Chapter 69 The Virgin Offering I

• They bound her wrists in thick leather and led her barefoot through the clearing, the sharp bite of night air licking at her thighs as the crowd fell into reverent silence. Torch flames danced high, forming a tight circle around the stone altar, their crackle the only sound as she was dragged forward—shivering, trembling, soaked in fear.
• She’d been chosen. The virgin offering. And there was no mercy in their eyes.
• He stepped from the trees.