Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 124255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Her eyes were a stunning shade of green, her frame womanly with curves in all the right places. She was alluring. She was smiling… She was—
“Phebe?” I whispered, my pulse racing. “My Phebe?”
The woman’s eyes filled with happy tears and a blinding smile lit up her face as she dropped to kneel on the floor before me. “Rebekah. My sweet, sweet little Rebekah.”
My world stopped turning on hearing that name… my birth name, my blessed name awarded to me by my parents… before they realized the devil lived within me, before I was ripped away from those I loved, shunned and sent away to be saved.
“Do not say that name, please,” I begged, and Phebe lost her smile.
Her hand stroked my tangled hair from my face and she said sadly, “I know what you are and I know that evil runs in your veins. But you were always my precious beautiful little sister. My Rebekah who would sneak into my bed at night and allow me to braid her hair, allow me to sing her hymns and wait eagerly for me to recite scripture.” Her green eyes watched me, and she added, “Do you remember, my sister? Do you remember those precious times we shared before you were cast out?”
Memories flooded back. Happy times shared with Phebe engulfed my mind, memories I had blocked out. She cared for me, laughed with me, smiled with me, did chores with me, sang to me, read to me… loved me. I could not remember anybody loving me apart from Bella, Mae, and Maddie… and now Ky, although I understood that was enchanted, a spell.
“Psalm twenty-three,” I whispered after Phebe had dropped her eyes, a disappointed expression consuming her pretty face. “We would sing Psalm twenty-three.”
Phebe gasped and tears filled her eyes. “You remember…”
The two of us sat staring at one another as Phebe trailed off the scripture I held most sacred. Two young girls now grown. Lives lived, but not together. Scars borne, but not inflicted by the other. Two girls bonded, but no more than strangers. Intertwined pasts, but frayed and lonely futures.
Phebe’s head tipped to the side. “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever beheld. The rumors of your beauty are not exaggerated.”
A shiver ran down my spine. “I am a Cursed, Phebe. I am born of Satan.”
Phebe’s eyes dipped. “This I know.”
“My mother…” I hushed out.
Phebe nodded sadly. “They came for her, tried her as a heretic. At first, she denied their claims that she had lain with Satan and bore his cursed child. But after days of trials, she grew weak and confessed. She was executed quickly and given a proper burial for her repentance.”
I felt a physical pain slice through my heart for the woman that gave me life. I vaguely remembered her, but I did not know her well. My memories were fleeting glimpses of her brushing my hair and securing it in my headdress to hide its blond color and length. I remember her trimming my long, dark eyelashes with scissors so my eyes did not draw attention. A white cream would be rubbed onto my cheeks to ensure I looked pale, and a dark powder would be dabbed under my eyes so they looked sunken and tired.
My shaking fingers had lifted to my face and were circling the skin under my eyes. Phebe took my hand in hers and lowered them to my knees.
“I remember her doing strange things to me, almost hiding who I was.”
A single tear dropped from Phebe’s eye. “She tried to disguise your incredible beauty. She did not want you to pull the attention of the disciples… of Brother Luke.”
The reality and guttering dread of my mother’s actions hit home and the profuse shaking of my body could not be stopped.
Phebe noticed and placed her hand on my knee.
“Then it is true,” I said in a quivering voice.
“What?”
“That my mother joined with Satan… and together they made me.”
Phebe drew in a breath but reluctantly nodded. “Yes.”
“Then everything is true about me, sister? I truly am evil.”
Phebe dipped her eyes, then looked up at me through her lashes. “But you are here in New Zion and you will be saved now, Delilah.”
I nodded numbly, but inside I was broken. Phebe, seeing I had no desire to talk more, walked to a tray on a night table that she must have brought in. Walking toward me, she held a pair of scissors in her hands. “I am to free you from your bonds.”
Holding out my hands and feet, Phebe sliced through the rope, and my bones burned where the rope had rubbed at the flesh, the skin bright red and blistered.
But I did not feel the pain, stark resignation washing away all feeling. Ky and Mae had tried to convince me that I was wrong about being a temptress, that the prophet and elders had convinced me of this truth to control me, to keep me doing their bidding. But hearing my mother had actually joined with Satan, had been tried and sought repentance, told me all I needed to know.
I, Delilah, was a Cursed… and had been swayed by the outside world.
“Can you walk?” Phebe asked, and I automatically nodded my head.
“Then we shall take a walk. I am sure you are eager to see your new commune. Prophet Cain gathered all of the communes and brought them together.”
That got my attention. “All the communes?”
Phebe held out her hand for me to take and pulled me to my feet. I gritted my teeth at the soreness of my ankles, but the pain faded as my curiosity grew.
“Yes, all the communes. There were hundreds all over the world. After the outside attack and the death of Prophet David, Prophet Cain ascended and along with the council of elders, they brought us here.”
The confused look upon my face must have alerted Phebe to my shock. “Did you not know this, Delilah?”
I shook my head.
“Then where did you think you had lived before you were taken to the prophet as Cursed?”