Giovanni sat, staring at Ziri for a moment as he tried to process the revelations the ancient had given them. Finally, he spoke. “Ziri, if you would leave us, please.”

Ziri gave a regal bow. “Of course.”

Beatrice sat next to him. Carwyn stood across the room. He could tell that some of the information had been new to his wife and friend, but not all.

He said, “I can see that much has been discovered and planned in my absence.”

Beatrice tried to interrupt. “Gio, we—”

He cut her off. “You have all made your plans, but now I am back. And I will tell you what I will do.”

Chapter Eighteen

Lake Maggiore, Switzerland

June 2012

Beatrice opened her mouth again, but Carwyn caught her eye with a warning glare. He shook his head slightly, so she shut her mouth.

“I am going back to Rome. I am going to find Livia and kill her. Then, I am going to find my son and kill him. I will take the book back, destroy it, and see to it that any of the elixir that has been made is destroyed. I will maintain my reputation so that others who threaten my family will fear me. If that means that I have to kill half of Rome, so be it. If that means I have to travel to Greece and kill the council there, I will.” His voice rose. “If that means that I have to spend the next hundred years killing, maiming, and burning the European immortal community to the ground, I will. I will not run and hide. I will not stand for others shielding me, and I will not stand for Livia to live while I walk the earth. Is that understood?”

Beatrice was speechless. She could handle Giovanni’s fiery anger, but the cold rage that poured off her husband was something she rarely encountered. Again, she opened her mouth to speak, but Carwyn spoke first.

“Fine, Gio.” Her eyes widened, but Carwyn glared her into silence before he continued. “You know you have my backing, as well as the support of Jean in France and Terry in London. The Germans may have a problem with it, but I have a feeling that you could make your case to Matilda. It’s too bad you’re married already. A political marriage could have solved that problem, but I’m sure you can work something out. Greece will be tricky, but they’re not strong enough to really oppose you once you control Rome.”

Beatrice’s head began to swim, and she felt Giovanni stiffen beside her. Carwyn just continued on in a deadly quiet voice. “I can secure the support of the Vatican. Emil Conti would be your most likely rival for power. We had planned on cultivating him as an ally, but that is easily cured. You’ll probably need to eliminate him and most of those under his aegis to avoid any future problems. A takeover in Rome is long overdue. Most of the other centers of power have switched to a new guard in the last hundred years or so. Rome was the only holdout. Once you’re established, you’ll need to start thinking about whom you want as a lieutenant. I have some ideas, but you might want to bring in entirely new people. After all, you are an outsider, so it wouldn’t be nearly as simple as an internal coup. Still, it’s manageable.”

She wanted to protest. Her heart was racing, and the words were on the tip of her tongue, but Carwyn just kept talking in a steady voice. “You’ll need to send Beatrice and Ben back to the States, of course. She’s strong, but as she’d be targeted constantly, her presence would be a distraction for you. She’ll be far safer in Los Angeles under Ernesto’s protection until things are stable. If everything goes well, in fifty years she’ll be by your side again, my friend.”

Carwyn finally leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Really, not all that long in the vast span of things. Excellent plan, Gio. Let me know when you want to leave.”

Giovanni shot out of his seat and across the room, plowing his fist into the wall and shouting, “Damn it!”

Carwyn said, “You want to blaze into Rome and take out Livia. That’s what you’re looking at. You know I’m right.”

She saw him glare. “I’ll hand it over to Conti.”

Carwyn snorted. “Brilliant plan. Conti will take it and then try to kill you. He’d have to, or no one would respect him, and he’d be battling rivals for the next hundred years.”

“I’ll…”

“What?” Carwyn rose and walked over to stand next to him. Beatrice was tempted to speak, but knew that Giovanni needed to reach the same conclusions they had weeks before.

Carwyn leaned closer and spoke softly. “What are you going to do, Gio? You want to kill Livia? You get Rome. That’s the way it works. You’ll be embroiled in politics for the next three hundred years, at least.”

“I have no desire to rule Rome.”

He took a deep breath. “Then you need to listen to Beatrice’s plan.”

Giovanni pulled his fist out of the wall and turned around. He leaned against it and crossed his arms. “Livia still needs to die.”

Beatrice finally spoke. “She will. And hopefully, you’ll be able to kill her, but this needs to come from someone in Rome, unless we want the city to descend into chaos that you’ll be expected to clean up. In the long run, it’s the easiest way. Emil Conti has been making moves to return the city to a more republican form of leadership for years. He’s sensible. Stable. Given the right circumstances, he could take over and we wouldn’t be stuck with it. We just need to create the right opportunity for him.”

Giovanni smirked. “You sound so very American right now, my dear.”