I blanched.
With my hands fisted at my side, I shouted, “Judah!”
Judah came running in, Sarai following behind. I pointed at her and ordered, “Get out! I did not call for you! You have no business answering my call!”
Sarai paled, but then ran back out of mill. Judah looked to me, and a proud smile began to spread on his lips. That just incensed me even more, and I stepped closer to him. “Get the van readied,” I ordered.
Judah looked down to the sisters and said, “And what about them?”
I went to push past Judah, when he grabbed my arm. “What are you doing?” he asked quietly, but I could hear the anger in his voice.
“I am letting them go,” I replied shortly.
“You are what?” Judah asked in exasperation, his hands running through his hair.
“I am letting them go. They no longer belong with us at New Zion. They are wed and having children with other men. If the Lord wanted them with us, he would have never made that possible.”
Judah grabbed onto my arm again. “Then the devil’s men win. If we cannot use them as wives, then we shall take them in revenge. They invaded our sacred land, they killed our uncle. They must pay. We are in a war!”
With a surge of fury in my blood, I pressed my palms to Judah’s chest and slammed him against the nearby wooden wall.
Judah’s eyes widened and I lifted the cell in my hand. “Do you know what this is, brother?”
Judah’s eyes narrowed on the cell. “It’s a phone.”
I pushed it further to his face and snapped, “It’s a cell phone. A cell phone with a GPS. A GPS that the Hangmen will one hundred percent be tracking. A GPS that will have shown the Hangmen exactly where we are, and if I’m right, they’ll be arriving here any fucking time.”
Judah’s face paled as I let him go. He looked to the sisters, and said, “So? Crush the cell and let’s take them home. We cannot simply give them back!”
I looked at my brother as though he was simple. “Do you not think they will come in for us? They know where we are, Judah! Surely you cannot be this naïve!”
His face frosted over. “The Lord is on our side. If they come for us, we will prevail.”
At this point I realized how sheltered Judah truly was. He had no idea of what he had done. No fucking idea! Staring him straight in the face, I said, “I am the Prophet, Judah. Me. And I make the decisions. It was ill thought of you to go behind my back and plant your child whore in the Hangmen compound. It was ill thought out of you to ever believe that you know what is best for our people, above me.”
Hearing the sisters’ terrified whimpers getting louder behind us, I took hold of my brother’s arm and dragged him outside. I strode past Brother Luke who had Sarai by his side, and signaled with my chin for them to get in the van. Brother Luke frowned, but something in my face must have convinced him not to ask any questions.
Hearing Brother Luke and Sarai get into the back of the van, anger took a tighter hold and I smashed Judah into the side of the van. “
“Cain! What—” he went to argue, but I cut him off with my hand around his throat.
“It was ill thought out of you to lie to my fucking face. I asked you if you adhered to the scripture with the Cursed Delilah, and you swore to me you did.” I leaned in, hand squeezing tighter. Seeing Judah’s cheeks redden, I said, “And you lied. My twin, my own flesh and blood fucking lied, to my face.”
His mouth worked without words, when he finally choked out, “We needed to send a strong message to our people. We needed to show them what happened when they turned away from the true path, as she did.”
I slammed his head back against the metal of the van. “And that was not your decision to make. It was mine. As the Prophet of New Zion, that was up to me.” Loosening my grip slightly, I said, “I love you. You are my only family. But do not betray me, brother. And never fucking lie to me again.”
I stepped back, dropping my arm. Judah sagged against the metal of the van and gasped for breath. Retrieving the cell, I smashed it to the ground, and stamped my foot down until it was completely destroyed.
I moved to re-enter the mill, when Judah spat, “Do not let them go, brother. Do not crush everything I have worked for.”
Freezing, I then slowly turned round and shook my head. “You know nothing, Judah. You believed you were doing good, bringing those women here, but your naivety has brought us directly into a death trap.” I pointed to his face. “This is on you. You acted foolishly, and we need to leave now, or believe me, there’ll be nothing left of us by morning.”