Church touched her face, gently tracing the curve from high cheekbone to tapered chin. She was inarguably beautiful, but many people over the years had described her as looking cruel, unemotional, queenly in the ways history’s more powerful queens sometimes look. Not at all a fairy-tale princess. He loved those qualities about her. Lilith had never once compromised who she was or acted conciliatory to anyone. Certainly never to a man.

He was also aware that people used many of the same adjectives to describe him. Cold, cruel, aloof. Strange.

Fair enough. They were both strange, and their world was infinitely stranger than Scott Wilson or Doc Holliday or Joe Ledger knew.

Lilith touched Church’s face as she studied his eyes. The tinted glasses he usually wore were on a table in the other room. He did not wear them in private. Certainly not when he invited this woman to see his unguarded expressions.

She said, “Do you fear him? You’ve never actually said.”

“I fear what he can do,” said Church after a long pause.

“That’s an evasive answer.”

“No,” he said, “it’s really not.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Your people,” she said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the floor because the apartment was at the top of a castle and Rogue Team International was based in underground chambers many floors below, “think nothing scares you. That you are incapable of fear. Above it.”

“They believe what they want to believe. They believe what comforts them.”

“Oh, and you do nothing at all to perpetuate those beliefs.”

Church shrugged. “It’s useful to be calm when things are catching fire.”

“They think you destroyed Nicodemus.”

“I have never made that claim,” said Church.

Lilith smiled but let the topic go. Instead, she returned to an earlier point. “Nicodemus is a monster.”

“He is a disease,” said Church. “He never really goes away. And if there is a vaccine for a parasite like him, then I will be the first customer for it.”

She picked up her coffee cup and sipped, winced because it was cold, then drank anyway. Her eyes flicked toward his. “He’s aligned himself with Kuga.”

“Yes,” said Church.

“We have to be careful. He delights in revenge.”

“Yes.”

“He likes to hurt,” said Lilith. “I’ve already sent a coded message to Arklight. You should warn some of your people. And, given that he’s now tied to a criminal network with tentacles in governments, business, and social media, maybe there are people we should both contact.”

“I will be making quite a number of calls,” said Church. “Kuga has resources, but so do we. And we have friends we can call.”

She nodded. “Some of our friends are no longer in the best position to defend themselves. Aunt Sallie comes to mind.”