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“The Revel completed.”

“Yes.”

“The Hunt completed.”

Rhett nods.

“Blood.”

My blood and Rhett's.

“Yes.”

“The Sowing started.”

Nobody likes that one.

“But Communion means sharing.”

Malakai goes very still. Ezra looks at the table that no longer exists then at me.

“The original rite.”

“What?”

His memory.

I see it hit him. “The four roles didn't perform separately.”

Rhett looks at him. “What do you remember?”

Ezra closes his eyes. “The feast.”

“The one Mercy was supposed to die at?”

“No.” His eyes open. “Before they changed it.”

Malakai's face changes. He remembers too. “The older rite.”

“What older rite?” I ask.

“The McBrides kept records.” Ezra looks at me. “Before the sacrifices. Before the anchors.”

“Tell me.”

“The Communion was a fertility rite.”

“I gathered that from my demon pregnancy symptoms.”

“It wasn't reproduction.”

I stare. “Then what?”

“Abundance.” Malakai answers.

“Rain.” Rhett understands. “Crops.”

“Births,” Ezra says. “Healthy livestock. Healthy children. Food through winter.”