The Fourth Ceremony: The Sacrifice Trilogy

by K. M. Ashling

  Alessa leaned her body into his and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her close with his arms wrapped all the way around her. After a moment, he pulled back from their kiss and rested his head on her forehead.

  “There are so many things to say that I can’t quite find the words for, Alessa, but I promise I will soon,”he whispered.

  “You’d better, you’re running out of time,”Alessa said, barely audible. He brought his hand to her face, pulling her chin until she looked him in the eye.

  “I’ll create time if I have to,”he said forcefully and kissed her again, this time with all of the emotion and vehemence that he could not express through words just yet. After a few minutes, he pulled away from her stood to his feet.“Let’s finish the party, Princess.”

  “Are you sure?”She said curiously. Camden was hoping he hadn’t killed all of her party mood and grabbed her hand.

  “Of course, the night is young, let’s dance!”He exclaimed as he pulled her to her feet and moved quickly back to the Great Hall.

  The rest of the evening passed in a blur of dancing and laughing. It seemed that Alessa had gotten back into the party spirit quite quickly and Camden was glad for that. He did everything she suggested and kept up with her until her eyelids drooped and the sun threatened over the horizon.

  “You think it’s time for bed, party girl?”He asked her after the third time he noticed her leaning extra heavily on him during a dance.

  “Yeah, I think I’m pretty beat,”Alessa answered with a yawn.

  Camden immediately escorted her back to her room, bidding farewell to the Minister and Alessa’s parents. He didn’t miss the loathing look Alessa gave the Minister once his back was turned and mentally patted himself on the back for not allowing the Minister time alone with Alessa during the night. His ridiculous speech about the Year of the Sacrifice was enough.

  When they reached Alessa’s door, Camden found that he didn’t want to leave. Khi was due to arrive within the hour for his shift and Camden knew that he wouldn’t spend the day with Alessa, which made him slightly sad.

  “So, do you need any help getting out of that thing?”He asked, only halfway joking.

  “Nice try, Cam, but you’re going to have to do better than that,”Alessa laughed. He started to banter back and then Alessa yawned.

  “Get some rest, Alessa,”he said quietly as he gave her a lingering hug.

  “You, too. I had a really great time tonight, Cam. Thank you so much,”Alessa’s words against his neck sent shivers up his spine.

  “I had the time of my life, Sweetheart, even if it was a Government event,”Camden pulled back, placed a chaste kiss on Alessa’s lips, and smiled as brilliantly as he could manage before he turned to walk away. He turned at the corner of the hall, as he always did, to look back. Alessa was still standing at the door watching him walk away. She gave a small wave when he glanced back and disappeared into her room.

  Camden proceeded to his apartment. Once away from Alessa, exhaustion overtook him. He had been awake and busy for almost 24 hours. He needed the full day off that he was about to get, although he knew he would miss seeing her. Camden shook his head as he walked. He had no idea how he was going to pull this off. So many people were counting on him. So many people who would suffer if this went poorly. So many people had already suffered to see this come to fruition. When he thought about everything everyone had done to bring the mission to this point, his task overwhelmed him. What was he doing this for? Was he doing it for the SDL? For himself? His Family? For Alessa? Or did it even really matter anymore?

  Chapter 9-

  Weeks flew by. Camden watched the time race in horror. He was thoroughly enjoying every moment with Alessa. He was disgusted to see the time march on so quickly. He had yet to bring himself to talk to her and his situation was becoming desperate. One day, he found himself turning to Mars for help.

  “I just can’t do it, I can’t tell her. It’s going to rupture everything that we have,”Camden said miserably.

  “Look, boy, I get it. You’re going to tell her and she’s going to question you and it’s going to burst the pretty little bubble that you have created. But you don’t live in a bubble. That girl is due to die in 3 weeks whether you tell her about the mission or not. That’s the reality of your situation, boy. This thing is going to end as you know it within the next three weeks no matter what, but you do have the chance to make something different happen.”

  Camden sat in silence. Of course Mars was right, he was always right. Camden sat watching Mars and slowly nodded his head. Without a word, he stood and strode from the room. It was time to talk.

  Camden returned to the Manor and began his search for Alessa. He ran into Khilyn and asked where she was.

  “It’s training day, she’s with Evan. Is everything okay?”Khilyn asked suspiciously, reading the stress in Camden’s body.

  “Yeah, it’s fine, it’s just time to tell her,”Camden replied. He didn’t wait for Khilyn’s response. He just set off towards the training room.

  Camden was glad that Alessa was with Evan, after all, Evan understood and wouldn’t question Camden pulling her away. He strode into the training room.

  “Hey guys, how goes the workout?”Camden tried to inject some lightness to his voice. Alessa smiled at him, but Evan scowled. Camden was sure that he didn’t like having his workouts interrupted.

  “Just fine, Cam, what are you doing here?”Alessa asked sweetly.

  “Well, I was dying to see you and I thought that I didn’t want to wait any longer, so I came down here hoping that Evan wouldn’t mind me cutting your session a little short today,”Camden smiled brightly at Alessa and gave a pointed look to Evan. Evan rolled his eyes but nodded.

  “Yes, of course, I have somewhere I need to be anyway,”he responded sounding annoyed,“we’ll add thirty minutes next session, Alessa.”And without a backwards glance, he stalked out of the room.

  “Well, now that I’ve busted you out, let’s go to the Cliffs!”Camden tried to sound carefree and spontaneous despite his racing heart.

  “Okay, sure, let’s go!”Alessa responded exuberantly with a laugh.

  Once they sat on the giant rocks looking out over the Great Cliffs to the Sacred Ocean, Camden was at a loss. He sat silently watching the waves crest, unsure of how to begin. In his head, he had this conversation a thousand times over the past few months, but he never quite knew where to start it.

  “Alessa, what if you didn’t have to do it?”He blurted out. Then, he shook his head at himself for his bluntness.

  “Didn’t have to do what?”Alessa asked with suspicion. Camden turned to face her.

  “What if you weren’t the Sacrifice? What would you do with your life? Just pretend for a moment that three weeks from now is just another birthday and you were that much closer to being an adult, what would you do?”

  “Cam, I told you, I can’t think like that,”Alessa shook her head and looked back out over the Ocean.

  “But what if you could?”He said quietly, as gently as he could.

  “I can’t Cam, I can’t think like that. I’ll go crazy if I try to think of it, I’ll lose my nerve.”Alessa’s sentence tapered off at the end, as if she was already losing her nerve. Camden’s chest squeezed and he hated the painful thoughts he was putting in her head. He put his arm around her stiff shoulders.

  “Alessa, what if I told you that you could go past it? What if I told you that everything didn’t have to end in three weeks?”Camden spoke as softly as he could.

  “Camden, it does have to. It has to end because I have to die. Regardless of whether I want to or not, I owe it to the Empire, to the people. I have to.”Alessa sounded resolute.

  “Don’t you realize it’s a farce?”Camden’s voice had an edge to it now. He tried to rein it in,“it’s a complete set up. The only reason the Government continues the Sacrifice is because rich brats pay big bucks to attend events with the Sacrifice throughout the year and especially on the
big day. Do you know what a ticket to the Fourth Ceremony costs, Alessa? Hundreds of thousands, that’s what.”Alessa stared at him in stunned silence. Tears began to fill her eyes.

  “Why would you say this to me?”She pulled herself out from under his arm,“Why would you try to make this harder for me? Do you think this is a choice? Do you think I just get to say‘no, nevermind, I’ve decided not this year’?”Alessa’s voice was angry and the tears were spilling down her face. This wasn’t going right. Camden needed to get it all out.

  “Alessa,”he forced his voice to be soft and loving again,“it can be a choice. I can make it a choice. I’m here to give you that choice. I’m here to save you.”He held her eyes and watched her process what he had said.

  “I don’t understand,”she replied.

  “Alessa, please, I am begging you to hear me out, all the way. Promise?”Camden reached for her hands, but she pulled them away.

  “I’m listening,”she said, her eyes narrowed.

  “Alessa, I have been sent here to help you escape. I have been sent to stop this stupid Sacrifice nonsense. I’m SDL, Alessa, and I am here to save your life.”Camden closed his mouth and watched Alessa for a reaction. She sat staring at him, her mouth slightly open, without moving. Finally, she stood up and moved away from him. He felt his stomach drop. He moved to follow her.

  “Stop. Just don’t come close to me, not right now, I need a minute,”Alessa paced beside the rock they had sat on. The air was cool and Camden noticed her pull her light jacket closer to herself. He quickly pulled off his coat and offered it to her. He knew better than to drape it over her shoulders himself. She refused it with a shake of her head so he set it down on the rock. His racing adrenaline made it unnecessary for him to wear it.

  “So, you were sent here to save me, to get me to not do the Sacrifice. And what if you found that I wanted to do it? What if I didn’t want to be saved?”Alessa asked, her eyes wide.

  “I—I was supposed to make you want to,”Camden answered slowly, not liking the turn that the conversation was taking.

  “So, this, all of this,”she pointed from herself to him,“This was all a tactic? This was all a plan to make me want to run away?”Her voice began to rise as she grew more insulted by the revelation.

  “No, Alessa, no that’s not it at all,”Camden moved towards Alessa again, but she backed away.“It’s not like that, you have to believe me, please.”

  “Are you telling me that you weren’t told to flirt with me? To seduce me?”Alessa stared at him in challenge. Camden sat silently for a long time. Finally, Alessa turned away from him and began to walk.

  “Alessa, wait,”Camden exclaimed as he grabbed her arm.

  “No, Camden, don’t touch me! I can’t believe this was all a job, a fake. I can’t believe you. I need to be as far away from you as I can get so just stop and let me go. If there was a minute of realness in the past year, don’t touch me right now.”

  Her words bit into him and he pulled his hand back as if he’d been burned. He watched her run away from him and fought every urge in his body to follow.

  It’s okay, she needs to think it through. I can talk to her again tomorrow he told himself. He had given her a lot of information and he needed to give her a chance to process it all without him staying in her face trying to beat his point into her brain. He was glad he didn’t wait until the last minute. He would certainly have plenty of time to talk to her after she wrapped her head around what he had told her.

  Camden shook his head and snuck around the Manor to go spend some time relaxing at his home. He needed to decompress. A shower and a nice cup of tea would make him feel better and he could formulate a speech for the next time he saw Alessa. He needed to come up with a good way to explain to her that everything that had happened between them had not been fake. He had to make her understand that his feelings for her were certainly not a part of the plan. Of course, it had started out that way, he reminded himself as he walked into his apartment, but it had shifted. Camden remembered the moment that they had shared on the Wheel at the Carnival. He couldn’t help but think that was when he began to unravel. He had tried to put himself back together several times after that, convinced that falling for her would ruin the mission, but he was lost beyond hope the night she was attacked. Seeing her so vulnerable and strong simultaneously had sparked an admiration in him that provoked his deepest protective nature. He didn’t want her to have to be strong anymore. But, he realized, what he was asking was going to take monumental strength from her. It was going to take everything she had to follow the plan, and she had to do most of it completely alone. Camden shook his head. She could do it. He wasn’t going to undermine her by second-guessing her. And he wasn’t going to second guess that she would go along with the plan either. She wasn’t the type to go down without a fight.

  Camden startled when he noticed the time. He had been away without telling anyone for several hours and was sure that Khilyn was going to be angry.

  Sure enough, Khilyn met him at the gate looking almost frantic.

  “Look, I know I’ve been away, I’m sorry. It didn’t go as great as I had hoped and-“Khilyn cut him off.

  “You have to get out of here,”Khilyn said while he backed him out of the gate and around the front column.

  “What are you talking about? Did Alessa say something?”Camden couldn’t believe that she would betray him.

  “No, Evan did,”Khilyn threw a look over his shoulder.

  “Wait, what?”Camden was stunned. Evan was SDL himself. He would never betray the mission. He grew up in the cause just like Camden did.

  “I saw Evan coming out of the Minister’s office earlier. He looked very strange, so I went to the Minister and asked if Alessa was okay. The Minister said that she was fine, but that Evan had just told him of a devious plot to stop the Sacrifice. He said that you were to be found by any means necessary and brought straight to him alive for…questioning.”Khilyn rushed out,“He’s angry, man. He’s going to torture and kill you.”

  “I-I can’t believe it. I’ve known Evan since I was a kid. We were put on this together,”Camden’s thoughts were a jumble.

  “Look man, you need to get out of here. They’re looking for you. If they find you, you will be publically executed for treason. You know those tickets will sell big. Just go. I’ll take care of her. Meet me at Marston’s in five days after things settle down a little and we’ll figure everything out. Just go, now!”Khilyn pushed Camden with his final words. Camden turned on his heel and ran. The Government didn’t know about his apartment. It was rented secretly by the SDL. He didn’t think he could stay there long, but he was certain he could stay for a few hours and develop a plan.

  Evan had sold him out. Someone from within had betrayed him. He couldn’t believe the timing. He wouldn’t be able to talk to Alessa again. Khilyn would have to convince her. Camden rubbed his face in frustration. He couldn’t explain himself to her, couldn’t tell her that it was real. What if Khilyn couldn’t convince her? His chest ached at the thought that there was a chance he’d never see her again. He pushed the thought from his mind. Certainly if anyone could convince her to save herself, it would be Khilyn. Camden would just have to trust him. That wasn’t easy, especially now, but he didn’t have a choice.

  Five days later, Camden paced the tiny inn room. Marston had changed their meeting place since Marston’s spotty past cast a suspicion on him from day one. Camden had left the Capital and had camped in the woods just outside of it so that he could easily sneak in and out while the SDL guard was on duty at the sector’s boundary. He had been waiting on Khilyn to show up for three hours. They hadn’t specified a time in their haste and Camden didn’t want to miss him. Finally, a knock sounded at the door. Camden almost flung it open without thought. He caught himself at the last minute and bent to peer through the tiny keyhole. Khilyn stood back at the door enough that Camden could make him out. Camden opened the door.

  “Glad to see you’re still i
n one piece,”Khilyn said stiffly as he swept in the room. Camden closed the door behind him.

  “How is she?”Camden blurted out, his worry for Alessa that he had not allowed himself to feel finally taking over. Khilyn sighed.

  “She’s not great, man. She stays in her room most of the time and barely sees me. I haven’t tried to talk to her about you yet. She seems so confused. I didn’t want to tell her I knew until we were able to talk and you told me what happened with her.”

  “First tell me what happened with Evan,”Camden demanded.

  “There isn’t much more to tell,”Khilyn started,“I was pulled into the Minister’s office at the Manor later that day that I saw you and told that Evan had revealed that he was with SDL for a time and that you were planted there to stop the Sacrifice, I wasn’t told anything else.”

  “Evan has been in SDL his entire life!”Camden exclaimed,“For a time, yeah!”he scoffed.

  “Anyway,”Khilyn continued,“I was questioned. I said that I had no knowledge of anything. Of course, since I’ve been in the Capital my entire life, they had no reason to doubt me. I’m pretty sure they went to Marston next, but didn’t get anything from him. It seems that Evan doesn’t know the actual plan so they believe it’s been stopped since you’ve disappeared.”

  “No, Evan wasn’t in on the exact plan. He was just there in case I needed any help. Some help he was. The only people who know the plan are Jayna, Gavin, and I.”Camden said distractedly.

  “Jayna? The servant?”Khilyn sounded surprised.

  “Yes, Jayna. She’s integral to it, she altered The Box. Look, it’s time you knew it all since you are going to have to get Alessa on board,”Camden stated plainly. He began to talk. He started by giving Khilyn the blow by blow of what happened at the Great Cliffs with Alessa, then he backed up to tell Khilyn every bit of the Mission. Khilyn was in charge now. The whole thing along with Alessa’s life was depending on him.