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“We pushed deep into that empire. Mexico won their independence with our help. It’s quite a nice buffer zone between… Oh wait, South America broke from you as well, didn’t they?”
“We are allies.”
“Hardly.”
“We share a pope.”
“A pope who counsels peace.”
“When the emperor wishes it.”
“What else have you been tasked to do?” Lila asked.
“Observe the highborn at their games. You do have so many of them.”
“Any I would be interested in?”
“I’m guessing you’d be interested in all of them. Your kind always are.”
Lila narrowed her eyes. He was probably correct, but they didn’t have time to go through all of them that afternoon. “Where’s Achille?”
“Dead. He tried to sweet-talk me after the prison break went awry, but I knew his true purpose. Achille never could lie well, just like that heretic bitch.”
“Camille?”
“I planned to execute her myself before we returned to Italy. I saw it back home, you know. The long glances, the mooning over her girlfriends. I didn’t know how much further this place could corrupt her until after we arrived. Listening to her go on about your gods was bad enough, but watching her fall in love with the enemy, and a female enemy at that? It went too far. I tried to beat it out of her, but it didn’t help. I don’t know why I bothered. It never worked for her parents. Even they knew she had the devil in her.”
Kenna stiffened. “There never was a boyfriend, was there? It was you all along.”
“Don’t make it sound like something it wasn’t. I tried to spare her from an eternity of hellfire. Besides, I know my own strength.”
“That strength put her in the hospital!”
“She put herself in the hospital.”
“You’re blaming her?”
“You’re damn right I am. She jumped from the roof of Achille’s apartment building. She even left a note. She knew she was a sinner, and an unrepentant one at that. Said she didn’t have the energy to deal with it anymore. She told us to turn back from our mission because your gods would conquer us in the end and that we should convert. But God saved her because he knew our cause was just. I told her so, but she tried to do it again. Pills. Twice. We had to find a back-alley doctor to fix that up. Achille never left her alone after that. He told me in the end that she only stopped to save her friend and the prophets. Maybe I should have shot her after I killed Achille, but I thought she still might make herself useful. It doesn’t matter, though. The bitch will die the second I get free. I bet she won’t even fight back. I bet she’ll beg for it.”
Lila saw a blur of pale skin and heard a sharp whack.
A red fist print lingered on Olivier’s cheek.
“Call her a bitch again,” Kenna said, rubbing her hand. “Call her a traitor.”
Olivier rubbed his cheek upon his shoulder. “You’re soft on her, aren’t you? Don’t bother trying to help her. Without Achille and me to look after her, she’ll murder herself within the week. God will send her to hell for that sin and for the sins of her heart, and Lucifer will burn the flesh from her body for all eternity, just as she deserves. She’s always known how her afterlife would play out. If I were her, I wouldn’t be in such a rush to meet the devil, but what can you expect from a stupid, traitorous, demon whore?”
Kenna stood up, grasped Olivier’s armrests, and bent over him. “I’m going to put the poison into you myself. Soon. But before I do, I want you understand that Camille will never harm herself again, do you hear me? If she accepts our gods, then she’ll have to accept her quirks for what they are. And she’ll see that she’s been put exactly where she needs to be.”
“Where is that?”
“Home, you ignorant piece of shit. And by my daughter’s side.”
Chapter 30
Lila shuffled away from the guest cabin, one button of her borrowed purplecoat unbuttoned, her hand jammed inside to rest below her gunshot wound. In the last few days, she’d grown less sore, and Dr. McCrae seemed pleased with her progress. On the doctor’s advice, she’d even begun trudging around the track. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and twice in the evening, avoiding the rest of the compound as they worked out in their little groups.
She might have walked more if Dr. McCrae had not explicitly warned her against it.
