to move away. The moment he was freed, Michael dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the vial he had been studying when Diel and Noa entered the room. He stared at it again as though it was the motherfucking Holy Grail, his pale skin paling even further.
“Tell us everything,” Noa said from behind Diel, and he realized she had gone back to the priest. He was dying. Slowly. “Shunned …” the priest wheezed. He was fighting for consciousness, fighting to stay alive—a vain hope.
“What about them?” Noa asked. Diel kept his eyes focused on the priest.
“Tainted by the devil … veiled … women,” he slurred.
Veiled. Tainted by the devil. Diel couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t fucking breathe.
“What do the Brethren do with them? The Shunned? The veiled women?” Noa asked.
The priest, even with his face and body mangled, fucking smiled. “They serve,” he said, coughing up blood. It poured down his chin and chest. “Slaves … paying their … repentance,” he said. Diel closed his eyes and imagined his sister, his younger sister, at the hands of the Brethren. And what the fuck did he mean by slaves? What were they fucking doing to her?
“Where are the Shunned?” Noa said.
The priest’s smile widened. “Don’t … know.”
“Wrong answer.” Noa went to signal Bara over to him again, ready for round two.
“Wait!” the priest said as Bara pushed off the wall. “I … really don’t.” The priest tried to swallow. “I’ve only seen them once … At a gathering …” He wheezed again, louder this time, his lungs quickly filling with fluid. They didn’t have much time. They needed answers from him.
Now.
Noa must have shared Diel’s concern, as she rushed to ask, “Who would know?”
The priest laughed, maniacal and delusional. “Fa-Father Auguste.” The hairs on the back of Diel’s neck rose at the thought of that cunt. He cut a glance to Sela. His brother’s expression was beyond dark; it was deathly. “H-has Shunned ledger … owns them … schools them …”
Noa looked at Diel, and he saw the pain in her eyes. Diel was consumed with the need to rip Auguste apart. To kill that fucker once and for all.
“You … won’t … succeed,” the priest said, and Noa turned back to him slowly. He was smiling at her, teeth washed with red. “God is on … our side …” The priest grinned wider.
Noa got to her feet, pulled Diel’s dagger from the priest’s shoulder, and rammed it right between his eyes. Blood spattered from the priest’s shattered skull, but Noa merely walked back toward Diel and wrapped her arms around his neck and said, “She’s alive.”
“But they have her.” Sela met Diel’s gaze.
“And we’ll get her back,” Noa said. Diel nodded numbly.
“The Shunned? Veiled?” Uriel said, shaking his head. “They’re hiding their faces?” Diel could hear the anger in Uriel’s voice loud and clear.
Noa’s palms moved to Diel’s cheeks. “She’s alive. For now, we’ll take comfort in that.”
“And my motherfucking brother knows about her too,” Sela said. He pushed off the wall of the dungeon and left the room. Diel watched him go, concern stirring in his chest.
“His brother needs to die. Soon, and fucking painfully,” Raphael said, then left the room too. One by one, the Fallen left Diel and Noa alone.
When it was just them and the dead priest, Diel said, “Is it her birthmark?” he rasped, letting Noa hear his inner pain, his worry. “Why they veiled her? Why they think the devil created her? Because of her birthmark, her blindness?”
Noa’s shoulders sagged. “I think there’s rarely anything that shocks me anymore when it comes to the Brethren. Their delusions run so deep, God knows what their fucked-up ideologies make them believe.” Noa edged closer. “Cara is strong,” she said softly. “She’s a fighter. Just like you.” Diel nodded, but he didn’t speak. Shunned? Veiled?
They serve … slaves … paying their repentance …
“What does she have to repent for?” he said eventually, voice hoarse. “What has she ever done wrong?”
“Nothing,” Noa said vehemently. “Nothing at all. Do not try and rationalize the Brethren’s beliefs and practices. They are cruel and wicked and base their ways on one of the most barbaric and senseless periods in history.” Diel nodded, but he felt empty inside.
His sister. His baby sister was in their clutches. She had been all this time … and he hadn’t even remembered her. He had failed her.
Noa threaded her fingers through his. “Let’s go to bed. Get some sleep. You’re dead on your feet.