“Oh, but you will.” Dupree stripped her of the ropes and pulled her toward the door. “However, not the immediate carnal pleasure I’d anticipated. Unfortunately, I indulged my appetites while I was going about my duties. I’ll have to have time to regain my virility before I’m ready to enjoy you, Citizeness…?”Dupree lifted a questioning brow. “What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t say.”
“No matter. We’ll give you another name. You shall be Citizeness Justice.” His pouty lips tilted up in a feline smile. “Every court needs a symbol, and you shall be ours. I think it very fitting under the circumstances. Sweet, pure Citizeness Justice.”
“Court?”
“Let me explain. We’re going to have a trial. It’s come to the ears of the Paris commune that the nuns of the abbey, in order to help their former patroness, the queen, have turned this establishment into a bordello. They’ve offered their own bodies and that of their students to sway young, gullible patriots from fighting for the revolutionary cause and deserting to the Austrians.”
Juliette gazed at him incredulously. “That’s ridiculous. No one will believe you.”
He chuckled. “Why not? Every man here can testify there are no virgins at the Abbaye de la Reine.”
She spat in his face.
He went rigid. “I did not like that.” He reached in his pocket, drew out a lace-trimmed handkerchief, and wiped the spittle from his left cheek. “You must behave with better decorum if you’re going to survive a few hours longer.” He jerked her forward. “Every insolence will be met with punishment. Every obedience a reward. You understand?”
“No.”
“You will, Citizeness. You will.”
The golden chalice of the holy sacrament was filled to the brim with dark red liquid.
“Drink it,” Dupree said softly. “And perhaps we’ll spare the next one.”
She couldn’t drink it. They were probably lying to her anyway. These monsters would spare none of them.
She shook her head.
Dupree nodded to the man wearing a red patriot’sbonnet bearing a tricolored revolutionary cockade. The man immediately started toward the Reverend Mother kneeling naked before the tribunal table.
“Wait!” Juliette took the cup and brought it quickly to her lips.
A cheer went up from the men in the courtyard.
The liquid smelled sickeningly of copper. Dear God, she couldn’t…
She closed her eyes and drained every drop.
“Very good,” Dupree murmured.
Juliette’s stomach rebelled. She turned quickly aside from the tribunal table and violently vomited up the contents of her stomach onto the stones of the courtyard.
“I’m afraid that won’t do,” Dupree said regretfully. “You cheated, Citizeness Justice. You’ll have to try again.”
He motioned to the man wearing the red bonnet.
The man grinned, flexed the brawny muscles of his arms, and took two steps forward toward the Reverend Mother.
Juliette screamed.
The travesty of justice was over, disintegrating into a brutal slaughter with clubs and swords. Juliette gazed at the sea of faces of the men in the courtyard as they went about their carnage. She had once told Catherine she possessed the vision to comprehend and appreciate the subtle nuances of ugliness. Now she knew that until this night she had been ignorant about true ugliness.
“Come along, my sweet.” Dupree took her elbow and propelled her toward the bell tower. “I have an impulse to enjoy you before Citizeness Justice goes beneath the sword.”
She walked beside him without speaking.
“You’re suddenly quite meek. I do hope you’re going to show a little spirit when I’m between your thighs.”
