Page 39 of A Dangerous Bargain

After an eon, Piero and Lorenzo de’ Medici finally leave, taking the book with Niccolo’s whereabouts with them.

The body of the slain prior is left oozing and abandoned.

I barely even notice his cooling blood anymore. My pulse is a jagged, cutting quiver.

If the old angel wasn’t an angel, then he must’ve been a—

We scramble out from under the table, shoulders bumping. Leonardo looks at Lupa and says it first, a whisper fringed with fear. “Demon.”

Lupa’s eyes smolder a dark, glinting gold. She presses into the corner and hisses.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Leonardo races out of the palazzo, into the knotted streets. I chase after him, cursing his too-long legs. “Leonardo, wait!”

His feet churn faster.

He doesn’t slow until he reaches the Piazza Santa Croce and stops on the steps of the stone-faced basilica. Chanting seeps from inside, low and soothing and entirely at odds with the air sawing in and out of my lungs.

“What are you doing? Anyone could’ve seen us running!” It’s the wrong thing to say, but horror and shock have overwhelmed me, stolen away my better instincts.

Leonardo presses against the door and turns. His eyes are wild, rimmed with red. “Avoiding her. A demon can’t step on holy ground.”

Lupa freezes, her foot poised over the church’s first step. Her face fills with hurt. “That is not true.”

A high keening sounds escapes Leonardo. It pushes my pulse up to my skin, unearths some deep, defensive urge in me. I step between him and Lupa.

“Is it true? Are you—a demon?” It feels absurd to ask. Like wondering if the sky has gone green or hearing that the king of France demands my presence at his court.

Lupa runs her tongue along her pointed teeth, not meeting my eyes. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know, or you don’t want to tell us?”

She shudders, tendrils of hair lifting around her face. “I don’t know! I can’t remember!” Breathing heavily, she folds in on herself: shoulders bowed, chin lowered. “Please don’t be afraid of me like everyone else.”

There’s no sound but the Gregorian chant, its highest notes lifting like incense. I bite my lip and look away from both of them, blood rushing, heart torn. I don’t know what to think anymore. I don’t know what to believe.

If angels are demons, then the entire holy legacy of Florence, the city beloved by God, is a lie. It’s demons whose magic infuses the streets and city walls. Demons who take our lives and memories.

And the Medici know. Whether they’ve known for days or decades, they knew and decided to let it stand. How could they let thousands and thousands of people believe such a lie? To let them worship demons instead of angels?

You know why, a cold, insistent voice whispers. You’ve seen it firsthand.

The Medici only care for themselves. I remember my and Niccolo’s failed meeting with their bank, how we broke down into tears begging for them to forgive our father’s debt. How their clerk flashed two sniveling boys a close-lipped smile and said, A deal is a deal that must be honored.

Leonardo snorts derisively. “I see you softening, Virgil. Ask her what she gets out of the bargains.” He pushes off the door, fists clenched. “What do you take from us?”

The silence damns, the deepest note of a church bell.

“Souls.” Lupa’s eyes flutter shut, like she can’t bear to see us. “We eat part of your soul with every bargain.”

With a soft, brokenhearted sound, Leonardo opens the church door and slips inside. Even though he didn’t touch me, it still feels like he’s ripped part of me out along the way.

Lupa minces up the rest of the steps. I flinch away from her, the hair on the back of my neck prickling. Hasn’t my body always responded this way to the angels? A mouse cringes beneath a hawk’s shadow even if it’s never seen its talons. Lupa says she doesn’t know what she is, but part of me always knew I wasn’t safe with her.

“Is that why you won’t make a bargain with me? If you take the last scrap of my soul, will I end up in hell?” I whisper.

Lupa’s face is a study in agony, more alive than I’ve ever seen it. A sorrow-stricken pietà. It cracks something in me, the humanity alongside the truth of what she is. “I don’t know, but… I thought it might hurt you.”