“Fruit of the same tree. Yeah, I know. I’ve met Pastor Mike. I know God made us all. And I also know he made some of us better than others. There’s a reason civilization reached its peak under white men. And there’s a reason it crumbled once we let them take the reins for a while.”

It’s not worth arguing with him, she told herself. So Sasha decided to ask a blunt question.

“What’s going to happen to Emmanuel?”

Alexander smiled.

“Exactly what I said was going to happen to him: he’s going to the factory for, ah, ‘training,’ and then he’ll participate in the invasion of Waco. As part of the Storming Battalion.”

“And what is that?”

“In a way, it’s the luckiest unit in the Heavenly Kingdom’s whole military. They are the first ones in. Guaranteed glory…”

He took another long, slow sip from Manny’s coffee. His eyes bored into her all the while.

“And guaranteed martyrdom.”

Sasha felt a little pride for not crying. Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes.

“Praise be to God,” she choked out. Followed by, “I still have duties tonight at the House. May I go?”

Alexander sneered at that. And then he waved his hand in a gesture that was surely meant to be casual and dismissive. It looked calculated, though. Like it was important to him that she feel like this didn’t matter to him. For some reason, that observation made Sasha feel a little stronger.

“Go on then,” he said. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Maybe we’ll do more than talk. Maybe not.”

She stood up, still fighting back tears, and left the cafe without a response.

Sasha wanted to go to someone, anyone, in the wake of all this. There’s nothing to do, the smarter, colder part of her brain—the part that always sounded like her mother—warned her. Anything you say will only make it worse. She knew that was true. Even Helen couldn’t do anything for Emmanuel now. She’d made it very clear that military matters took precedence over everything else in the Heavenly Kingdom. It made sense. And yet…shouldn’t right and wrong be what matter most here?

She wasn’t even sure what either of those words meant anymore. Was this really what God wanted? Was this how a society based on His laws operated? Sasha told herself, over and over again, that she’d made the right decision, that the Kingdom wasn’t perfect, but it was the best of all the other options. That voice grew quieter and less convincing as she walked through the doors of the House of Miriam and noticed another missing person.

“Where’s Susannah?” she asked Helen, after scanning the dining room for her friend.

The older woman smiled, but it wasn’t the warm look Sasha had come to expect. Helen looked strained, tired, perhaps even a little ill.