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Not comforting, but honest. His thumbs brush my cheeks. “We’ll figure it out.”
Behind him, Ezra tears at the Earth with his bare hands while Rhett cuts roots. For the first time, all three are doing the same thing. Not arguing. Not fighting. Not posturing.
Getting me out.
The realization hits somewhere deep.
I stop struggling. Not because I’m giving up, because I trust them.
Jesus Christ.
When the fuck did that happen?
The Earth loosens—just slightly.
Malakai feels it. “Again.”
“What?”
“Stop fighting it.”
“That’s your plan?”
“Trust me.”
“I hate that phrase.”
“I know.”
I close my eyes and breathe. The roots loosen and Rhett pulls one leg free. Ezra gets the other and Malakai hauls me into his arms.
We stumble backward and the hollow collapses. Dirt pours inward and the dead Bride sinks with it. She doesn’t fight. She smiles at me, at them—at all four of us. Just before the Earth covers her mouth, she whispers, “Three must give.”
The ground closes and silence swallows us whole. All you can hear is our labored breaths. I stare at the place where she disappeared. Nobody moves.
Finally, Rhett says what we’re all thinking. “Give what?”
Ezra looks at him. “I don’t want to know.”
Malakai is still holding me.
I look down at the dirt, at the blood-soaked red ribbon, at the broken ear of red corn. Then at the three men around me.
Three must give. A horrible little piece clicks into place.
The Sower. The Reaper. The Tiller. The Bride.
I look at Ezra.
He understands at the exact same moment. “No.”
Rhett looks between us. “What?”
Ezra backs away. “No.”
“What?”
Malakai’s hand tightens around mine. He understands next and his eyes darken. “Oh.”
