I agree with you. They are at the side of God, now, where none might harm them. Perhaps they have met my father and siblings there.

( Restless, she shifts in his arms, tucking her head under his chin so that he cannot see the pain in her eyes. His own is enough to bear. )

Sadly, my family did not have need of a foul group or cult in order to see itself destroyed. They call us the Devil's Brood in France. Perhaps they are right.

( She has felt this way with a small handful of people, most of whom she will never see again; and another who is leagues apart from her in the emotional department. Elizabeth had also been prepared to give up, to close her heart and never care for another person again.

But that hardly seems like what her father would do, and his is the example she wishes to follow in most things. This feels—pleasant. Peaceful. Simple things which she has been lacking of late. Turning her head into his kiss, she allows the tension to ease from her shoulders, and sighs deeply in an effort to relax. )

I am not surprise, as he comes from the future. Three hundred years away from you and I, as I recall.

( Mention of Lucrezia sees her glance up at him again, frowning. )

When I knew her, she had won herself autonomy and status—and she was aiding the sick. Her brother's presence is poison. I offer no objection to removing it from the earth.

( Now, she can finally smile, if faintly. )

You might always count upon me to do so. And I must thank you, as well. It is not an easy thing to admit that I am afraid. I do not wish to lose anyone else.

I know not if I could stand it.