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 floor. She kicked off her pants and shoes, eyes closed and head tipped to the sky and the full moon that looked down at her as she pressed her bare feet into the earth.
Diel saw it ground her. He saw the elements wrap around her and welcome her home. But it was the wide smile on Noa’s face that shattered his heart. The laugh that spilled from her parted lips as she looked at her sisters, as she took her place at the head of the circle just like her grandmother would once have done.
Noa stretched her arms high, her sisters following suit, and called out, “We call on the elements—earth, fire, wind, water and the aether …” Diel was hypnotized as he watched her sway in the firelight, watched the flames’ shadows dance over her face as she recited the words that had been tattooed on her very soul since childhood.
“No one should ever be punished for their beliefs,” a voice said from behind him. Gabriel stopped next to Diel, watching the Coven start their dance around the fire. Naomi played the drum, the sisters chanting along with Noa, singing … free. Noa’s arms swayed as she spun, and her eyes were bright and filled with joy as the familiar words spilled from her mouth. “Not when this level of freedom, of serenity, is the result.” Diel let Gabriel’s words filter over him. Diel agreed.
“Redheads, right?” Bara said, coming to Diel’s other side. “Hottest people on the fucking planet.” Bara was watching Naomi like a tiger watches its prey.
Sela came next, silent, like he had been since finding out Destiny was out there somewhere, waiting for him. Uriel and Raphael, Maria and Michael followed. Michael was gripping the two vials he now wore around his neck. One was blood from the first boy he’d exsanguinated in Holy Innocents as a kid. The second was Beth’s from the night in the Brethren barn. Michael clutched it in his hand as he watched the small brunette dance and smile. His fangs pressed into his bottom lip, and there was a flush to his white cheeks.
“They look so beautiful,” Maria said from beside Raphael. Then she stepped toward the Coven, drawn to them like a moth to a flame, and released Raphael’s hand. Dinah spun around and held out her hand, an invitation to join them. Maria did exactly that and followed Dinah in moving about the fire. Naomi handed Maria a candle to hold toward the moon.