assuage—too many years of witnessed abuses for the magic to wipe away. As he had done to the two homeless men, the knight erased the centuries of horrible memories, to a time before John Lewis Hugo entered Annwn when he loved a tailoring assistant on Threadneedle Street in London. It had been the last time he had been truly happy. Richard felt what John Lewis Hugo had experienced so long ago—the innocence and the love, the hope of a touch and the feeling of a kiss on blushing cheek, the first unfamiliar and anxious moments of sex. They were emotions Richard had long since thought dead within his own heart, and they left him sad.
There, in the past, Richard slowed the other man’s pulse.
When the knight opened his eyes again, John Lewis Hugo sighed contentedly one last time—and did not breathe again.
“You are going to hell, McAllister.”
Richard stood again, weariness finally catching up to him. He ignored the Cardinal Vicar and strode toward the door of the suite.
The knight turned back to face Cormac only once.
“If you had any doubt, you are too.”
“You realize, Bran Ardall, you have saved the world as we know it.”
With the boy standing behind him, Richard sat across from Cormac O’Connor, a large desk and a gulf of uncertainty between them. He stared out a large office window overlooking stormy Rome. It echoed the unsettling feeling he had inside. Sitting in a plush chair, he and Bran were alone with the Vicar, Finn Arne having left the room after reporting that the catacombs had been cleared of the remaining Templar Knights and the portal was secure once again.
Cormac had changed into clothing more suited to his station—red vestments with white trim, a red zucchetto upon his head, and a gold cross about his neck. The sword he had carried, Hrunting, lay with Durendal in the corner of the room, both cleaned of the blood staining their blades.
A gloomy dawn was only an hour away.
Somewhere below in chambers Richard could only guess at, Pope Clement XV lay in secluded peace. Very few knew of his death. In time it would be announced as a heart attack to the world and his burial wishes would be carried out.
A new Pope would then be selected.
A clock in the room ticked the seconds of silence away. Hungry and tired, Richard had accepted the invitation to the Cardinal Vicar’s office and brought Bran for two reasons only.
“Please, have some fruit and water,” Cormac offered, gesturing at a bowl of apples, bananas, and grapes and a glass pitcher. “You must thirst after what took place. It is the least I can do. Without you, both the Vatican and Annwn would have falle—”
“Stop with the pretenses, Cardinal Vicar,” Richard said bitingly.
The Cardinal Vicar stared hard at the knight.
Neither spoke, gauging one another.
“When has civility been frowned upon?” Cormac asked finally.
“When it is not sincere.”
Cormac did not flinch from the unabashed insolence. “Let us speak frankly, McAllister. You have ever been a thorn in the side of the Vigilo. It is beyond rational reasoning why Merle has chosen you to be the Heliwr. That said, there is no reason we cannot begin anew. It will take strength and friendship to see the coming days set right. Rossi is dead. Dozens of Swiss Guards are dead. The survivors will need to have their minds cleared of their memories to keep Annwn safe. And with the knowledge that even some fey have the might to challenge the separation of our worlds, it is more pressing than ever that we work together.” He paused. “Needless to say, you have no reason to fear our association.”
“The loss of Ennio is great,” Richard said. “The loss of your Pope is a hardship for you. Loss is nothing new to me though, Vicar. Loss is not foreign to Bran here either. You extend an olive branch. I have no desire for one.”
“Why did you agree to meet with me then, McAllister?”
“There are two reasons. The first, I keep my promises,” Richard answered. “You sent Finn Arne after young Ardall here, hoping to capture him at best, harm him at worst. I promised your captain upon meeting with him that I would bring Bran here with me after the death of Philip Plantagenet. That happened, so I am here to fulfill that oath.”
“Now, you wait one minute. I meant no harm to B—”
“There is more,” the knight interrupted. “I wanted him to meet you, to see your face, to know