Eat the Poor

XXI

Light flooded the room.

The bodies in the salon gasped and cowered, reaching quickly for their garments as the Archbishop entered the smoky room. They were Adam and Eve discovering their nakedness.

The Archbishop was an old man, his age-worn back curved into a crooked hunch and his golden crozier the only thing keeping him on his feet. He squinted and raised his right hand vaguely, as if reaching for something before him.

"Heathens!" he croaked. "Heathens, all of you! Have you no fear of the Lord?"

"Allow me to order the arrest, Your Grace." A guard leaned down to whisper in his ear. "This room is awash in enough evidence for twenty hangings."

I looked down at Leo. We watched from the shadows of the corner, the darkness that the red candlelight could not touch.

The Archbishop hobbled through the room, eyes sweeping the scene. "I had hoped to be wrong about this place. I could never have dreamed to witness such godlessness. Such twisted perversions! In the Palace of the Lord's Anointed no less! May God have mercy on your wretched souls."

Kisi let out a wild scream when a guard lifted her off the floor. Her limbs flailed, hands grasping and scratching, as he tore her from her lover.

Some of the nobles, preferring to cling to the scraps of their dignity, straightened up and allowed themselves to be herded out of the room. Others scattered like ants to throw on clothes before the guards closed in.

The girl covered in candlewax was still tied to the table. One of the guards picked at the ropes, his eyes glued to the wall to keep from looking at her.

The Archbishop stopped suddenly in the center of the room. The fat man with the leash around his neck backed out from beneath a woman's skirt and faced him with mortified eyes.

"Lord Hudde?" the Archbishop choked. "Is that you?"

"Archbishop!" Hudde flung his naked form at the man's feet and gripped the edges of his linen alb. "All a misunderstanding, Your Grace, you must believe me..."

Leo rose silently and cracked open the back door. More light spilled into the room.

I watched him, frozen.

He nodded in my direction, then beckoned for me to come. It wasn't exactly my finest moment, creeping along in the darkness of the corner, holding my trousers up with one hand. I faced him and he pushed me through the door. "Hurry!"

Amidst the chaos, no one noticed us slip away. We ducked into the golden light of the castle halls, surrounded by grand paintings and twinkling chandeliers.

I buttoned up my trousers as quickly as possible. If I was going to get thrown in prison, I preferred to do it fully dressed.

"This way," Leo whispered, then gripped my hand and pulled me across the hallway to the nearest room.

The footman outside blanched at the sight of us, but said not a word.

My heart raced as the Marquis slammed shut the door and pulled me into the corner. The suite was a lavish but disorganized mess, twice the size of Henriette's room. Vials of creams and perfumes lay on their sides atop the vanity. Crumpled sheets were strung across the floor.

"Whose room is this?" I asked.

"Don't know." Leo smirked. "He's either at the ball or on his way to the dungeon."

All at once his lips were on mine, wet, warm, tasting strange. His fingers, climbing up my collarbone, were long and slim like a woman's with square knuckles and a sharp wristbone like a man's. But this kiss was different. My desire was gone, licking flames extinguished.