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“You may have been acquitted, but no one at court liked you much,” I continue. “Especially Antoinette. The king got sick of you and banished you anyway.”
“Indeed,” Rohan says, as if the matter bored him entirely. “I lived out my life in absolute luxury, and when Ashtaroth came for me, he promised I would continue to do so.” He shot me a sly smile. “Like you, Ambrosius, I like to indulge in the finer things.”
This isn’t working.
But of course, it isn’t. They hold every card and I have none.
For Cole…
I turn my eyes to Armand. There’s not one speck of feeling left in me for him except disgust. Looking at him now, it’s incredible that I ever found this oaf worthy of trading my soul. Not when such a man as Cole exists.
My eyes fall shut at the agony in my heart, but I’ll give them none of it.
“And you,” I say. “The great counterfeiter, Armand de Villette. Forged even the queen’s hand and yet died penniless and alone—unknown—wandering the Italian countryside like a vagrant.”
He snarls and pushes up on me. “You ruined me! It was your fault.Youshould’ve been exiled.”
I shove him back. “I evaded capture because I’m more clever than all of you. Oh, but I did find our sweet little Nicole.” I glance around the courtyard. “Is she coming too?”
“Now, now, Ambrosius, let’s not be rude,” Rohan says, puffing his cigar. “Exploiting our human demises for personal amusement is impolite.”
“That’s right,” Jeanne says. “But do you know what we’d find if we lookedyouup, Ambri? Rien.” She made a cutting motion with her hand.“Nothing.”
Armand regains his composure and smiles like a snake. “So very true. There is no mention of sweet Ambri in the history books or…anywhere, actually. Why, I remember you once told me you weren’t certain of your own birth date.”
He and Jeanne dissolve into mocking laughter while Rohan looks amused.
“We may have made mistakes in life, but in death we are powerful,” the former cardinal says. “We must set aside our differences if we’re to ensure victory over the boy.”
My throat is dry, and I cross my arms. “Well, then, what’s the plan?”
“The usual,” Rohan says.
“I will ruin his sleep,” Jeanne says, “keeping him up at night, worrying about the pressure of all this attention. How the anticipation is too much, and the critics will call him a fraud.” She smiles gleefully. “How it will all come crashing down any minute and he’ll be the laughingstock.”
“I’ll provide our boy with pills to help him sleep and then more pills to keep him awake and plenty of alcohol in between,” Armand says, looking extremely pleased with himself.
“I have a special talent for illusion,” Rohan says. “Cole’s ‘exhaustion’ will have him seeing things. Unpleasant things that will induce paranoia and erode his sense of what is real. And once you, Ambrosius, break his heart, well, that’s when the real fun begins.”
I feel ill. My very soul is curdling at their plan. One that I set in motion.
“Yes, we’re going to have fun,” Jeanne says. “We ruined that silly queen; surely we can help you ruin him too.”
“He knows he doesn’t have a choice,” Armand tells them, inspecting me through narrowed eyes. “Your human history is lost, Ambri, but we know what happened to Ashtaroth. Our maker. Ourfather.We know you had a hand in his downfall. They whisper that you’re a traitor.”
“Ambrosius knows what torture awaits him if that proves to be true,” Rohan says, rising from his chair. “He laid wonderful groundwork. I think this will be quite a simple victory.”
The three of them move to leave, but Armand pauses to lean in to me.
“You want to know what I think, Ambri? I think you’re still a traitor. I think your little act with Cole Matheson isn’t much of an act at all.” He sniffs in disdain and sneers. “You always were so bloody needy.”
They all break into tittering laughter and leave the courtyard, trailing their stench behind them like a foul perfume. The moment I’m alone, I sink onto the bench and hold my head. It feels as if there’s a fire inside my skull.
“What have I done?” I murmur. “God forgive me, what have I done?”
twenty-seven
Rome
