Secrets And Sins Part 3: Happy ever after

Chapter 27

~Beatrice~

The silence following their entrance was rather impressive.

It appeared they had interrupted an important meeting between Pope Marcus and his inner circle of Cardinals. And, by the looks on the men's faces at their intrusion, Beatrice would put money on the topic of discussion being yesterday's mission.

Emotionless, Mother Superior stepped toward the large round hardwood table they were seated around, looking pointedly down at the Cardinal directly opposite the Pope. Paling, the man stood abruptly, his chair scraping loudly in the silence and rushed to get out of the nun's way.

She sat gracefully, her spine ramrod straight before gesturing either side of herself with a quiet authority, "You two as well..."

The Cardinals seated on each side of the matriarch quickly vacated their chairs, and Ava helped Beatrice into the one on the right before taking her place on Mother Superior's left.

Studying each other across the table, there was a long moment where no one said anything, the officials just stared back at the three women in shock.

"You can't just barge in..." One finally sputtered, breaking the stalemate.

Beatrice bristled, how dare he.

"Easy, Bea."

She forced herself to take a calming breath, I'm good.

"Why are these religious men always so rude?"

"Because they hate not being in control, Halo."

"It's okay, Joseph..." Pope Marcus soothed, "I'm sure our Sisters have a good reason for their interruption..."

Ava let out an unimpressed snort, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. Her disdain was understandable.

The Pope ignored her, addressing Mother Superior directly, "So..." He started, the ghost of smirk on his lips, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, my daughter?"

It was a power play, a reminder of his superior rank. Beatrice gritted her teeth.

But Mother Superior, despite the anger clear in her stance, somehow kept her tone even, "We are here because of the entirely unsanctioned, and frankly unethical, 'test' the Church put my Warrior nuns through yesterday afternoon."

"Ooh good burn! Remind me to high five Mother later."

"I don't see anything hot enough to burn in here, Ava?"

"Oh, my God. It was a hypothetic... Actually, you know what? Don't worry about it, Halo."

Beatrice barely paid attention to the running commentary in her head, she was too busy studying Marcus. The Pope appeared to be completely unbothered by the accusation. He simply smiled indulgently, like he was listening to the complaints of a whining child. Tt was one of the most condescending things the sister warrior had ever witnessed.

"It was a disgusting display of disregard for Ava and Beatrice's safety, particularly removing our ability to provide backup if anything went wrong..." Mother Superior continued briskly, though Beatrice could see the cracks in the nun's impassive armor at Marcus's lack of response.

Camila had informed them on their return to headquarters yesterday that she had discovered a feature in the Church's software looping the footage, effectively cutting the Warrior nuns off from their team, to isolate them. It was all part of the test.