They believed it was potentially coordinates of where they were being held. But in reality, it could be something else. So, they were going back to the Coven’s roots of searching priests’ homes, researching Brethren benefactors, and searching for more Brethren books, just to get some kind of lead on them, on wherever they might be.
Noa placed her hand on Diel’s cheek and turned him to look at her, all her questions about Gabriel’s meeting apparently forgotten. “We’ll get her. I swear it. Even if we have to turn this world on its head to do so.”
Diel took a deep breath and kissed her. “I know,” he rasped. Then he rolled off the bed, holding out his hand. “We need to shower.” She hesitated, clearly wanting to ask something else, but she eventually took his hand and followed him into the shower.
She was silent as he washed her, head tilted back as he finger-combed her long pink hair. Noa had told him her original color was dark blond. But she preferred the pink—it symbolized the change from being an innocent child to the woman she was now.
When they had dried off and put on some clothes, Diel led Noa down the stairs. Noa went to head to the Nave, but he shook his head. “This way.” Noa’s hand tightened in his. She was confused, but Diel led her to the back of the manor and out to the grounds.
They crossed the lawn to the cluster of trees. “Diel, what—” Noa’s question was cut off at the first sign of the fire in the center of a clearing. She stopped dead as her eyes fell on her sisters all dressed in white. Dinah was the one to approach. Noa’s hand shook in Diel’s. He studied her face. Her cheeks were pale and her brown eyes were wide.
Dinah held out a white dress for Noa. “For you.”
Noa numbly took the dress with her free hand. Dinah walked back to the rest of their sisters. Noa stared down at the white material, then lifted her gaze to Diel. “Diel, what … ?”
Diel pulled her to him and placed a hand on her cheek. “This is who you are.” He could feel Noa’s heart racing against his chest. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Diel pressed his forehead to hers. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “You freed me, gave me back my past,” he said, voice hoarse with emotion. “You sacrificed yourself to find my sister.” He swallowed at the warm expression on her face. “You fucking gave me you.” Diel kissed Noa’s trembling lips. She clutched the white dress like it was a lifeline. “Let me do this for you. Let me give you something too.”
Noa was quiet for so long, Diel thought she would refuse. Perhaps she was not yet ready to remember her family this way, to embrace who she truly was the way he had done when she’d freed him from the collar. He thought of all she had done for him since he slammed her against the wall in that priest’s home.
She had given him charity. Now he wanted to give her some charity too.
A drum began to play. Birds burst into the night sky at the abrupt sound. Noa closed her eyes. Naomi was playing the drum, beginning the ceremony.
“Why are they doing this? We have different beliefs,” Noa said, referring to her sisters. The smell of sage permeated the air as Beth lit the herbal sticks and handed them to each of the sisters to purify the air.
“They love you,” Diel said, reason enough for why they would do this for Noa. They were her Coven. Her sisters. Her life. “Just like I love you,” he added, and he meant every fucking word. He could feel the scar around his neck pulse with the truth of that statement, his monstrous side nodding in agreement.
Noa looked up at Diel. “I … I can’t believe you’ve done this.” She swallowed.
The beat of the drum grew faster, and Noa looked at the circle her sisters had created. At the candles lighting up the area. At the fire in its center, smoke rising into the air. Diel saw it then, saw that yearning on Noa’s face, felt it pulse from her soul.
He squeezed her hand. “Go.”
Noa hesitated for only a second, but then slipped her shirt from her body as she walked and pulled the white dress on, the hem trailing along the