“Do you think she even cares about that anymore?”

“I do not know. That, in itself, is disturbing.” Emil paused again. “This will look very bad for her, but you must stay in the city and let the focus shift to her and her actions. Or Lorenzo’s. I think this sounds more like him than her. He has proven himself to be quite rash. Let me take care of this. Do you agree?”

She took a deep breath and tried to think about taking care of her family. “Fine.”

“Is there anything else I can do? Any help my human staff can give you right now?”

“Yes. My nephew was arrested. He speaks some Italian, but we’ve told him never to talk to the police. Matt would usually take care of it, but—”

“Your head of security must take care of his wife. Let me handle this. The police will be no problem. What is the boy’s name?”

Her heart ached when she thought about Ben. Dez said she thought he might have killed one of the men. She said he had stabbed both to protect her. “His name is Ben. Benjamin Vecchio. He’s only sixteen, Emil. He was protecting her, and he was… he was covered in blood, so the police thought—”

“Do not concern yourself. He will be out of police custody in a matter of hours at the most. I’ll have my men take him to the hospital.”

She closed her eyes in relief. “Thank you. I will—we will owe you a favor.”

“And I’ll be sure to collect when the time is appropriate, which is not now. This attack has the potential to expose all of us to scrutiny. Let my people take care of this. I will call you when I know more.”

“Thank you.”

“Good-bye, Beatrice. Be well.”

She hung up the phone and sat on the couch. It was late afternoon and the house that was usually filled with life was utterly and completely silent. No Dez. No Ben. Matt was at the hospital with Angela. Tenzin was wherever the Chinese delegation was staying. Ziri was… somewhere. Lucien was sleeping, completely unaware of what had transpired only hours before. It would be hours before the sun set.

She took advantage of the empty house and screamed at the top of her lungs. Beatrice wanted her husband. She wanted her friends. And she was completely cut off from the outside world as she waited for a call back from Emil with news about Ben.

She was tempted to walk down to the basement so she could punch the stone walls, but there were no phone connections there.

So she sat. She paced. She glared at the thin line of light she could see around the heavy shutters that covered the windows. She ached with rage and frustration. She suddenly remembered something Lucien had talked about just the day before.

“I think I offended God.”

Beatrice had frowned. “What? How?”

“By drinking from Rada. Trying to conquer the bloodlust.”

“How would that offend God?”

“Perhaps we are meant to struggle against it. Perhaps…”

“What?”

“There is a price, isn’t there? There has to be. Strength. Immortality. Wisdom… it must have a price.”

“What kind of god would demand a price of blood?”

“It is not blood He demands. It is humility. The knowledge that even as powerful as we are, we will never be gods.”

As powerful as they were…

Beatrice didn’t feel powerful. She felt helpless.

The phone rang.

“Yes?”

“Your nephew will be on his way to the hospital shortly. They were trying to interrogate him, but he refused to speak. That is a very clever boy you have. And very skilled. It appears he took out two of Livia’s human staff. They found one of the men dead at the scene. The other my people are attempting to track down. There was an impressive amount of blood in the alley. The police were trying to contact the U.S. Embassy when my contact intervened.”

So, Ben had killed one of their attackers. Possibly both. The thought both satisfied and pained her at the same time. “Who do we need to pay, Emil? I want this to disappear.”

She heard him give a quiet laugh. “Don’t be absurd. It is my responsibility that the boy had to use force to defend himself on our streets. Do not think of repaying me with money.”

“You’re not responsible for everything that happens on the streets of Rome.”

There was silence over the line. “Not yet, anyway.”

“Thank you.”

“Stay away from the castle tonight. Take care of your people. I will have my head of security coordinate with Mr. Kirby regarding his wife’s protection.”

“I won’t forget this.”

“Neither will I.”

He hung up the phone and Beatrice immediately dialed the number Tenzin had given her weeks before. She hadn’t wanted to call until she had more information. A polite voice answered in Mandarin, and she asked for her friend. She heard a rustling as the phone was switched to the echoing quality of the speakerphone.

“Who is calling me?”

“It’s me, Tenzin.”

There was a long pause. “What is wrong? What has happened?”

Beatrice blinked back tears. “Um… Dez and Ben were attacked today. Ben killed one, maybe both, of the men that attacked them, but Dez is in the hospital. The doctors say she’s stable.”

“What does that mean? Dez is all right? What about the baby?”

“Stable means she’s not bleeding anymore. It looks like the baby’s going to be okay. I don’t know that much, but—”