The Sifting by Azure Boone Read Free Book Online

prepared a midnight snack for you and…”
    “Sarah.” He hated giving her name. To hear it come out of his unworthy air pipes would be torture. But of course he didn’t want to piss him off. He needed all the help he could get. “She insisted I compliment your culinary talents.”
    Pride lit his c irrhotic gaze. “There is more where that came from.”
    Micah barely managed a polite nod, detesting the way the man acted like he were butler to royalty, or Bat Man.       
    “Oh and…your esteemed brother extends his…enthusiasm.”
    “For what,” Micah openly accused.
    “He is eager to…meet your new… virgin bride, I do believe.”
    Micah’s insides turned to burning rock. Women groveled before his perfectly beautiful brother. “I’m sure he is.” Micah wouldn’t be able to take it if Sarah did. She was his, in every possible way, tradition or not, black heart or not, diabolical soul or not , renouncing or not. He was madly in love with a… Christian woman of all unthinkable and blasphemous things. His seamless little plan of seduction had worked oh so perfectly. On him. It would have been humorous to see the look of disgust that was sure to mar his brother’s perfect face except for what he knew would follow.
    The S ifting. Scythe would be all too eager to perform every aspect of the ritual torture if he found out how much Micah loved her. 
    He could never let that happen.
    And now the prick was arriving in the morning. He had no fucking time to figure out what to do.
    ****
    Micah joined Sarah on the balcony, having had far too much whisky for a desperate man. He’d only downed half the bottle before coming back up with two wine bottles. He was frantic enough at this point to extract a drunk renouncement, whatever he could get.
    They sat next to each other in their separate chairs, looking out at the moonlit ocean. Micah felt worlds apart from her. She peacefully nursed on one of the bottles while he nursed the other. “Talk to me Sarah.” He gazed at her, ready to understand her inside and out, explore her heart and soul so he could cleanse it of the ridiculous faith farce. “Tell me what is so special about your god that you would die for him.”
    She swigged the wine and wiped her lips then leveled her gaze on him, head tilted in consideration. She shrugged. “Well, he did die for me.”
    “He died for you. Why would he do that?” Micah knew the entire plan of redemption was flawed, maybe if he could demonstrate that, she would come to her senses.
    She waved the bottle a little. “Because… holiness and righteousness is apparently a must in his world.”
    “Why?”
    She drew up a shoulder and held it, her brows raised, eyes closed. “My guess is…the universe isn’t designed to sustain the other.”
    Her words slurred and he realized he wasn’t the only one near drunk. “Why would you guess such a thing?”
    “Makes sense, everywhere I look. Love seems to be the foundation, the driving force of the good stuff.”
    “You said holiness and righteousness.”
    “Same thing.”
    He studied her. Of course she would have an angle that he’d not seen, or heard before. That was his Sarah. “Same thing.”
    She gave an exaggerated nod. “Which is why he had to die.”
    Now s he’d lost him twice in a row. “I’m not following.”
    “I think it’s like…” Sarah closed her eyes and angled her head up long enough for him to wonder if she’d fallen asleep.
    “Like?”
    “Like a genetic flaw,” she said softly, not moving from her dozed position.
    He tried to understand what she was attempting to convey without further burdening her brain circuitry, but what he was gathering wasn’t logically promising. “So…you’re saying we’re flawed genetically and you think he needed to come and die to fix that?”
    “Exxxactly,” she pointed at him.
    Good grief, unraveling her confusion would be wearisome. “Why would a powerful god need to come and die, why not just make it