Inferno's Kiss by Monica Burns Page A

relationship to Marcus. So for the time being, we simply state what’s common knowledge. She’s the Prima Consul ’s daughter. We’ll let Marcus decide when or if he tells the rest of the Absconditus of his relationship to Cleopatra.”
    “And how do you propose getting her to tell you what she knows about the convent?”
    “I don’t know,” he grumbled with frustration. “In the span of just a few minutes, I learned she’s as stubborn as Marcus.”
    “Well, you’d better figure something out, because he’s not going to be very happy if you take her with us.”
    “An understatement, don’t you think?” He arched his eyebrow at Cornelia, who nodded unhappily.
    His jaw tightened with determination. He’d get Cleopatra to talk. He didn’t have much choice. He’d raised Cornelia’s hopes where her daughter was concerned, and while she might not admit it to him or herself, she was counting on him to succeed. He studied his friend’s gloomy look as she turned her head to stare at one of the paintings on the wall. There was an air of hopelessness about her that illustrated just how upset his Praefect was.
    Cornelia had always hidden her feelings well, but when Beatrice had been taken, she’d withdrawn even more. His friend had lost her husband to a heart attack two years ago, and her daughter was all Cornelia had left. Dante didn’t like seeing her this way. She’d never admit it, but she was terrified for Beatrice. She’d obviously sensed his concern, and she turned her head back to him.
    “You’re doing the best you can, Dante. Even if we do get Beatrice out, you know as well as I do that most women either request the Nex Cassiopeia or find some other way to end their lives.” Cornelia’s eyes darkened with pain as she shook her head. “Living through that hell would challenge even the strongest Sicari woman.”
    His friend averted her gaze once more, and Dante experienced a sense of helplessness. It was a sensation he didn’t like. He’d made a promise to himself that he’d get Beatrice out of that Praetorian hellhole, but Cornelia was right. Her daughter might actually ask her rescuer to end her life under the Order’s Nex Cassiopeia rite.
    The thought of assisted suicide wasn’t an idea he relished, but Beatrice had a right to choose her own destiny. The Order’s law on that matter was clear. A swift, honorable death was the right of every Sicari. But the gods would be cruel to make Cornelia her daughter’s executioner. His stomach clenched at the thought.
    While the Absconditus did its best to protect its members, there were times when it wasn’t possible. That had been the case with Beatrice. No one could have anticipated that an innocent visit to a small art gallery in Venice would result in her kidnapping. The Praetorian presence was almost nonexistent in the legendary city, and the gallery’s connection to their sworn enemy had gone unnoticed until Beatrice was taken.
    Even then it had taken precious man-hours to link the gallery to Beatrice’s abduction. It was the only time Dante had ever seen his Praefect lose control. Cornelia had come close to torturing the gallery owner during the interrogation, and she’d assassinated him without Marcus’s approval. Fortunately, the reigning Sicari Lord had understood better than most the pain Cornelia was experiencing.
    Dante’s second-in-command coughed, and he jerked his gaze up from the wood floor he’d been studying.
    “I asked if you’d contacted Marcus to tell him that his daughter was here.”
    “Yes,” he said with a quick nod. “I sent him a text message while you and Noemi were with her.”
    “Did you tell him she’d been hurt?”
    “There wasn’t any point. She was safe, and I knew Noemi would see to her wounds.”
    “The name Cleopatra suits her. She’s quite beautiful.”
    Cornelia’s statement brought to mind the first time he’d seen Cleopatra’s face in full detail. His brain had shut down to the point where