His voice came as a snarl, propelling her forward. Fear washed through her in great waves, numbing her mind. In four long steps, she reached Jamie, ripped the gun from his hand, and jumped to the side. Gun now in both hands, aimed at Grace. Finger on the trigger.

But Grace had turned, and the calm in her blue eyes reached into Rose, inviting her to surrender to a new lover. To peace and rest.

“Kill her!” Sylous’s voice shook the rafters. He was there in person, right behind her. And his hand was around the back of her neck, squeezing like a vise. Then he spoke softly in her ear, so that she could feel the heat of his breath and smell wafts of lilac. “Be a good lover and do as I ask, Rose.”

His arm slid around her chest, and he pulled her body back against him. She could see his strong hands, feel his muscle.

“Kill the girl now,” he whispered in her ear.

“I am,” she gasped. The gun was shaking like a leaf in her hands. “I am!”

But she wasn’t.

Before her was Grace, the one Sylous seemed powerless to stop. The one he was terrified of. The one who had no fear.

Behind her stood Sylous. All eyes were fixed on him now. Somewhere a child was crying, but she didn’t know whose child. It sounded a bit like Levi. No one was hushing him. They were concerned with something far more urgent: Sylous, the one who had saved her from the hell of her father and led them into a sanctuary where the Fury couldn’t harm them. She’d lived to please him, loving him as no other.

And in that moment, she had no doubt he would rip her head from her shoulders if she didn’t surrender to him now. He was the one who protected them, not threatened them. So why was he so afraid?

“Because he needs our fear,” Grace said in a soft voice. “He feeds on our fear. He’s a religious spir—”

“Blasphemy!” Sylous roared, body shaking behind Rose. He was breathing heavily. Full of fear. And for a moment, speechless.

Grace was still looking directly at Rose, fearless, ignoring Sylous. “Love is the evidence of truth,” she said. “A love that holds no record of evil and blesses those who persecute. Isn’t that what Jesus himself taught?”

Sylous shoved Rose and she staggered to her left, on the edge of panic.

He straightened his coat and spread his arms, addressing the congregation. “Do I look like a cruel taskmaster to you? If not for me, you would all be dead. Dead and in hell!”

They stared, drinking in his words.