Valore pulled the axe free and turned to me with a grin, one so far removed from the murderous act he had just tried to commit as to make me question whether I was yet awake.

“Come now, did you truly think you could betray Gabriel and not believe his retribution would find you?”

A scream erupted outside, its terror setting my pulse to pounding, followed by another, and still another. Though I didn’t recognize the voices, their sounds raw with agony and sick with betrayal, there was no longer any doubt this was just a dream. Death had come to Heaven by the cruelest of means. A cloying numbness seemed to envelop me as I stared at my would-be assassin. A prayer came to mind right after, and I swallowed it back, its taste bitter given the circumstances. There was no Lord to hear, to save His people.

Valore advanced, his axe swaying contemptuously before him. His smile grew sharper. “Give in to the inevitable, Scarlett. You’re no better than your precious duke, just another demon pretending to be one of us. You don’t belong here. You never did.”

His words sunk in like talons, tearing at my heart. I’d served God as loyally and faithfully as any other, and for Valore to claim otherwise was a venomous wound. I felt its blow hit home, his declaration brushing aside all my sacrifices to prove myself to the Choir. Despite all I’d done to earn the respect of my kin, here was the sad truth of it; I was still an outsider, my value tainted by the demonic blood that ran through my veins. I could feel it even now, the sear of it as it flowed through me, screaming for my acceptance.