My Maddie (Hades Hangmen #8) - Tillie Cole Page 0,105

hair. Asher had been given his prospect position back after we returned from West Virginia. I was so proud of him. He was doing so well. He had begun to heal after Slash’s death. He apologized to Styx for his behavior and had found an apprenticeship with Tank and Bull. He was flourishing. It was all I ever wanted for him.

“We must get her into the truck, Asher,” Bella ordered, opening the passenger side door. I sat inside and held my breath again, when another pain roared to life. “Breathe, Maddie.” Bella breathed with me. I copied her rhythm and she nodded. “You must breathe. Remember what Ruth taught you.” Asher got into the driver’s side. Bella sat beside me.

“We will follow,” Mae informed us and kissed the back of my hand. “We will be with you soon. Maddie.” Mae’s eyes filled with tears. It made mine fill too. “You are soon to be a mother,” she said, cupping my cheek. I leaned into her warmth. “My little sister...”

“Mae…” I whispered in reply. She backed away and Bella shut the door. Bella took hold of my hand.

“Are you ready, Maddie?” Bella asked. “Asher, let us go.” Asher pulled out of the yard and headed along the gravel road to our cabin.

“Flame?” I asked, as another pain came. I squeezed Bella’s hand and exhaled under her instruction.

“He’s out on a run. I called AK as soon as Bella called me. AK ain’t telling Flame about this until they’re home.” Asher met my eyes and I nodded in understanding. Flame would panic. He would ride recklessly to get home. I needed him safe. We all needed him safe. “They’re coming home now. He’ll be about an hour.”

“Stay with me,” I asked Bella, suddenly feeling a panic at Flame being delayed.

“You know I will stay here until they arrive. Then I shall assist Ruth. Mae and Lilah will be coming for support too.” Bella wiped back loose hair from my forehead. It was warm in the truck and my hair stuck to my skin. “Like it always used to be,” Bella reminisced. I closed my eyes to see the Cursed housing in The Order. “Always there for each other,” Bella confirmed. I nodded. It was always us four—Jezebel, Salome, Delilah and Magdalene—The Cursed Sisters of Eve. Bella’s hand holding mine was as familiar as my own reflection.

How many nights had I returned to our quarters, bloodied and bruised, unable to walk from being so aggressively taken by Brother Moses, only then to have Bella hold my hand as I rested in the aftermath? To have Mae bathe my skin with a washcloth, erasing Brother Moses’ touch from my skin. Lilah would sing softly in my ear—she also whispered prayers of strength and salvation, as she tried to rebuild my broken spirit.

“Although we were prisoners, we were lucky,” I sought to convince Bella. I faced my sister and I saw sadness etched on her beautiful face. “Although we were going through hell, we were together. Still, are together.”

Bella placed her head against mine. “Always, Maddie. Our children, present and future, will grow up with that same love for each other. No more pain.”

“No more pain,” I echoed as the truck came to a halt. Asher opened the door to the cabin and then the truck. Sister Ruth pulled up behind us. My father drove her. Bella helped me from my car.

“Are you ready?” Sister Ruth asked, a wide smile on her face.

“Yes,” I said. My father took my other hand.

“Maddie. You can do this. You are one of the strongest people I know.”

“Thank you,” I accepted his compliment and squeezed his hand. The relationship with our father, for me and my sisters, was slow building. He was a good man but had been a stranger to us all of our lives. We spoke. He visited us. And I knew, someday, my sisters and I would love him for the father I knew he was desperate to be. Once I was in the cabin, my father left, and Asher hovered near the door.

“Wait outside for Flame,” Bella called to Asher. “Let us know when he arrives.”

“Okay.” Asher said, exhaling in relief and went outside to the porch. I smiled at Bella, knowing that she was offering him the excuse he needed to leave the house.

“Let us get you out of this soiled dress and into a freshly laundered nightgown.” Sister Ruth fussed. I walked to the bathroom, clutching the sink when another wave of