her hand through his arm. “God is slowly pushing us onto the right path. You’ll see.”
Gabriel closed his eyes at those reassuring words and sent a silent prayer to God for resilience, and for strength for the new task before them—rescuing Cara and Destiny and giving two of his brothers their loved ones back.
Then he opened his eyes and guided Maria from the orphanage and back to the manor, back to his brothers and sisters …
Back to his family.
Chapter 32
Auguste stared out of the window at the lake, a glass of scotch in his hand. The anger that had been all-consuming for weeks still coated his skin like a suffocating blanket. He brought up the heretical witches’ faces in his head and dreamed of what he would do to them when he found them again. Because he would. And this time he would make sure he wiped them all off the face of the planet. Them and the fucking Fallen, who the witches had banded with. Heathens, heretics and sinners, all in one fucked-up herd.
Then there was Selaphiel. Auguste felt his blood heat with the excitement of that prospective kill. Selaphiel, the blight on Auguste’s bloodline. The killer who shared his features.
Auguste would kill him the slowest. Over days and days, he would drain Selaphiel of the blood type they shared, he would peel him of his skin, and he would watch him die staring into identical eyes.
Auguste’s heart raced at the thought of that much-coveted fratricide.
Reaching for the bell he kept beside him, Auguste rang it twice and watched as the Shunned women he’d requested scurried through. He loved this place. This heavenly secluded place filled with sinful women of disrepute. Women he cleansed with his seed and drew the sin from their bodies with his hard-handed ways.
A smile etched onto his lips as the two Shunned women entered, red lace dresses covering them from the neck down and red lace veils hiding their faces.
“Your Excellency,” they said in unison, bowing low.
Auguste stared at them and took a sip of his scotch. Triumph sailed through his veins. Because even though the Fallen and his devilish younger brother may still be out in the world, thinking their merry band of killers could take on the might of the Brethren, in the end, Auguste had what Selaphiel truly wanted right here before him. His eyes slipped to the petite Shunned woman in front of him. And Jegudiel had no idea his little sister was here too, about to service Auguste’s hard cock.
“Remove your veils,” he commanded. The Shunned women tensed. It was not normal that their coverings be removed; every punishment was given with their veils firmly in place. But Auguste wanted to see their faces. He wanted to look at them and know that his brother and Jegudiel would never get these whores back.
The women hesitated. Auguste retrieved the long cane that was beside him. In a flash, he lashed it out, cracking the hard wood over the backs of their legs.
The women’s knees hit the floor in an instant, but they knew not to make any sound of distress or they would be only punished harder. Auguste almost wished they would scream. He could use a few hours with them in the punishment cell. But they kept their mouths shut and heads bowed.
Auguste finished his scotch. “I said take off your veils.”
Quickly, they both removed their veils to reveal their shaven heads. Auguste curled his lip at the born sinners before him. He could sense the evil in their souls.
“Cara,” he said. The petite woman stiffened and breathed deeply. They were never called by their names. They had forsaken them when they were brought to this place to be saved by his brothers. “Look at me,” Auguste said. Jegudiel’s little sister lifted her head. The birthmark covering half her face had faded some over the years, but it was still there, along with her pale blind eye. Cara’s face was ashen from lack of sunlight. She kept her eyes lowered, staving off Auguste’s punishment if she dared meet his gaze.
“Destiny,” he said. “Look up.” Destiny was the Shunned woman he had schooled most frequently over the years. She had many ungodly failings about her, the biggest being that she had loved Selaphiel like nothing Auguste had ever seen. It made sense. The evil in her veins matched his.
Auguste pushed aside his robe and freed his cock from his underwear. It was hard and throbbing, and he let the knowledge