Rite of Revelation (Acceptance Book 2)

by Sarah Negovetich

  “Of course.”

  Patrice nods and follows Elizabeth downstairs.

  “Well, that was interesting.” Daniel is still in a bit of shock.

  “It sure was.” I catch Eric’s eye while Daniel is still staring off into space and wink. “I wonder what caused her change of heart?”

  “I wonder.” Eric yawns, and I get a glimpse of more bruises reaching down under his shirt.

  “We’ll go, too. You need your rest.”

  “You guys stay.” Eric leans forward and I help him move the pillows around so he can sit up better. “We need to talk.”

  He needs sleep, but I’m dying to know what happened on their ride. I hesitate for a second, but curiosity wins out. Daniel and I move around to the head of the bed. “Eric, what happened? Did the Cardinal do this?”

  “No, the plan went off without a hitch. I sneaked into the border where the contraband shops are and set up a meeting with a man that could get me several vials of PAM. I was able to get them for several bottles of dandelion ale. That stuff really is a hot commodity, by the way. I guess some of the other villages trade what they get from us with the Territories. This guy knew exactly what I was offering.”

  “So you got it. Then what?”

  “Not much really. We got the meds. Ethan didn’t run into any trouble, so we got the horses saddled and put some serious distance between us and the Cardinal’s precious city.”

  “But your face looks like you had a run-in with a den of wild animals?”

  I shoot Daniel a look, my eyes squinted. He’s not helping.

  “We were almost back to Allmore when we were attacked.”

  “Cardinal guards?” Goosebumps lift on my arms at the thought of his guards getting so close to our home.

  “Vagrants.” Ethan speaks up from his bed, his eyes now wide open.

  “What do you mean by vagrants?”

  “Back when everyone moved to the cities to form the Territories, the Freemen stayed behind and formed our own society.”

  “Right.” I fidget with the leather braid around my wrist. “Ana told me all about it.”

  “Except some people didn’t choose either of those options.” Ethan coughs, and Daniel rushes over to help him with some water. “We call them vagrants, but I have no idea if they call themselves anything different. Some of them formed into small communities, never more than a dozen people altogether. And they’re mostly nomadic, moving from place to place and making them harder to track. They live on the fringe and consider themselves to be some advanced society, rejecting all of our society’s norms.”

  “So they are the ones who beat you up?”

  Ethan nods. “They usually aren’t so violent, though sometimes they will stun a guard in order to break into a village’s storehouse. But these groups survive by stealing what they need, and they could tell we were hiding something. This was a bigger group, and they beat us until they found it.”

  “PAM.” Ethan and Eric’s faces fall at the word. “Were you able to keep it safe?”

  “I tried. I tried so hard.” Ethan’s jaw clenches in pain.

  My knees give out, and I slump down into the chair next to Eric’s bed. All of this for nothing. There are still other riders out there, but this was our best hope for getting the medicine in time for Ana.

  “I’m so sorry, Rebecca.” Eric winces as he leans up on one elbow. “We can try again. We know where to go now, and a second ride won’t take as long.”

  “No.” I force myself up and help Eric ease back onto the pillows. “I can’t send you back out there again, even if you were in any kind of condition to go. I’m sorry Liam and I agreed to send you in the first place.”

  “I’m not.” Ethan’s voice cuts across my personal pity party. “And if you asked, I’d do it all again. I would do anything for Ana, and I don’t have to ask them to know the other riders would do the same.”

  I nod at Ethan, but don’t say a word. He just nods back and rolls over to get some more sleep. I pull the curtain up next to his bed so he has a bit more privacy.

  “Not to put the kibosh on this tender moment, but we’ve got a lot more to discuss, and it really shouldn’t wait.” Eric winces as he shifts on the bed. “So what do you want first? The bad news, or the really bad news?”

  I meet Daniel’s eyes. None of it. I don’t want to hear any of it. Can we just go back to twenty minutes ago when Daniel and I were alone in our home and happily planning a future that didn’t involve any bad news?

  Eric sucks in a deep breath and lets it go in a hacking cough. I grab the water glass and shove it at his mouth. He gulps down half the glass and closes his eyes while we wait for his breathing to get back under control.

  Daniel paces beside the bed. “Should I go get Doc? Elizabeth made it sound like there could be a serious problem.”

  “I’ll be fine. Doc knows the score and there’s not much more he can do than give us pain meds. My sister can get a little over-protective at times.”

  “Not so long ago she was ready to feed you to hungry bears.” I twirl the glass between my hands. “See, I told you she’d come around.”

  “You were right, as usual.” Eric’s forced half-smile falls apart. “You were right about the Cardinal, too.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That’s the bad news. The Cardinal is stepping up his efforts to export the Machine to several European countries. It was all over the news in the city. Everyone is talking about the Cardinal taking steps toward world peace.”

  “More like world domination,” Daniel says.

  “I imagine that’s what your father thought, too.”

  Daniel stiffens next to me. “You saw my father?”

  “No,” Eric says, shaking his head. “That’s the problem. No one has. Seems he disappeared right after Patrice was Rejected.”

  Daniel grips my hand to the point of pain, and I squeeze back. My pain is nothing compared to his right now.

  “I’ll drum up some more volunteer riders and go with them myself. I can have a group out searching by tomorrow. He’s probably still in the city or at least close by.”

  “NO!” Both Daniel and Eric shout the word at me together.

  “Rebecca, you can’t go anywhere near the cities. Ever.”

  “Eric, don’t be ridiculous. We can’t leave his father out there.”

  “He’s not out there.” Daniel slumps down on the edge of Eric’s bed. “No one in the Territories simply disappears. The Cardinal doesn’t tolerate threats to his absolute power. If my father questioned him, the Cardinal could never let that stand. Eventually they’ll find him, and it will look every bit like an accident.”

  “No, we aren’t going to let that happen.” I grab his chin so he has to look at me. “I am not abandoning any more people.”

  “If you step one foot inside the Territories, you’re as good as dead.” Eric’s voice is resigned in defeat.

  I stand back up. “You did it.”

  “Yes, but my face isn’t plastered all over every building alerting the public to my status as a traitor.”

  “So what?” They all think I’m still in the PIT. “They won’t expect to see me walking their streets.”

  Eric rocks his head from side to side. “The Cardinal told them you escaped.”

  “I don’t…why would he do that?” I grab Daniel’s hand for strength. “That’s the whole point of the PIT; no one ever escapes. Or at least that’s what they tell everyone. Why ruin that now?”

  “When your apology video never aired, the European countries started making noise, questioning the effectiveness of the Machine. Without you there to admit to lying, the Cardinal had no choice but to double down and show them just how dangerous you are. Because only a traitorous criminal mastermind would stage a riot and escape from the PIT.”

  “It’s genius.”

  I crane my neck around to see if Daniel is joking. He’s not.

  “He’s right.” Eric points at Daniel. “You
go from being a huge liability to the poster child of the Machine.”

  “But as far as everyone out there knows, no one has ever escaped from the PIT. They have to be in panic mode.”

  “Well, they aren’t happy that such a dangerous criminal is running loose.” Eric winks at me and Daniel squeezes a bit tighter. “But the Cardinal assured them he’s tripled the security of the PIT and won’t rest until you’re found and brought back to justice.”

  “Wait.” I stare at Daniel. “If the Cardinal has been making all of these announcements, shouldn’t Patrice have seen them on the news feed? This would be a major story.”

  Daniel closes his eyes and rubs his hands over his face. “You have so much stress already. I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “So you knew.” Ethan stirs behind his curtain, so I drop my voice down to a harsh whisper. “You knew all this time that the Cardinal has everyone in the United Territories looking for me and you didn’t tell me.”

  “What good would it have done?” He grabs hold of my shoulders. “I was just trying to protect you.”

  I push his hands away. “I’m not a child, Daniel. You can’t shield me from everything. You want to be my husband, but you keep secrets from me? That’s not how it works.”

  “You’re right.” He takes a deep breath and stares at his shoes. “You’re right, and I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

  “No more secrets.”

  “None.”

  He just wants to protect me, but I don’t want to live my life faking perfection.

  “That goes for Patrice, too.” I include Eric in my scornful look. “She isn’t some delicate flower that needs shielded from reality. She deserves to know what’s going on with her dad.”

  “I’ll tell her.” Daniel squeezes my arms. “It’s going to break my heart to hurt her, but she should know.”

  I give Eric a pat on the arm. “Why don’t you get some sleep? I’m going to go check on Ana.” I turn away, and then turn back before Eric can close his eyes. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

  “We both know I did have to, but you’re welcome anyway.”

  I head downstairs with Daniel close behind me. Eric understands. Sometimes you have to do something, even if you know it’s going to hurt.

  Twenty-Five

  I push open the door of the dining hall. My hair is a mess of curls, and I’m not even close to decent with only a light sweater thrown over my nightgown. But it’s the best I could manage in the middle of the night. Daniel shuffles in behind me. He’s not looking so great either, but he absolutely refused to listen when I told him to stay in bed.

  Of course, I can’t blame him. This is our last set of riders to return. Our last chance to save Ana.

  At one of the long tables, Jeremy and Richard sit slumped on the bench shoving some of the bread left over from dinner into their mouths as fast as they can. Neither of them looks as if they’ve seen a bath or a bed in weeks. Jeremy’s hair is normally a shade of red that every girl in the village would love to have, but tonight it’s as dark as Daniel’s with so much grime rubbed in. Please let it all be worth it.

  “Welcome back, guys.” I rush over and give Richard a hug. Dirt puffs off his shirt and dusts both of us in a fine mist of filth. Over a month traveling across the country would do that. “Daniel, can you get them both some milk to wash that bread down?” Anything to delay asking about the medicine. As long as I don’t know, there’s still hope.

  Jeremy nods his head at Daniel. “That would be great, thanks man. My legs are so tired, I could barely walk over here.”

  “You guys made amazing time. Did you even stop to sleep?”

  “Barely.” Richard pushes his bread aside and lays his head down right on the table. “But that doesn’t matter, because it was worth it. Rebecca, we got it.”

  Richard pulls a box out of his bag and holds it up just as Doc bursts through the door.

  “Is that it?” He rushes into the room and grabs the box from Richard. “Did you find PAM?”

  “We got as many doses as they’d give us.” Jeremy can barely hold his head up, but his face is lit up like a fireworks display.

  “You did it!” I don’t even try to hold back my joy. My body jolts like I’ve been hit by lightning. I grab Doc around his elbows, and we end up in a strange dance/hug spin that is zero parts coordination and one hundred percent joy.

  “I’m going to get this over to Ana and start the dosage tonight.” Doc spins on the riders and gives both Jeremy and Richard a huge bear hug, sending more dirt spiraling into the air. With a grin on his face and tears in his eyes, Doc runs out the door.

  “You guys are amazing.” I repeat Doc’s hugs, not even caring that I’m now covered in dirt. Daniel is right behind me shaking their hands. “You’re the last riders to make it back and everyone else struck out finding PAM. I don’t even want to think about next steps if you couldn’t get it.”

  “Now you don’t have anything to worry about.” Jeremy drains the glass of milk Daniel brought him in one gulp. “I needed that.”

  “Now, you need bed. Go home and sleep as late as you want. We can go over the details of your trip when you’ve had a chance to recuperate.”

  “Sounds good.” Jeremy pokes Richard in the arm. “Listen, you need to know before you send any more riders out. There’s something going on out there.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We stopped at a lot of villages on the way down to the Mexico border and most of them were wonderful.” Jeremy stands and grabs Richard’s arm so he’ll follow suit. “But some of the villages closest to Allmore refused to trade with us.”

  “Wait, what do you mean they wouldn’t trade?”

  “Some of them wouldn’t even let us in to rest, so I had no idea what they’re up to, but the rest of them told us exactly why they’re willing to give up trade with us. They were asked not to.”

  “Who?” Daniel grips the edge of the table. “Who told them not to deal with us?”

  “Alan.”

  I stare at Jeremy’s eyes, but he won’t match my gaze. “Alan from Arbor Glen? But why? Why would he do that?” I pace between the tables, my mind running a mile a minute. “I thought the Freemen villages worked together? We have to work together. It’s the only way we can survive and stay clear of the Cardinal. Why would he want the other villages to cut us off? What does he have against us?”

  “None of them would really spell it out for us, but I got a real uneasy feeling about the whole thing. I think it’s because we keep allowing PIT escapees to live here.”

  I share a look with Daniel. Jeremy isn’t the only one with an uneasy feeling.

  “Thanks for telling me. I’ll get more details tomorrow, but for now, I’m ordering you both to bed.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” They shuffle out, leaving a stuffy silence behind them.

  Daniel sits down and pulls me with him.

  “When do we get to stop being PIT Rejects?” I pick at the bread Jeremy left behind, shredding the piece into tiny crumbs. “It’s not bad enough that we’re shunned everywhere, but now the people of Allmore are at risk of losing resources because of us.”

  “No. Because of the Cardinal.” Daniel grabs my hands to keep me from destroying another piece of bread. “Because of who he’s convinced everyone we are.”

  “I—”

  “Hey, I’m serious. You can’t control how other people see you, and you can’t change your past.” He tucks a loose curl behind my ear. “I personally think it’s a good thing that the PIT can’t be erased. I wouldn’t want to miss meeting you.”

  “Those are lovely words, but it doesn’t get us the supplies we need to survive the winter and it doesn’t help the next time someone gets seriously ill.” I push away and stand, too wound up to sit still.

  “It’s the middle of the night, Rebecca. Can this wait for morning? Sleep on it a bit?”

  No, I don’t want to sleep on it. It’s unlikely I’ll get any sleep for the
rest of the night. But the rest of the village is asleep, and there really isn’t anything I can do right now.

  “Tomorrow, I’m sending riders out. We need to know who is still going to trade with us so we can plan our next routes. Ana is going to want to know about all this, too.”

  Daniel stands and wraps me up in his arms. His heart beating slow and steady against mine calms me down. “I’ll go with you if that helps.”

  “Now there’s an offer I can’t pass up.” I snuggle deeper into his arms and close my eyes. I’m not the helpless little girl that stumbled into the PIT last year. I don’t have to depend on Daniel to take care of me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t borrow some of his strength.

  “Better?” His deep voice vibrates through me, sending chills up my arms.

  “Mmmmhmmm.”

  In a single fluid motion, Daniel lifts me up so one arm is cushioning my back and the other holds my legs under the knees. Up this high, I can see right into his eyes, and the emotion I find there takes my breath away. This man would do anything for me.

  I tilt his face toward me and kiss him softly. The spark is immediate. Daniel’s mouth pushes back against mine while his arms pull me in even closer. I lean in, needing more, wanting to forget about The Cardinal and missing villages and cancer. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I deepen the kiss until I’m lost in a tangle of arms and lips.

  Daniel swings me around and I wrap my legs around his waist, my nightgown sliding up to expose my legs to the cool night air. He holds me up, fingers kneading into my thighs, and backs us up until I’m resting on the table. The second I touch down, his hands are moving, exploring the edge of my nightgown and the sensitive skin on the small of my back. Every touch sends little shock waves of pleasure up my spine, and I wrap my legs tighter around him.

  His mouth moves to my cheek and then down to my jaw, leaving a trail of fiery kisses across my hot skin. I tilt my head up to give him more room to explore and clench my fists in the thin shirt around his shoulders. His hands move farther up my back and all I want is more. But I have to stop us now before we end up indecent in front of the breakfast crew.