The Ritual: A Dark College Romance

“An audience is always needed. Your Fellow brothers must witness your devotion. Otherwise, it doesn’t exist.”

Ryat’s comment about the importance of one’s loyalty to the Lords being witnessed establishes how the novel privileges the performance of loyalty over any internal experience of it. This frames loyalty to the Lords as an act, not an emotion, which creates space for Ryat to profess devotion to Blakely without actually abandoning the Lords.

“‘If you would have let me fuck her…’

‘You mean rape her?’ I correct him. ‘Fuck, Matt! What in the hell were you thinking?’ Abstinence is part of our oath.”

Ryat’s objection to Matt raping LeAnne draws a line between what the novel frames as inappropriate sexual conduct (rape) and acceptable sexual conduct (sex under conditions where consent is unclear or dubious, such as when drunk or coerced by Lords’ rules). That Ryat’s objection is due to their oath to the Lords, not to a sense of morality, illustrates that this difference still disregards real-world morality regarding consent, establishing the novel’s morally gray tone.

“I’ve imagined what it would feel like to be touched. To know what it’s like to be sexually wanted for so long.”

Blakely’s Desire to Feel Desired by another leads her to embrace her potential status as a “chosen” while representing part of her larger character arc. Though here represented merely in terms of sex, Blakely will consistently express a longing to be wanted on her own merits as opposed to her family connections. This draws her to Ryat, as she believes he feels the former kind of desire for her.