Chapter 8: Storms and Sacrifice

The spring rain was like silk, spreading a dazzling curtain of blood on the stone path in front of the Sanders family home.

The clouds pressed low, soaking everything in cold drizzle. The old stone walkway glistened with rain and something darker.

Jason Sanders knelt with his head lowered, shirt soaked with blood, a bead of crimson rain hanging from his lashes.

He looked like a tragic painting—pale against the wet stones, blood mixing with rain. His breath came in shallow bursts.

A barbed whip cracked through the air, splitting the rain, lashing Jason’s thin back.

The sound echoed through the yard. Neighbors peered through curtains, too afraid to intervene.

He stayed upright, kneeling like a pine, unmoved.

His youngest sister couldn’t take it, rushed to their father, and cried, “Dad, please stop! Jason knows he was wrong!”

Her voice broke, desperate. She clung to their father’s coat, trying to pull him away.

Mr. Sanders gripped the whip, veins bulging, and glared at Jason. “At this point, you still want to refuse to marry Emily and insist on joining the army?”

His voice thundered in the rain. The other siblings huddled near the door, silent.

Jason slowly raised his head. Weak as he was, his voice stayed steady.

He looked his father in the eye. “Yeah, I want to join the army. I want to see how the northwest, once crawling at our feet, got so bold that now all the council can do is trade an innocent girl for peace.”

Every word was a challenge. The staff gasped; his father’s face turned purple.

“You ungrateful child, shut your mouth!”

With a growl, Mr. Sanders kicked Jason in the chest. The sound made my skin crawl, even from inside the car.

Jason crumpled, landing hard. He coughed, blood mixing with the rain, but still tried to sit up.

He fell back, hitting the ground. For a moment, the world went gray. Jason blinked, struggling to keep his eyes open.

As the whip cracked, Jason’s mind drifted—not to the pain, but to Maddie’s smile and the way she’d looked at him like he was a hero. He wondered when he’d stopped deserving it.

He saw Maddie’s face, bright and trusting. She’d do anything for a cookie—such an innocent kid, never even given a real name. Why should she, who fought so hard to live, be sent away to die?

The thought struck him like a final blow. Tears mingled with the rain, unseen by everyone but the sky.

In the pouring rain, Jason closed his eyes, nearly in tears. His lips moved in a silent prayer for forgiveness—maybe for himself, maybe for Maddie. Thunder rolled overhead. The world kept spinning.