Rite of Redemption (Acceptance Book 3)

by Sarah Negovetich

  “There’s been an attack on Berry Hill.”

  I swallow down the lump of sweet roll. “When? I asked the riders to let me know immediately if there was any sign of more attacks.”

  “And I asked them to ignore you and come to me.” Liam holds up his hand to stop my argument. “You’ve had a lot on your plate since we got back, and I didn’t want to add to your stress.”

  “Says the man trying to figure out a way to accommodate two villages of people into one.”

  “You’ve got a point, but there’s enough headache here for us to share.”

  I nod. “So what do we know?”

  “Not much. Jeremy and Richard made a quick trip down there when we got back. They’re our closest neighbors and I thought it would be a good idea. They said everyone is gone and most of the buildings were burned down. We don’t know what happened to the people there.”

  “Maybe they got out before the guards could capture them.” I say the words, but there’s not any real hope behind them.

  “Maybe.” Liam sets down his spoon and gives me all his attention. “I realize the past several days have been hard on you, but we need to talk about what comes next. I’m sorry, but you don’t have the time to grieve.”

  “No, you’re right. Every day we sit inactive is another day closer to the Cardinal finding us out here. It will be a while before the Cardinal realizes his guards aren’t coming back from their raid on Arbor Glen, but once he does, he’ll be here before we can say ‘boo.’”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  I love how Liam asks me that as if I had some game plan when I stood on a bench a few tables away from here and convinced both villages to fight back against the Cardinal. I didn’t have even a nugget of a plan that day. But I’ve had a lot of time to sit and think while Daniel has been ignoring me to focus on his own plans for revenge.

  “We need to warn the other villages.” I swallow another bite of roll and hope its sugar spurs me on. “In Arbor Glen, we mostly got lucky. If there had been more guards, each one of us would be locked up or dead right now. But everyone stands a better chance if they know to be on guard.”

  Liam nods at me, stirring his bowl of oatmeal but not taking a bite. “You’re right, though I’m not sure that’s going to be enough.”

  “What else can we do?”

  “Ask them to fight.”

  “Are you asking them to take their bows and a few guns and head to the capital to fight the Cardinal on the streets?”

  “What’s our other option? Sit around and wait for the Cardinal to take out every Freemen village he can find.”

  “We can’t defeat him with a show of force.” I know this. I’ve always known this, but something about saying it aloud makes me realize just how crazy all of this is. How do you fight someone you have no chance of beating?

  “Maybe not. Not if his guards are as loyal as the Cardinal thinks they are.”

  “You think they aren’t?”

  “I have no idea, but let me ask you a question.” Liam stares at me in a way that makes this room feel like he’s a king in a palace instead of a beat-down building in the middle of the forest. “Before you were Rejected, would you have fought to the death for the Cardinal?”

  “No.” I don’t even have to think about it. Before the Cardinal labeled me a criminal and shipped me to the PIT, I believed in the power of our leader. I mostly agreed with his rules and the way we lived. But I never would have fought for him. And if given the chance, I would have fought against him. “So you think if we show up, maybe some of the guards will help us. Maybe even some average citizens.”

  “It’s possible, but we’ll have to show that we’re serious and not just a handful of rebels with ruffled feathers.” Liam leans in and drops his voice even though we’re the only ones in the room. “We need a show of force, the kind that only big numbers can provide.”

  I push away my mostly uneaten roll and stand from the bench. “I’ll get the riders together and have everyone we’ve got out in two hours. We’ve got the extra horses from Arbor Glen and their riders can join with us. If we move quickly, we can reach every village we know about in a few weeks.”

  “This isn’t something the riders can do.”

  “How else are we going to get those kinds of numbers?”

  “You.”

  I sink back onto the bench and take a huge bite of my cinnamon roll. Carol’s delicacy slides like sawdust around my mouth. It tastes about the same. The food keeps me from having to respond, but my body takes over, shaking my head back and forth.

  “It has to be you, Rebecca. Every village knows what you did at the last Acceptance ceremony. They know you’re more than lip service when it comes to standing up to the Cardinal. They’ll believe you when you say you’re going to act with or without them.”

  “Why would they listen to me?”

  Liam smiles, and it might be the first time I’ve seen him with any expression besides grim in a week. “For the same reason an entire room full of people who’d just experienced the Cardinal’s wrath stood up and agreed to fight him based on nothing more than the heartfelt words of a seventeen-year-old girl.”

  “This is not the same, and you know it.”

  “No, I don’t. When are you going to start owning your gifts and abilities?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I can’t leave.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know why.” I take another bite of my cinnamon roll, though it still tastes mostly of sawdust.

  “How is Daniel doing?”

  I stare past him at the wood-planked walls, but they don’t hold the answer. “It’s hard to know what is going on with Daniel. He barely talks to me about anything except avenging Patrice. He’s healing fine from the gunshot, and Doc says he should be able to ditch the crutches soon. But Patrice’s death broke him in a way that I don’t know how to fix.”

  Liam takes my left hand, and I use the right to wipe at the tears that seem to come so easily these days.

  “He’s going to get there, but it’s going to take time. Some of the Arbor Glen folks who lost loved ones in the Cardinal attack have been meeting every day. They say it helps to talk about it. Do you think Daniel would like to join them?”

  “I can ask, but I doubt he’ll go. All he wants to talk about is getting back to his full strength so he can track down the Cardinal and kill him. This is why I can’t leave.”

  “This is exactly why you need to leave. You need to get the other villages involved so Daniel will have his day to seek justice without throwing his life away.”

  “He’s not going to wait the months it would take me to get to all the villages.”

  “You leave that part to me. There are a lot of eyes around here, and we’ve increased the patrols to keep watch for any more attacks. The same eyes designed to keep the Cardinal out can make certain Daniel stays in.”

  I pop the last piece of my roll into my mouth, more for something to do than because I’m hungry. Everything Liam says is true, but that doesn’t mean I have to like the sound of it. Daniel is barely holding it together, and the suggestion of leaving him here to deal with all of this on his own makes me want to punch Liam in the gut.

  The door to the dining hall pops open and a pair of men walk in, laughing at some shared joke. They head into the back room and greetings are shared with the villagers who are already in the kitchen preparing to bring out breakfast for everyone. Allmore is awake, and the day is about to begin.

  “Look, I’m not asking you to make a decision right here and now, though this isn’t something we can sit on. Go home, talk to Daniel, decide together.” Liam squeezes my hand, and the look of concern in his eyes reminds me of my dad. My heart aches for him. He could help me make this decision. He always gave the best advice.

  I nod, and Liam and I both stand to leave. The dining hall is filling up, and there is work to be done. With so many more mouths to feed and winter just around the corner, everyone is needed to get us ready.
Outside the dining hall, the morning is filled with the sounds of people trying their best to keep going. Liam and I step aside to let in a family with a few small children. I’ve never seen them before, so they must be from Arbor Glen. They’ve lost everything. I know exactly how they feel.

  Liam tugs on my elbow before I can make my way to the Pony Express office. “I know you still don’t accept your own power, but know this. I would never ask you to go away and leave Daniel here if I didn’t think you were the absolute best person for the job.”

  More villagers fill the little porch in front of the dining hall, and I use the crowd to get away before Liam has a chance to say anything else. I need time to think and get everything straight in my head, and the best place to do that is the PE office.

  Four

  I push open the door of the bakery and head straight to Carol, wrapping her up in a hug that takes my whole body. Leaning into Carol’s familiar arms, I close my eyes and take in the comforting smells of yeast, flour, and honey. The kitchen in my parents’ house was more like a show piece, but Carol’s kitchen feels like home.

  “What’s this for?” Carol asks, wrapping her arms around my back.

  “Because I love you.” I say into her shoulder. “And because you sent me a cinnamon roll.”

  “Ah, I thought that might have something to do with it. Liam told me he was meeting you this morning, so I figured you might need a little baked backup.”

  “You were right…as usual.”

  “Honey, at my age, you stop worrying about being right and just make sure you’re there. Did everything go okay with your meeting?”

  I pull back and meet her concerned gaze. “About as well as could be expected. He wants me to leave Daniel here to go speak to the other villages.”

  “And what do you want to do?”

  “The right thing. I just haven’t figured out what that is yet.”

  Carol pulls back and moves herself to a little stool behind the counter where she rolls all her dough. “I can tell you this much, darling. Liam loves this village. He would do anything to protect it and the people that live in its safety. If Liam thinks this is the best move for you and everyone else, he will not hesitate to ask. When it comes to protecting the people he loves, he won’t apologize.”

  “But what about the people I love? How can I just leave Daniel here?”

  “What Daniel needs is something that you can’t give him. He’ll get there in time, but for now, leaving might be the best thing you can do for him.”

  Her words punch me in the middle of my stomach and sour the taste of cinnamon lingering on my tongue. I duck from behind the counter and head for the stairs that lead up to my office. Carol offers up another roll, but I wave her off, unsure of how long the first roll is going to stay down.

  I burst into the PE office and shut the door quietly behind me. Leaning back against the door, I take a minute to soak in the familiar scent of paper, ink, and wood. It seems like a lifetime ago that Ana brought me up here and changed my life so thoroughly. This is the place Ana handed me advice and gave me work that made me a real part of the village. This office was my safe haven when she got sick and a place to work out my frustration when the medicine we worked so hard to get failed her dying body. These four walls have seen my joy and my tears, serving a purpose they were never designed to fulfill.

  I pull out the hard chair that became mine over the months. Ana’s chair is in the corner. It’s too hard for Constance to sit in for long, and it didn’t feel right to move it out. Staring at it now pulls up all the old emotions from her death. It wasn’t really that long ago, but so much has changed since then, it feels like a lifetime. Hot tears fall against the desk, and I push away the stack of papers so I don’t ruin our carefully marked maps and supply lists.

  I don’t even bother wiping my face, but let the tears fall. Carol is the only one who can hear my cries, and she would never intrude. She’s amazing in that way, always there when you need her, but never forcing her comfort on you until you ask for it. Up here, in my solitude, I can let go for the first time since we came back from Arbor Glen.

  My tears shift from losing Ana to the pain Elizabeth felt when she shot those Cardinal guards. All the anger quietly festering inside her ever since we lost Molly over a year ago. I close my eyes and Patrice’s face flashes into my mind, the peaceful acceptance in her eyes of the death stealing away her breaths. Love him. That’s all she asked of me as she lay in the street, her dark, red blood coating my hands. She asked me to love Daniel, and I’m trying, but the harder I pull to him the more he pushes me away.

  Heavy footsteps sound on the stairs, giving me time to wipe at my face before the door creaks open. Constance huffs into the room, her growing belly making the daily climb to our office a trial for her cramped lungs.

  “Good morning,” she says, closing the door behind her and easing into the padded chair we brought up just for her.

  I nod back, not yet confident my voice won’t betray my recent breakdown.

  “What’s wrong?”

  So much for hiding my little breakdown. I take a steadying breath and let it out in a slow exhale to buy myself time before I have to answer Constance.

  “I’m fine.”

  “And you’re a horrible liar.” Constance pushes herself up and moves around to wrap me in a hug from behind.

  I grab on to her arms draped across my chest and give thanks for the people I still have around me. Sitting in the comfort of her hug, I tell her about my breakfast conversation with Liam and his plan to send me to the other villages to recruit help.

  Constance moves around back to her chair, but scoots closer to hold my hand. “When will you leave?”

  “We didn’t work out the details yet, but it needs to be soon. The longer we wait, the more chance the Cardinal finds us and the other villages. Plus, winter will be here soon and traveling to the other villages will get harder.”

  “What about Daniel?”

  I shake my head. “He can’t come with me. It’ll still be a while before his leg is well enough for a long trip. Plus, he’s too much of a loose wire right now. I try to talk to him about what’s going on, but all he can talk about is attacking the Cardinal and getting revenge for Patrice.”

  We both sit in silence. I haven’t told her anything she won’t find out eventually. I’ve spent the last three days telling everyone that Daniel is still recovering from his injury and is sleeping most of the day. Lies. He is still recuperating, but instead of sleeping, he sits on the only couch in our home, punching ideas into his Noteboard, strategizing ways to get close enough to the Cardinal to kill him. Doc said he should be out moving around by now. It’s only a matter of time before everyone realizes that the Daniel from last week is gone.

  “He won’t be alone. Thomas and I can help him while you’re out.”

  “You guys have enough on your plate. If I leave, you’ll be on your own to plan our last trade rides before winter hits, and Thomas is busy getting the nursery furniture built for the baby.”

  Constance waves off my arguments. “Thomas is almost done with the furniture, and you’ve got this place so well organized I could probably arrange for our winter trades with my eyes closed.” She holds up a hand to stop my next protest. “Liam is right. You’re the one who needs to go.”

  The door to the office bangs open, and Elizabeth bursts into the room. “Go where?”

  “And good morning to you, too, Elizabeth.” Constance’s face is a blank slate, but the lilt in her voice gives away her amusement.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Elizabeth hands her a steaming mug of something that smells like it should be out at the cow pasture instead of in a cup. “You forgot your tea at breakfast, so Thomas asked me to bring it to you.”

  “Sure, I forgot it.” Constance wrinkles her nose over the mug.

  “What is that?” I’m reminded of the concoction Doc gave to Ana when she first got sick. Though this might smell a little worse.

  “Doc gave
it to me. He said a cup a day will make sure the baby and I get all the nutrients we need to stay healthy through the winter.”

  “Are you sure he’s not trying to kill you?” Elizabeth coughs for dramatic effect, but the smell really is starting to take over the office.

  “Believe me, I asked the same thing.” Constance takes the smallest of sips from her mug, and her face confirms the taste matches the smell.

  “Anyway.” Elizabeth marches to the tiny window and cracks it open for some fresh air. “Back to my question, who is going where?”

  Constance nods at me, but stays silent. It’s my story to tell.

  “I’m going to the other villages to ask them to help us fight the Cardinal.”

  “Who is going with you?” Elizabeth opens her mouth to say more, but leaves her question as it is.

  I shrug my shoulders. “I really haven’t given it much thought yet. Ethan for sure. He’s our best rider, and I can depend on him to navigate us on the safest, fastest route to all the villages.”

  “Can Eric go with you?”

  Elizabeth’s question shocks me into silence. Her relationship with Eric has been troubled to say the least, but since returning from Arbor Glen they’ve been practically inseparable, joined in their mutual loss of the people they loved. “Why?”

  “Because he needs to get out of here with something to keep him distracted. Last night’s release ceremony was the first time he’s left the bunk room except for meals. He just sits all day holding Patrice’s pillow and staring out the window.”

  “Doesn’t Doc need him in the medical office?”

  Elizabeth shakes her head. “Not really. Marcus, the doctor from Arbor Glen, is here, and between the two of them, they have it covered. Plus, Eric says he can’t be in Doc’s office right now.”

  “Oh.” Constance nods her head in understanding.

  “Exactly.” Elizabeth tilts her head at Constance. “Patrice spent a lot of time down there, and now the whole place is filled with memories of her. Maybe with enough time Eric will be able to go down there and find some comfort, but who knows how long that will be. I want to help, but with the extra animals we brought from Arbor Glen, I’m struggling to find enough time to be with him. He needs a purpose and this sounds perfect.”