Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Whispered voices echoed around her.Noa’s hands moved slightly, touching something soft beneath her palms. She gritted her teeth; it hurt to move. There wasn’t a part of her that was spared from pain. A sliver of fear managed to break through her hardened spirit, and she flicked open her eyes to find an intricately patterned ceiling above her.

She breathed heavily, panic thick in her veins. She couldn’t remember why she was here, where she even was. Noa searched her mind for why she was in pain, and memories of being with Auguste barreled into her like a tidal wave of torture. The garrote, the stake, the flames, the iron maiden … then …

“Shh,” a familiar voice hushed. Noa realized she had been breathing too fast. She pushed through the tightness and discomfort in her pained neck to turn her head. The memories turned to vapors of black smoke as her eyes fell on Diel, lying on his side, his hand covering hers. Noa’s heart flipped as she saw the dark circles underneath his eyes, and his pale skin. He was clean of the blood she recalled he’d had on his skin and clothes, and he was staring at her with concern in his blue gaze.

“Hey,” Noa managed to say, throat feeling like fire. Diel lifted up to his elbow, carefully and slowly. Warmth flooded Noa’s chest when she realized it was to protect her wounds. Her lip trembled, too many heavy thoughts hitting her at once, but she managed to say, “On a scale of one to ten, how fucked up do I look right now?”

Diel’s cheek twitched, but he didn’t laugh. He leaned down to press his forehead to Noa’s. He didn’t speak, but she felt what he was feeling as he touched her, as his labored breathing told her just how close she had been to not making it.

“That bad, huh?”

Diel reared back slightly. “I love you,” he whispered, like he needed to say those words. Like both their lives depended on it. Noa’s heart melted, her racing pulse making her dizzy even though she was lying down. Diel placed two of his fingers on what Noa assumed was an uninjured part of her face. “You’ll never do that again.” His eyes narrowed, and she stilled, a flash of ire wrapping around her as Diel tried to tell her what to do. “Next time, we kill those fuckers together.” The anger seeped from her as quickly as it had built.

Together. They would kill together.

Diel had been caged for most of his life. He loved her and would never dare cage her too.

“Or not at all,” a voice said from Noa’s other side. Noa closed her eyes, recognizing it as Dinah’s. She turned her head, trying to block out the pain it caused. Then she was looking at Dinah. Dinah, Jo, Candace, Beth and Naomi, who all rose from their chairs around Diel’s bedroom to stand at the side of the bed. Dinah gently covered Noa’s hand, careful not to disturb her wounds.

Noa swallowed the lump that rose to her throat. Her sisters looked distraught. Their worry for Noa shone as brightly as the sun on their tired, sunken faces. “How bad?” Noa finally said, aiming for levity with her sisters just as she had done with Diel. She could still feel him lying right behind her, his body heat soothing her as his hand lay protectively on her waist, as if he had to be touching her some way. Grounding him. Anchoring him.

She felt the exact same way.

“One being good or bad?” The gravel in Dinah’s voice told Noa that it had been close. That she almost hadn’t woken up from her injuries.

Noa turned her hand to squeeze Dinah’s fingers. “Good.”

“Then a fucking hundred, girl,” Dinah said, her dull eyes brightening a fraction. “You look like shit. A damn living, breathing pin cushion.”

Despite the fear still lingering in her soul, Noa couldn’t help the burst of laughter that broke from her cracked lips. She winced when a stabbing pain, sharp as a knife, sliced through her stomach. She must have jerked, because suddenly Naomi was beside her, checking her over. Naomi checked her watch against Noa’s pulse, and Noa just stared at her mute sister. Noa’s chest filled with warmth. They were here. She was back with all her sisters. Where she belonged.

Naomi looked to Dinah, and Dinah looked at Diel. “Diel? It’s time for Noa’s pain pills. Will you go and get them, please?”

Noa felt Diel stiffen at the request. She knew he didn’t want to go anywhere. But when Noa turned back to him and gave him a small nod, he took hold of her chin and pressed a soft kiss on her lips before moving from the bed. “I’m not leaving for long.” Noa knew those words were aimed at Dinah, not her.

He left the room, and Noa watched him go. He was only wearing sweats; slashes and knife marks littered his torso from where he had fought the Brethren. When the door shut behind him, Noa looked back to her sisters. To Beth.

“Beth …” Noa whispered. She couldn’t find the right words to express how sorry she was for what had happened.

Beth’s arms were folded over her waist, as if the gesture was all that was keeping her from falling apart. When Beth’s deep chocolate eyes fell on Noa, they were filled with tears. “Don’t do that to me ever again,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Noa felt devastated. She’d let her youngest sister down. “I’m sorry,” she said. The simple words were not enough, but they were all she could find. Noa hissed as she shifted her body, but she held out her hand for Beth. Beth stared at Noa’s hand. For a moment, Noa didn’t think Beth would forgive her. But then Beth stepped forward and clutched Noa’s hand so tightly, Noa wondered if her little sister would ever let go. “I’m sorry,” Noa said again. She thought of Beth’s face as Noa had locked her out of the church.

“I thought …” Beth said, voice weakened and strained with sadness. “I thought we’d lost you to them.”

“You came,” Noa said to Beth, to all her sisters. “You saved me.”

The silence that fell was thick with Noa’s gratitude. Then Dinah said, “He was a wreck.” Noa stopped breathing. Dinah sat on the edge of the bed and pushed Noa’s hair back from her face. “When Beth came back with the ledger but without you, he broke.”

Noa’s heart beat faster, guilt flushing through her veins. Dinah shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The way he cut the Brethren down in masses to get to you.” Dinah gently squeezed Noa’s fingers. “He loves you. Anyone can see it.”

“I love him too,” Noa said. “More than I ever thought possible.”

“Hence sacrificing yourself to the Witch Finders for the ledger we hope has information about his sister,” Candace said dryly, then smirked at Noa.

“Priscilla?” Jo asked.

Naomi brought a glass of water to Noa’s mouth, placing a straw between her lips. Noa took several swallows, smiling at Naomi in thanks. She faced Jo. “Said she was inside the Brethren.” Noa sighed. “And that we need to take them down from outside, and she’ll bring them down from inside.”

Jo let out a long exhale. “If anyone could infiltrate the Brethren undetected, it’d be Priscilla.”

Sleep threatened to drag Noa back down. Yet she didn’t want to stop looking at her sisters. Dinah squeezed her hand again. “Sleep, girl. You’re home. You’re safe, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Noa exhaled in relief and closed her eyes, no more fear in her heart.

* * *

When Noanext opened her eyes, she couldn’t see her sisters around her. But she found Diel lying back beside her on the bed. Their bed. The sun was rising, basking the bedroom in a soft, golden glow. “Pretty monster,” Noa whispered, and Diel breathed deeply, as if those words were a break of sunlight through whatever winter storm was rolling in his heart.

He shifted closer, gently wrapping an arm around her waist. He put his head on the pillow beside her and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I think … I think I could kiss you forever.”

Noa’s heart beat so quickly that she thought it might burst from her chest. Even more so when Diel whispered, “You almost died to give me a chance at finding my sister.” Noa tensed, not knowing if Diel was pissed at her or not. His blue eyes were downcast, but when they lifted, Noa could see all the turbulent emotions displayed in their sapphire depths. “You almost died to give me back my sister …” This time the inflection of his voice was different—laced with wonder, with awe … with a deep gratitude that made her stomach flip.

“Diel …” Both sadness and deep, deep love threatened to overwhelm her.

He came even closer, ever careful of her wounds. Diel looked at her the way an artist looked at a masterpiece painting. He threaded his hand into Noa’s hair, cupping the side of her head. He searched her face, then kissed every part of it that was free from lacerations or bruises. “I don’t …” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know how to say thank you.”

Noa almost fell apart, seeing such a formidable man so vulnerable, so very different from the tortured monster he had been when they had met. “You don’t need to,” she said, pressing her forehead to his. She breathed him in, just breathed in his scent, letting it soothe her battered soul. “Have you looked for her name yet?” Noa asked, referring to the ledger.

Diel shook his head. He avoided her gaze, but when he met it again, he confessed in a broken voice, “I’m scared she won’t be in there.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed along each of her fingers. “I’m just … I’m fucking scared she’s gone too.” Noa knew what it cost him to confess that. Diel, the manic spree-killer of the Fallen, half man, half monster, was terrified that his sister was forever lost. That she wasn’t in that ledger.

That she wasn’t on this earth at all.

“You need to look,” Noa said. “You need to know.”

He was silent for so long she didn’t think he’d answer. But then he drew her carefully to his chest with a tenderness that was almost her undoing. “When you’re healed.” He pressed a long kiss on her head. “When you’re healed, we’ll look together.”

Noa’s heart sang a Wiccan chant, a spell of only Diel’s name. Together. From now on, they would live like this together. Be together. Fight anyone in their paths together.

Noa thought back to facing Auguste and the twins, and decided to make a confession of her own. “I cast a spell,” Noa said softly. She felt her spirit rise, her aura of acceptance blaze in multicolored lights around her. “When they were coming for me—Auguste, the twins—I cast a protection spell.”

She waited for Diel’s disapproval, for his censure of her embracing that side of her soul. Her Wiccan blood. Giving in to the urge to call upon the Goddess that seemed so natural to her that, in that moment, it had been as easy as breathing. It had been a forsaken part of who she was for so long that she never thought she would find the path back … but when she had been surrendering her life for that of Diel’s sister, that path became clear, gleaming with light that drew her to its center.

Drew her back to who she inherently was … a witch.

Noa was a witch. She had always been a witch.

But there was no censure from Diel, no mockery or judgment. He just held her close and said, “Finally.” Even with the burst of happiness in her chest, Noa’s eyes began to close with exhaustion, her body needing time to heal. As she was drifting off, she heard him say, “It’s who you are.” She felt him smile against her head. “My Noa. My witch … My whole fucking world.”

As sleep dragged her down to blissful numbness, Noa smiled too.