CHAPTER THIRTEEN
W ounded was no longer the word to describe him. Something dangerous flickered in his eyes as he ran the backs of his fingers along the line of her jaw before holding her chin in an unyielding grip. This was what she’d wanted.
Show me your dark side, Jules Lacroix .
‘I have no answers for you. But you know what? I wish I knew.’ His breathing was ragged. ‘I wish I knew why I was abandoned. I wish I knew by whom. But, more than that, I want to know why, when I was mere moments from unravelling something—any bloody damn thing—about myself, a demon appeared and killed my best friend.’
His fingers, warm and strong against her jaw, didn’t frighten her, his powerful hands held surprising gentleness, but the shadow across his eyes, like tattered clouds veiling the moon, certainly did.
‘Coincidence?’ he mused, introspective. ‘No. There aren’t so many coincidences in all the world.’
He was grieving , not angry. Unexpected pain knifed between her ribs. Sympathy?
‘And not just any demon, the Duke of Briars,’ Selene said softly, studying Jules from close quarters. He had pale green eyes ringed by a golden starburst. ‘Coincidences like that do not happen.’
He shook his head, releasing her jaw with none of his earlier gentleness. She whipped her head back, unerringly finding his eyes.
If this was his dark side, she could handle it.
‘When it comes to demons, any change in the balance is a bad sign,’ she continued. ‘If, as I suspect, he continues to track you …’ His expression tightened. ‘Well, it’s something of a mystery, isn’t it?’
‘Who is the Duke of Briars?’
‘A powerful demon. Quite possibly the most powerful demon we have had the misfortune to catalogue.’ She hesitated, considering whether she should tell him more.
The Academy was clandestine with their knowledge, dealing it out gradually over ten years of schooling. All her training told her to bite her tongue, but she ignored it. He deserved to know.
And if this demon really was hunting him, he needed to.
‘He is one of the Twelve. They have been mythologized, but they are very real. Each a demon of the highest class. Each more powerful by orders of magnitude than demons the next level down. In two hundred years, we have seen each of them once. Each time it leads to tragedy. Each time … many people die.’
‘Like Saint-Jeannet?’
‘Worse. Far worse.’
His eyes were pale speckled jade, and she could drown in them. But there was darkness in them. Grief and anger and suspicion. What Selene didn’t see was fear. Not really. Not as much as she might have expected. He looked away, breaking the moment. Lacroix didn’t yet understand. The Baliel at the orphanage, wrapped in a wholly unsuitable body, had been a shadow of the demon she had learned about at the Academy.
‘A mystery,’ Jules said quietly, then sighed, scrubbing fingers through his hair. ‘If you hadn’t abducted me—’
‘Excuse me? You’re a deserter.’
‘Kidnapping is still a crime.’
She indicated the fallen shackles. ‘You’re under arrest .’
He gave a languid shrug, as though that too could be open to interpretation. Dio , he was impossible. How had he survived four years of the hardest war in human history with so little respect for authority? She wanted to shake him, but refused to sink to his level.
She took a calming breath. ‘You were saying?’
‘If you hadn’t abduct—’
‘ After that,’ she snapped.
He gave her a look. ‘I was planning to visit the Genealogical Library to see if there was any hint of a baby born in Saint-Jeannet on that blessed night in January.’
Blessed night, indeed . Her sardonic laugh died in her throat. La Bibliothèque Généalogique . Another connection.
His attention sharpened. ‘What?’
‘Well …’ Her mind worked fast and her words came slow. ‘Even if I hadn’t abducted you—’
He looked triumphant at that but didn’t interrupt.
‘—you would have found it difficult to find anything at Nice’s Genealogical Library, I’m afraid.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it burned.’
His eyes widened as realization spread across his features.
And dread.
Interesting .
‘It’s a real shame …’ she mused, twirling her fountain pen around her thumb experimentally, mirroring Eliot earlier, then pinning it to the page in front of her. ‘Fun fact: Rome has the greatest libraries in the world.’
That suspicious look was back in his eyes. ‘Good for Rome.’
She refused to smile, knowing it would be smug. ‘If there’s anywhere that still had a copy of Nice’s genealogical records, it would be the Vatican archives.’
‘I’m sure they love giving tours. Can I get a military discount?’
‘No discount. But I could get you in. If I wanted to.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘What do I have to do, promise you my firstborn child?’
She crinkled her nose. ‘Nobody wants that. All I want is your cooperation. You’ll do what I say, when I say it. Understand? If it helps, you can pretend I’m your superior and that you’re actually a dutiful soldier.’
He snorted, but his eyes were thoughtful.
She bit back her smile. ‘Do we have a deal?’
‘Perhaps.’ He rubbed his jaw, watching her. ‘Lucia said there were no casualties in Nice, but Kian was at the orphanage with me. I know he couldn’t have survived. Why the discrepancy?’
Kian, the childhood friend.
Perhaps it would be cruel to give him false hope. So she settled on telling him the facts. ‘They recovered what they could from the burned wing. Preliminary results have been coming in all day. No human remains have been found so far. Not even a tooth.’
His expression did not waver. ‘Then, in exchange for my cooperation, I have two requests. One, you’ll look for Kian, and—’
‘I’m the Butcher of Rome, would anyone really believe I’d divert Vatican resources to search for a missing orphan?’
‘I don’t give a fuck what they think.’
‘Fine. Now do we have a deal?’
‘I have a second request. Don’t agree until you know what it is, Bouchère de Rome. ’
She spread her hands in a ‘proceed’ gesture, smothering a wince at hearing the pejorative name from him.
‘I want more from you than an escort. I want you to help me. The library is a start, but I want your word you’ll throw your support behind me and we won’t stop until I say I’m done.’
She bit back a smile. A visit to the library would be too easy, wouldn’t it?
‘Agreed,’ she said, perhaps too quickly. And she meant it.
She would have agreed to more. Whatever was going on here, he was the only suspected link she had to Baliel since his body had been destroyed. From what Selene knew of Jules, his military history, and his impressive record of killing demons, she could use him. Even if that meant she needed to protect him from other exorcists. How she’d swing that would be the next difficulty. But she’d already set her plan for that in motion.
Then there were Caterina and Lucia, who both knew about Jules and his recent military disgrace. They could prove a problem. She shrugged it off. Her subordinates had a chronic inability to follow any kind of protocol—so they probably wouldn’t balk at her writing her own playbook just this once.
‘And I refuse to touch a weapon,’ Jules said softly, breaking into her thoughts.
She looked at him sharply. That might prove troublesome.
His stubborn expression set her jaw on edge. She decided not to push. His conviction would soon melt away. Although Jules didn’t have the eyes of someone who would bend easily.
‘All right,’ she murmured. ‘The Vatican will throw its efforts behind finding out what happened to your childhood friend and I’ll help you unveil the great secret that is, well, you .’
After all, that was her goal as well. And perhaps by the time they’d unravelled that enigma, she would know the nature of his connection to Baliel. And if she had to—if her mission’s success depended upon it—she would use Jules as bait.
Baliel would cause no more trouble in Nice, she felt sure of that. His destination, like their own, was Rome. Still … she couldn’t explain that gut instinct to any of her Vatican superiors. Even Cesare would struggle to back her with such an incomplete picture. Nor would he allow any kind of mercy to a deserter.
No matter how strongly she suspected that Jules was an important part of this puzzle, her superiors didn’t need to know the reality of the situation. And they couldn’t know she suspected Baliel was hunting them right back.
‘Why did you agree so quickly?’ Jules asked.
‘I love a good mystery.’ She leaned forward, lowering her voice. ‘And if we figure out who you are, maybe this whole thing will unravel before our eyes. If I’m right … you won’t survive a week without me. If I’m right, the Duke of Briars is on your tail, and I’m the only one who can help.’
His eyes clouded and satisfaction coiled in her ribcage, serpentine and luxurious. She had him.
‘And more importantly,’ she added softly, ‘I’m the only one who cares to.’