Page 100 of Thus with a Kiss I Die
He had become the wolf, crazed, enraged, a cold and lethal predator.
And my fatal flaw—my tendency to speak my strong, logical, unwomanly thoughts—would again cost me dearly.
Barnadine pointed a shaking finger at me. “You scurvy pox on the face of woman. An intelligent female is an abomination to God.”
“Our most holy Lord God made me as I am.” I spoke in a soothing tone, trying to coax the wolfman.
“Our most holy Lord God sent me on a mission to wipe you off the face of the earth. Or rather”—Barnadine glanced over the rail—“to send you down to be one with the earth.”
He knew what he intended, what he’d always intended, and I knew I could never survive the fall to the ground. Nor could I successfully fight Barnadine; for all that his scrawny frame lacked muscle and his trembling hands bore testament to his longtime overindulgence in wine, he was a strong man, skilled in hand-to-hand combat.
This soldier had changed the course of history in Verona. His actions had forced Cal to assume power too soon, turned him from an obnoxious, impetuous boy into a man burdened with duty; and now here Barnadine stood, ready to once more alter Cal’s destiny by murdering me.
I was doomed—unless I could confront him with his most recent crime and perhaps remind him, not of his rage but of his duty. “With Elder’s murder, you avenged your sister’s fall from virtue. With Princess Eleanor’s death from widowed sorrow, you destroyed the happiness of his family. Why now take up the cause? Because Princess Ursula claimed to have contacted the spirits in her séance? What is your new goal? To save your own puny neck? Is that why you tried to batter that aged and gracious lady to death?”
“I didn’t want to hurt Princess Ursula. She was good to me.” He straightened his shoulders and proclaimed, “When she threatened to discover me, reveal me, sheforcedme to attack her.”
Of course! It wasn’t his fault he had violently tried to bring about Nonna Ursula’s death. She’d brought it on herself. Crown him the Weasel King of Irresponsibility!
“And Pasqueta?” I asked.
With a wave of the hand, he dismissed her cruel death. “A female and a servant. Of no consequence.”
“Then why did you beat her to death?”
“The stupid she-thing fought me.”
I swallowed.Iwas a she-thing, and I fought him with words and, when it would be necessary, with fists and teeth and the blade of my stiletto. To be battered to death was fearsome torment, worthy of Dante’s seventh circle of hell. I turned away from the knowledge and armed myself with my findings. “Unknowing of Helena’s family, Elder took what was offered. When he discovered her untouched state, was he without remorse?”
“Guilt, remorse. What did that matter? He tried to find her afterward. He asked me for help. Me!” Barnadine laughed with a note of hysteria and spoke as if Elder stood before him.“Too late to change the results, Escalus!”
“He’s not here.” Oops. Barnadine didn’t need to know that.
“Really?” Barnadine crooned. “Where did he go, this imaginary elder of yours?”
“You were speaking to him. Don’t you know?”Nice feign, Rosie. But too late.
“Where’s my fornicating prince now?” Barnadine glanced around, pretending to look for him. “Where’s your friend and mentor when you need him?”
I tried to turn the conversation back to Barnadine and his guilt. “What does it matter whether he’s here or not? You murdered him as you tried to murder Nonna Ursula. Prince Escalus the elder is of the spirit world and he has no affect upon the living.”
“He’s abandoned you, hasn’t he? He doesn’t want to stand by helplessly while I murder you.” Barnadine sniggered. “But I never before thought him a coward so, admit it, he doesn’t exist.”
He did exist, and I needed him nagging, shouting, telling me how to handle this crazed soldier. “You seek to destroy me. Why? What’s your agenda?”
“I pursue the extinction of the House of Leonardi.”
I hadn’t wanted to ask this question, hadn’t want to point out the massive blemish in Barnadine’s vendetta, hadn’t wanted to point Barnadine in this direction—but time fled in the onslaught of this scourge, and if he had his way, I’d soon join Elder in his haunting of the palace.
“Why? Why me?” I said. “If you wish to extinguish the house of Leonardi, why don’t you murder my betrothed? Princess Isabella is merely a woman. She’ll marry and take her husband’s name. It’s Prince Escalus the younger who’s the source of all future Leonardi generations. Why not killhim?”
Barnadine hesitated a heartbeat too long.
“That’s it!” I waggled my finger at him. “That’s it! You pigeon-livered coward, you’ve confirmed my suspicions! You can’t beat Cal.”
“I can! I helped train that featherless fledgling.” Barnadine paced toward me. “I know tricks he can’t even imagine!”
“Cal doesn’t wallow in the pigsty of shame. He hasn’t swum through purple oceans of wine. He’s young, healthy, virile.” I flung my hand out toward the stairway.
