Eventually, a dark hulk of a building rises up over the tree line.

“What is that?” Kiki asks.

“An old church,” Sebastian says, oddly helpful. I think he’s just glad she stopped complaining. “Built by some of the first missionaries to set foot in Peru.”

“It looks rather worse for wear, don’t you think?”

The closer we get, the more accurate Kiki’s assessment becomes. It is not a church so much as a ruin. There is no glass in the windows. Half the gables have collapsed at least partially. The faces of the stone saints carved into the alcoves above the door have been weathered by age and elements.

“The mission was abandoned soon after it was completed. Everything was left where it stood. Food was left to rot in bowls. They say it was natives.”

“Of course they do,” Kiki says. “When in doubt, blame the locals, isn’t that right? That’s how this works. We swan in, steal their land, and blame them for everything that goes wrong on it.”

Those are my words coming out of Kiki’s mouth.

Sebastian scoffs. “You say that as if you weren’t living off that same land, eating its fruits, and luxuriating in its riches.”

He’s not wrong.

“It’s had several uses over the years. The king’s army used it as storeroom for their artillery but they abandoned it. Haunted, they said. They left all their things here, same as the missionaries. And now, it is ours.”

When we reach the doors—their wooden planks rotting—Sebastian pauses. Then, he turns to Kiki, looking slightly less smug than he did in the carriage. “When we get inside, don’t be smart.”

“Impossible,” Kiki says. “My intelligence knows no bounds.”

I snort out an aborted laugh and am rewarded with the muzzle of a gun jammed into my back.

Sebastian’s expression hardens. “You’re no good to me dead.”

“Truly selfless of you.”

“And despite what you may think, you are not indispensable. Powerful men will find a way to take what they want, regardless of your willing participation.” He cocks his head to the side, studying her. “Your consent is not required for what is about to happen.”

My blood turns into molten lava in my veins.

“If you so much as touch her—”

The musket is rammed into my spine once more, harder this time. I stumble forward, saved from a fall by the meaty hand that wraps around my upper arm, holding me upright.

“And you.” Sebastian shoots me a withering glare. “You’ll find out just how useful you are soon enough.”

With Kiki’s arm in his grasp, he pulls her forward into the belly of this rotting mission. I follow after, vowing to cut his hands off at the wrist and shove them so far up his ass he’ll be able to play his own teeth like a harpsichord.