leaves and twigs. “Soren.”

I look up.

“Why are you back?”

I frown, confused why she’d ask.

“Say it out loud,” she hisses.

“I failed my duty.”

The villagers gasp in sync, and it stings.

“You failed your duty to your Owner.” The Elder starts to circle me. “To us. To your family. To yourself.” She pauses, then turns around again. “You were supposed to honor this village by committing yourself to your sole purpose, to complete your mission for our friends at the House, and be dismissed with honor. Instead, you were sent away like a dog.” She spits on the ground in front of me.

Instead, I close my eyes and blink away the dread.

“I am ashamed.”

“As you should be,” the other Elder says, walking down the stairs too now. “Our village prides itself on honor. Because if we do not have honor … we have nothing.” She stands in front of me with bare feet, her toes digging into the dirt, and I lean over to bury my head in the sand between her legs.

“Tell us why,” she says.

“I … fell for a girl.”

More gasps are audible, but I don’t care anymore.

“Agata. Elin. Step aside.”

I recognize that powerful voice from a long time ago, way back when the metal was first put onto my body, and it makes my bones feel weak.

The wisest Elder of all comes down the steps, the sound of her cane hitting the wood hitting louder than any of the floggings my trainer ever gave me.

It stops in front of me.

Sweat drops roll down my forehead.

She shoves the cane underneath my chin and forces me to look up.

“You fell … for a girl?”

My nostrils flare. “She is the reason I am here.”

She narrows her eyes. “What girl?”

“One from the House.”

More shocked gasps come from the people around us, and I try to block it out.

The Elder’s lip quirks up. “Up.”

I do what she commands, and she steps closer to inspect me. Her hand reaches in my pants to search for the metal, which is no longer there, and her eyes squint and become violent with rage.

“Where is your metal?”

“In the bag,” I say.

More gasps follow.

Arvid brings her the bag, and she takes out the metal and holds it up for everyone to see.

“The girl took it off,” I reply.

The Elder throws the metal onto the ground in front of me, like a mirror to reflect my sins.

“He’s cursed!” some of the women from the village say.

“Shh!” Agata, the fiercest Elder, silences them.

“Enough,” the wisest says as she turns away from me and walks to a hut nearby. “Follow me.”

The crowd parts to let us through. The Elder brings us to a home I’m all too familiar with. A home that still brings fear to my heart. I haven’t been here since I was given to my Trainer.

The Elder pushes the tarp aside and waits for me to step inside.

My mother is right there, sitting on a comfy chair, and she gets up the moment she sees me, clutching her hand close by her chest. The look of disappointment in her eyes is chilling.