He touched her hand, and she gripped him tightly.
“Pardon, my Lord.” Gregor announced his arrival, bowing just as he entered the chamber.
“Gregor, I’ve just spoken with Emiliano. I want you to send an urgent message to the Roman, asking him to send reinforcements immediately.”
“Yes, my Lord.” Gregor eyed Raven as he approached the throne. “But I have news you should hear.”
“Proceed.”
“This news would be better spoken in your private ear.”
“You may speak freely.”
Gregor swallowed noisily, giving one last fleeting glance to Raven. “The Roman replied to our initial request for support.” He held out a piece of paper.
The Prince snatched it from his hand. He read the message quickly. “Was there no other answer?”
“No, my Lord. As you can see, Lieutenant Cato sent the message electronically so it would be received quickly.”
“Was the sender confirmed?”
“Yes, it arrived as a secure communication.”
The Prince tossed the paper back. “Clearly, Rome has not heard about the movement of troops. Inform the king we will shortly be under siege and need his immediate intervention.”
Gregor retrieved the paper from the floor. “And the other matter?” His eyes moved to Raven.
“Send the message as I commanded, and send it now!” William snarled, his anger getting the better of him.
Without thought, Raven reached out and placed her hand on his arm.
“Yes, my Lord.” Gregor flew down the aisle and out of the chamber.
Once the door closed behind the head of security, Raven turned to William. “What did the Roman say?”
The Prince paced in agitation in front of the throne. “It wasn’t the Roman; it was Cato. I can’t be certain the Roman even saw my initial communication.”
Raven stood on uneasy feet, blocking William’s pacing. “What did Cato say?”
“He said I was to hand you over to the Curia and put an end to the conflict.”
Raven gasped. “Is that why the Curia are sending troops? Because of me?”
“No. Why would your priest come for you with ten soldiers when he could have come with three hundred?” William shook his head. “Something has changed since your priest left Rome.”
He closed his eyes and lifted his chin, his body going still.
Raven watched him, wondering what he was doing.
At length, he opened his eyes. A look of cold resignation shone from the gray depths.
“The Curia is gambling that if they march on Florence, the Roman won’t intervene. Perhaps they are colluding with Cato. Perhaps the Roman has been led to believe the Curia is willing to wage a war in order to rescue you.”
“If I went to Father willingly, would it avert a war?”
“No, for I would be obliged to come after you.”
Raven encircled his waist with her arms. “We could escape. We could leave the city now before the soldiers come.”
“Now is not the time to flee, not when I have a chance to save the city. The Curia are angry about the policeman. I can hand over Aoibhe and Ibarra to placate them.
“Hopefully, my message will make it past Cato to the Roman himself. We can try to hold off the troops until they arrive.”
“Is that possible?” Raven whispered.
“Possible, yes. Likely, no.” William bowed his head toward hers.
Chapter Fifty
“MY ORDERS ARE CLEAR, and they come from the Superior General himself: destroy the Prince of Florence.” General Vale addressed a group of Curia agents who had gathered in the Jesuit safe house.
“For some reason, the Prince is resistant to relics and perhaps able to walk on holy ground. We don’t know if he has other anomalous abilities.”
Murmurs lifted from the group.
“Our primary objective is to destroy the Prince before he is able to create an army of anomalies like him. To that end, my second in command is transporting troops here as we speak.” The General walked over to an aerial view of Florence that he’d projected onto a screen.
A priest in black stood. “The Prince is an old one. How do we know he hasn’t created an army already?”
“We have multiple agents inside the city, some of whom are in this room. None of them have observed Florentine soldiers with any special powers. In the conflict between Venice and Florence, the Florentines demonstrated no exceptional abilities.”
“What about the Roman?” The priest persisted. “I heard the Roman is the Prince’s maker, and that he has vowed to protect him.”
“The Roman’s threat has been neutralized.”
Loud murmurs and whispers filled the room until the General called the group to attention.
Father Kavanaugh surveyed the room from his vantage point near the door. Some of the agents were male, some female. Some were dressed in the robes of an order, some wore plainclothes. And then there was the special forces unit, which lined the back wall like tall, silent trees.
Father stood apart from the others, his hand in his pocket. What had begun as a simple rescue mission had evolved into a war, something he’d hoped they could have avoided.
Despite the Curia’s powers, some of the agents in the room would die. There would be destruction and mayhem. Those vampyres that escaped the Curia would flee to other cities, possibly disturbing the current balance in Europe. As always when the supernatural world went into upheaval, human lives would be lost.