She stopped. Stared. Anne continued to thrash between the men. Her cries were muffled by the bag but far from inaudible. She seemed terrified.

“Y-you, you all n-need to let her go,” Sasha insisted. “She belongs at the House of Miriam.”

Alexander laughed. “Where do you think we got her from, silly girl?”

Two of the other men laughed at that. They seemed nervous, though. She could see both hunger and a strange sort of anxiety in their eyes. Alexander was all hunger.

“Alexander, please–”

“Please what?” he asked with a wry smirk, “Deny this girl the bliss of serving God? Why would you want that for her? Do you even believe anymore, Sasha?”

His lips, the lips she’d dreamed about for months, the lips she’d watched say such lovely things to her, curled up in disgust.

“Look at you. You’re wearing surgical scrubs. You look like a man. You’ve lost your proper place in the world. It disgusts me that they let you do that work. Have you forgotten what God Himself calls on you to be? Titus 2:5, Sasha. Our Lord wants you to be ‘discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.’ Remember that, Sasha?”

“None of you are her husband.”

Alexander laughed. “That’s not true at all!” He put a hand on the shoulder of one of the men restraining Anne. “Tomas here married her today. We’re just helping the happy couple to their marital bed.”

“Then why is there a bag on her head? Why is she fighting?”

“Because it was a rather abrupt marriage,” Alexander frowned. “And her mind is still polluted with ungodly ideas about how a marriage should look. Tomas chose her. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to him when he saw her from afar. It is right and good that they should be wed. And he moves up to the front tomorrow. Tonight will be his first and maybe last chance to help the Kingdom remain and expand.”

He held out a seal, a golden badge in the shape of shield with a heavy cross emblazoned across the front.

“This comes from the pastor. I have the authority to grant marriages to any worthy men who wish them.”

He smiled again. Sasha’s heart fluttered. She felt nausea rise up inside her.

“So back away. Let us pass. And I’d suggest you dedicate some more time to thinking about why God brought you here. When your time comes, I think you’d prefer doing this without the bag. But I’m fine either way, really.”

It was past dinner and past bedtime when she entered the House of Miriam. Helen was seated at her desk. She looked up as Sasha entered and, in an instant, Sasha knew there was no use in reporting what had happened to Anne. Helen’s eyes were bloodshot and puffy with tears. She knew.