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She heard glass s fro to her ears theyher back against it as she tried to catch her breath They had killed, and now they were inside They had set fire to the attics

Soe had coiven it to so to the convent But she had seen the seal, intact--

A cry of pain broke through her horrified confusion, and Si her veil across her nose and mouth as she stepped over the dead maid and went inside A few feet down the hall an olda wide smear of blood on thedown to scoop his thin, frail body into her arh the front of her habit frounshot wounds in his torso She carried him out of the smoke to the drive, where she dropped doith hiroped for her hand, squeezing it weakly when he caught it "God have mercy onO as he gulped in air "I saw theate The next htened "The ry, Simone The master--"

"I know, Piers"

"You must stop them For Hel--" A sharp crack cut off his words, and his body jerked as the bullet struck his chest He slus in a thin rush

Si fro the weapon shifted it to aim at her head, but as his dark eyes met hers he lowered the barrel He spoke in Italian, but not to her

Two other ed away the old butler’s body while the other kicked her fro her flat with such force she barely had tirabbed her shoulder and wrenched her over onto her back

The priest drifted closer, the skirt of his black cassock swirling with each step The sun painted an oily gleam over his thin black brows and trim mustache, and his smile displayed his sold croinked at her He handed off the rifle to the man who had kicked her, and then re it to wipe his hands before folding and replacing it

"Hello, Quatorze"

Simone tried to sit up, but he planted his boot between her breasts and bore down on it to keep her in place She did not recognize the priest’s young, handsome face, which seeree of unnatural iested he had not been born with such perfect features

The voice, however, she kneell as her own "Pájaro"

"You re up in a Cupid’s bow as he produced a dark blade and bent down to cut open the front of her robe "I had not thought he would permit it He made you put all the others out of your mind, didn’t he? After he cut their throats"

"I’ve never forgotten you" She saw the nized her last chance to escape "I alad to know you are still alive"

"Still the little liar" Hesound as he bent down and used the blade to slice through her harness, stripping it fro it into the bushes He did the same with the two pistols he re you withtwo deaths seeed on a torn piece of her robe "He finally gave you to the convent, I see Has locking you up in the nunnery kept you fro a five-euro whore, like your mother? Where is he?"

"Helada"

Simone looked at the man who came out of the château

"Did you find it?" Pájaro asked

The mercenary nodded "In the back"

"Recall the men" Pájaro looked down as Si else to offer o with you and your rave;re" The beseeching words tasted like acid in her mouth "If you and your men will leave with me now, my body and my life are yours"

He looked down at her with visible pleasure "What happened to the girl who never lost a battle?"

"That is not my life anymore"

"You sound like your mother" Pájaro reached down and hauled her to her feet, jerking her close His hot breath touched her face as he whispered, "I found her in Paris, you know Yes, there she was, still peddling her diseased cunt under bridges and behind rubbish bins I bought her with a swig of cheap wine and the promise of a needle She pleaded for her life in the first five ed enerous I gave her another teeks to live"

She sed hard to keep froer than she did"