Thisbe leaned back against a patch of rain-smoothed trash wall. “From Julia Doria-Pamphili?”

“Yes! Well, no, not today, today for me was… but anyway, the first time was with Julia. It was incredible, painful, but back then I was on the verge of suicide and Julia saved me, transformed me. We can do that for Cato, too, for all of you, but you have to let us in first, and you weren’t going to do that on your own.”

“And you and Julia arranged this for us out of the kindness of your hearts?”

“It’s our job. The Sensayers’ Conclave cares for the well-being of the world. You’re one of the most vital bash’es to protect. Imagine if Cato flipped out one day and decided to end it by making all the cars crash at once! The world can’t take a disaster like that. The world needs your bash’ to have a sensayer you can talk to!”

“Who? You or Julia?”

“Me, me, of course, at least…” Tears’ beginnings awoke the diamond sparkle in Carlyle’s blue eyes. “No, that’s not true. It would have been me at first, but then I’d have referred you to Julia.” She crouched down in the grass, picking seed heads as she avoided Thisbe’s eyes. “I knew it when Julia assigned me here, whenever they assigned me anywhere, they always said it was so I could help people, and I pretended I believed it, but we both knew. Julia sends me in to get people’s trust, so I can refer you to have a session with Julia, and then…”

“Then what?” Thisbe’s tone grew coaxing.

Carlyle’s chest heaved, her still-weak stomach threatening again to purge itself as the truth flowed forth. “Julia will make you keep coming back to them. If Julia wants, they can make anyone keep coming back, but you have to consent to that first session first.” She sank into the softness of the grass. “I knew what Julia was really doing. I pretended I believed them, but I knew. I have such an innocent demeanor, people who don’t trust anyone are willing to trust me. That’s why Julia took an interest in me, trained me to lure people in.” She wiped her nose on the sleeve of her Cousin’s wrap. “I know about the incident, a few years back, Julia tricked Cato into coming in for a session, but Cato ran. That was smart. Julia tried for years to get your old sensayer Esmerald Revere to refer one of you to them, but they wouldn’t, so Julia leapt on the chance when they died. When you killed them.”

Thisbe offered Carlyle a tissue from her pocket. “Ockham has pledged to execute any bash’member who talks to Julia Doria-Pamphili.”

“What?”

She sat on the ground beside Carlyle, not quite close enough to share warmth. “Eureka and Sidney can smell what’s rotten in the CFB; you think they couldn’t smell what’s rotten in the Conclave? Julia Doria-Pamphili, sensayer to the great and influential, commanding a network of parishioners with links to every center of power.” She smiled. “Sounds a lot like Madame D’Arouet.”