forward. “I want to see them all for exactly who they are. Every fang and drip of poison they possess—the cobras, the vipers, the mambas and the taipans. All the toxic venom they can bring.”
Noa’s thoughts immediately drifted to Diel. She wanted him unleashed most of all. She wanted to see her pretty blue-eyed monster in all his deadly glory. After tonight, she never wanted him to hide any part of himself ever again.
“And you?” Dinah asked Gabriel, bringing Noa back into the here and now.
Gabriel sighed. He seemed to understand the vague but loaded question. He shifted his legs, like something had just bitten into his thigh. His spine was rigid and his mouth grew tight as if his body was working through the pain. “I will fight too.” Gabriel’s hands were white-knuckled on the arm of the chair as he spoke. Maria’s hand gently covered his, and he seemed to pull himself together. The priest was hiding something. Noa knew it. She didn’t know what. But it brought him pain. Whatever it was, it caused the priest to be in the utmost discomfort. “If my brothers fight, I will be fighting right beside them. That has always been our way. I will train with you all tomorrow. And I will also yield to your instruction.”
Dinah nodded. Gabriel drank the rest of his brandy in one quick swallow. When he placed the glass back down on the table, he spoke to Dinah. “Let me take you to the old groundskeeper’s home. If you think it would be big enough for the children, we can start making arrangements for the renovations, and their permanent move here.”
Dinah stood, and Noa could feel the excitement dripping off her sister. Dinah only ever wanted the children cared for and educated, a place for them to simply be safe. “Noa? You coming?”
“No,” Noa said. “You go ahead.” Dinah nodded slowly. She wore a suspicious expression, but, too eager to see the kids’ potential home, she and Gabriel left the office. As Maria stood to follow them too, Noa asked, “He strangles you? Raphael.” Maria froze, a bright blush instantly coating her pale cheeks.
“Not to cause me pain,” she replied after a few silent seconds, her voice steady. Noa tried to assess the small woman, but she was difficult to read. Noa went to ask her more, but Maria beat her to it. “My relationship with Raphael may not be the norm—far from it. But I love him beyond words, and he loves me.” Her chin lifted high, proud to love a killer as she did, and Noa nodded in approval of Maria’s fight.
Maria went to leave the room but paused beside Noa. Maria’s blue gaze fell to Noa’s dark brown stare. “None of the Fallen men are as tough as you may think—” Maria shook her head. “I apologize. You have been put through unspeakable things too. I have no right to cast judgment your way or even assume anything about your past.”
Noa raised her eyebrow. Maria sighed. “What I am trying to say is I have been around them all long enough to know some of who they are. And I know Raphael inside and out. He and his brothers may be hardened by the abuse they faced, may use their love of killing to show the world that they are tough and strong and need nothing from anybody. But inside … deep down inside, they are still the hurt little boys who were orphaned, then plunged into an unimaginable hell. By people who were meant to protect them.” Maria’s heavy-weighted but softly spoken words pulsed in the air around them.
Then Noa flinched as Maria covered her hand with her own. Noa stared at that pale hand holding hers and felt something in her heart begin to crack. She quickly stopped that crack before it could get too wide and rip her chest open. Noa yanked her hand back and placed it on her knee. Maria didn’t seem offended by the refusal of her attempt at kindness.
“I am here for you too, Noa,” Maria said. “For all of your sisters. I do not know what you went through at the hands of the Brethren, but I know what it is to be taken from your family and hurt by people who have nothing but wickedness in their souls.”
Maria smiled, and Noa felt that genuine smile like a punch to the gut. “Even if all you need is silent company or an ear to