Seraphina couldn't help but smile at the thought of Dante pouring blood all over the hotel's carpet. A vengeful light entered her eyes, and a small sadistic smile spread across her lips. "I will enjoy planning his funeral, she thought. She snapped back to herself when General Chamberlain spoke. A faint blush washed over her features as he spoke of those who were enemies as being theirs. Admittedly, she thought to herself, it is because of my station not me, but maybe I have impressed them somehow.
As Chamberlain continued and told her that they would accept her terms she was quite pleased. One step closer she thought to herself as a bright and genuine smile spread across her lips. She was truly happy. All of the pain she had endured over the last few hours was worth it all to have achieved what she had.
She spoke as the waiters brought them their food.
"I eagerly await your findings gentlemen, and I appreciate this opportunity to ensure the lives of the generations to come will god willing live in peace."
She raised her barely touched glass to peace along with the others.
As she ate her attention was torn between the three men in front of her who ate, oddly enough, in unison as though they were synchronized swimmers, and the lobby. All she could do to explain away such bizarre behavoir was to chalk it up to years of military discipline. Admittedly the answer so almost too simple but nothing else could explain the eerieness of the three fallinginto perfect rhythm.
As she sat waiting for any information on the life or death of Dante Novello. The food presented her with the perfect opportunity to entertain how she would tell the family of what had happened. I will have to take the body back with me. That simple thought sent a cold chill down her spine and sent the hairs on herb body immediately on end. I hope he is in as much pain as I am, I hope that he learns regret and fear.
As she ate and as these thoughts drifted across her mind her demeanor changed, any softness that she had turned hard. Her eyes were cold and her jaw set. Her motions remained fluid but it was as though she was not in control of her own body this beast born of come dark alchemy ate her mind. Just as the sadistic delight of imagining Dante as broken and violated as she was reached its height, as the very beginnings of the coldness and cruelty she had always seen in Dante, threatened to ravage her very soul a small voice in the back of her mind spoke up echoing through the shadows. He is your cousin, Seraphina, regardless,. He deserves your pity for being so laid low by his shortcomings and the pitfalls of his life. This is what he was allotted on this plane, he chose to be slave to it. The beast faded back into the abysmal regions of her psyche that brought it to life. A sense of pity and love even forgiveness washed over her. Her mouth softened and her eyes reflected the deep sadness she felt for him. Her heart ached for everything he had been through, everything he had become and everything he had done. She remembered fondly the sweet but temperamental child she had played with. Racing through the vineyards of the Nuevello family, playing hid and go seek amongst the vine. The way one summer after she had come back from school he assuaged her fears and encouraged her to continue in her studies despite her loneliness and pressure form some of the family to give it all up and marry. She remembered the softness in his eyes when he took her hands at Paulo's wake and whispered to her that it would be okay that she as strong enough to go on. She lifted the glass to her lips letting the dry wine wash away the memories of how her cousin had bee, once long ago. And with the glass still pressed to her lips she whispered aloud so that only she could hear.
"I forgive you, Dante, but you get what you deserve."
She set the glass and continued eating her meal. The food was marvelous and she relished the taste of it in her mouth, forgetting where she was and why she was there. Forgetting the generals who sat across from her, the bodyguards who surrounded her, and the probable brutality being done to her cousin. She thought only of Gabriel and how he would enjoy the food, and her company, as they had that night in Venice in a small eatery called the Lair of the Four Horses.
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