Twenty years ago, I watched them put the only boy I’ve ever loved in the ground. And I buried my heart with him.

But now he’s back. No longer a boy, but a man, even stronger and fiercer than I remember.

He says he can’t allow me to return home. That I know too much, that I’ll be in too much danger if I leave.

When I try to run, he just drags me back, punishing me in increasingly painful and humiliating ways. Stripping me bare in front of this depraved altar as he says the vows he believes will bind us together for eternity.

But I can’t give in. Can’t give him the obedience he demands of me.

Because there are two things I know with absolute certainty to be true: The people we love always leave us.

And that losing him again will shatter me beyond repair.