The Roman (The Florentine 3)

Raven followed, catching Monsieur Marchand’s last words, “—military-style convoy, with diplomatic plates.”

“Where?” asked William, his eyes meeting Raven’s.

“Just outside the city, sir.”

“And the intelligence report?”

“We have been unable to identify the convoy, sir. If they’re headed here, they’ll arrive in thirty minutes.”

“Right. We’re leaving at once. Prepare for our departure.” William hung up the phone.

Raven grabbed his hand. “Curia?”

“We don’t know, but I don’t want to take the chance. Pack whatever you can’t live without.”

Raven twined her fingers with his. “You. You are what I can’t live without.”

He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it.

Within twenty minutes, Raven and William had changed their appearances and were carrying Swiss diplomatic passports.

A decoy Mercedes had already left the Trivium through the back gates, heading for Geneva Airport.

Raven and William rode in a black Range Rover with diplomatic plates, accompanied by a driver and an armed guard, heading south to the French border.

Another twenty minutes and they had crossed into France, entering Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, where a private jet waited for them.

Raven held her breath as the plane taxied on the airfield. Anxiously, she surveyed their surroundings and the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Next to her, William exhaled loudly and drew a deep breath.

“It’s going to be all right,” she whispered, her gaze sweeping the landscape. “It has to be.”

The plane took off, and when they’d finally reached their cruising altitude, William began to relax.

Raven gave him an encouraging smile. “You still haven’t told me what happened to you.”

“I will,” he cleared his throat. “But I think we need to discuss our next steps first.”

He turned in his seat to face her. “I want to live the rest of my days with you, in safety. If you want to stay in Europe, we can. But I believe it will be safer for us to go far, far away. At least for the near future.”

“Where would we go?”

“I own property around the world. My recommendation is that we place as much distance between us and the Curia as possible. I own a secret island in French Polynesia, near Bora Bora. We can travel to the island in about a day and a half.”

“What about the pilots? Can they fly that far?”

“They’re being well paid. They will take us wherever we want to go.”

Raven’s mouth widened into a smile. “You want to take me to Tahiti?”

“Thereabouts.”

“Okay.”

He chuckled. “You don’t want to think about it?”

Raven turned and looked out the window. She examined the landscape beneath them and the snowy Alps that climbed to the clouds.

When she spoke, her tone was wistful. “I miss my sister. I hope someday I’ll be able to tell her I’m alive. But I don’t want to do anything that will make her a target for the Curia or anyone else. I agree we need to disappear.” Raven half-smiled. “Tahiti is warm. You can join me in the sunshine now.”

“It doesn’t have to be forever.” William’s face grew serious. “But the island is the safest place I can think of for now.”

“What’s the island called?”

William grinned sheepishly. “I always referred to it as the island. You’ll have to pick a name for it.”

He sat back in his seat and rested his head against the headrest. “Now it’s time for me to explain what happened…”

Chapter Sixty-Four

“AFTER I FELT MY SOUL LEAVE MY BODY, everything went dark. My first thought was that I’d failed you. I’d failed the city and my people. I’d failed my teacher.” William’s voice grew thick.

At Raven’s signal, the flight attendant retrieved two bottles of water from the mini bar and opened them, pouring the water over ice.

William drank the water gratefully. “Do you remember the story of Guido da Montefeltro?”

“Yes, I think we talked about this once. Dante tells Guido’s story in the Inferno. Guido claimed that St. Francis of Assisi came for his soul when he died but lost it to a demon.”

“Yes.” William studied her.

“You aren’t telling me that St. Francis came for your soul?”

“No.” His gaze dropped to the carpet of the plane. “But I saw my teacher.

“I thought I was dead, but I could hear voices. I could hear my teacher arguing with someone, arguing about my soul. And then, all of a sudden, my teacher said, ‘He is not dead.’ And I realized I was still alive.” William’s eyes lifted.

“You saw him?”

“I’d know him anywhere. I recognized his voice, his face. He was there. He spoke to me.” William stopped, momentarily overcome.

“I was given mercy—a second chance. When I opened my eyes, I was alone, lying on a table.

“I realize now I was in the hospital in Florence. But at that moment, I had no idea where I was. My memory of being a vampyre was completely gone. I couldn’t even remember listening to my teacher a moment earlier. All I could remember was his death and being in mourning in Fossanova. That’s where I thought I was.

“I was half-naked, so I wrapped a sheet around my body, determined to return to the monastery. I stumbled outside and collapsed in the street.

“I’m not sure how long I was there, but someone found me.” William hesitated.

“Who?”

“A Dominican. My mind was so scrambled, I couldn’t speak Italian or English. I could only speak Latin and Anglo-Norman. The brother thought I was mad and tried to take me back to the hospital, but I kept telling him I was a Dominican and my teacher had just died. I think he brought me to the Dominican House just to placate me.”

“But what about the Curia? Aren’t the Dominicans part of them?”

“Some of them are. But these brothers seemed to have no knowledge of what had transpired at the Duomo, and they certainly didn’t recognize me. The Dominican who rescued me took me to an older brother whose Latin was better, and I explained to him who I was.

“They gave me some clothes and some food. They gave me a place to sleep. It was clear they had no idea what to do with me, and I think several of them wanted to send me back to the hospital. But the old Dominican was adamant that I stay with them. Whatever they thought I was or what I was suffering, they knew I wasn’t a vampyre. There were relics all over the house.”

“Relics never bothered you anyway.”

“Not much, that’s true.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“I think the relics that belonged to my teacher never bothered me because he never rejected me.” Emotion colored William’s voice. “He prayed for me, hoping I would find my way back to God. He never lost that hope.”

“You believe, then? You believe in God again?”

“Yes, but I can say that I never stopped believing in him completely. You were the one who told me you thought my teacher would have compassion for me for reaching out to the Roman when I was in despair. Even as I took what he offered me, I regretted it. It wasn’t what I wanted; I just wanted my teacher. I begged him to help me, and I know now that he did.”

Raven shifted in her seat so she could see William more clearly. “The voice we heard during the exorcism, it said despair. What was that?”

“I’m not sure,” William hedged. “From the moment I transformed into a vampyre, I felt the darkness of despair surround me. It was like drinking what I’d thought was the water of life only to discover it was poisoned.”

“So vampirism was your punishment for giving in to despair?”

“No.” William shook his head emp

hatically. “The Roman offered me power, and wealth, and sonship. Because I had given up hope of having a good life without my teacher, I willingly took what the Roman offered. But I regretted the choice immediately. My teacher said the transformation was incomplete. Perhaps that’s why I could walk on holy ground and handle relics. I didn’t give in to despair entirely, and because of that and the prayers of my teacher, I never acquired the full nature of a vampyre.”

Raven pondered what he’d said. “I guess it wasn’t a coincidence you were found by a Dominican.”

William smiled. “I don’t think so. The brothers could have sent me back to the hospital. I’m sure the Curia was looking for my body. But the brothers kept me while I regained my strength. Then, several weeks later, they took me to Fossanova.

“I had no memory beyond 1274. One of the Dominicans thought it might help to bring me to the monastery where my teacher died. A few of the brothers traveled with me.

“When we arrived, it was as if I’d never left. I was so convinced my teacher’s body was there. I was so convinced my brothers were still there. Of course, they weren’t.

“I spent a lot of time in the monastery and praying in the chapel, trying to figure out what had happened. I’d always had a good memory. I’d always been strong. I felt so weak, so powerless.

“One night I climbed to the top of a nearby hill.” William cleared his throat. “It was the same hill where the Roman found me.