The Codex Lacrimae: The Book of Tears

Chapter 22: The Raising of Roberto di Ferrara

Clarinda, realizing that Aurelius was falling back into the possession of Arngrim and the Dark Book, rushed forward and shoved the spear, Gungnir, into Aurelius's sword hand so quickly that he reflexively grabbed it, taking the hand from its dangerous place poised over the hilt of the Singing Sword.

Enough idle prattling with these folk, Aurelius! The Codex Lacrimae shouted in his mind.Conquest awaits, and the entirety of the Nine Worlds will be yours to roam...

Clarinda stood on her tiptoes and kissed Aurelius full on the lips.

The shocking thrill that passed through the knight silenced both the Codex Lacrimae and the Singing Sword.

Clarinda laced both hands behind Santini's neck and maintained the kiss, not giving into his awkward attempt to pull away. At first, Aurelius resisted, but then he relented and took refuge from the sword and the book in her kiss and touch.

They finally parted. Although the youth flushed in embarrassment when he realized others were watching them, he couldn't help but sigh with pleasure.

I don't care. Besides knowing this kiss delayed another soul possession by these cursed, talismans, I've never felt like this! She's beautiful...

"Clare," he whispered in her ear, not kissing now, but still holding her close. "Grazie, grazie. I can't do this. They're getting stronger and playing off the danger from ... the armies outside the castle. The magic's real, isn't it? The sword's growling and the Codex never stops talking. Did you hear what it's promising now? Total conquest ..."

She looked up at him. "We're all in this together, Servius. Jeremiah's correct: you alwayshave a choice. Also, I don't think the Codex Lacrimae's return is necessarily the endgame, not with all the Codices appearing in different places, especially if there's another one here in the castle."

"Sì, and what's it done?" he asked harshly. "Nothing. If Jeremiah's copy of the Vulgate is the Codex Regius, where are its words? It's power? I hear nothing from it, but the Codex Lacrimae won't shut up!"

"I don't know," she said, gently running the back of her hand down his cheek, "but don't give up."

"I won't." He clasped her fingers. "And, if you see that I'm getting possessed again, I definitely prefer this approach to getting clobbered on the head with Gungnir."

She smiled. "Me too. Let's both agree that a kiss is preferable to either a haunted sword or a cursed book. Call me pazzo, but that's how we are in Venice."

"You're not pazzo, Clarinda," he said, a coldness coming back into his voice. Her mention of Italian lands reminded him of his home and life before Mecina. "You're not crazy at all. Remember what Old Nick and Hela told us in the tower? Pazzo is what my family did—what my father and Paolo did, how they got me over here before Mecina."

"I'm Urd now, Servius. Though it's tempting to see everything as part of a complex design set by the Devil and Death, even I don't see how the actions of the Santinis in Sicily could be related to these events."

"You don't know my family," he said quietly. He squeezed her hand and they turned to his friends and elders in the great hall.

"So, Ríg," Khalil said, smiling as wickedly as only an adoptive older brother could, "do you still want us to kill you, or has Signorina Trevisan's kiss made you less warlike?"

"No, Khalil," Aurelius replied, "we can hold off killing me just yet." He shook a finger at his friend. "You wouldn't joke like that if you could hear what's happening in my head."