The Testament

He fought the u

He closed his eyes for a moment, allowing the jouncing of the truck to lull him.

"Bravo, Bravo," Je

"No," he said at once, his eyes snapping open. "We must go on to Sumela."

Their eyes locked, and at length she nodded, but he could tell she wasn't happy abut it.

He wished Khalif was with him. But now there was something he had to do on his own.

"Je

She stopped him with a hand on his cheek. "We can talk about this later."

"No, I have to tell you. I didn't trust you, I didn't believe you when Cornadoro hung Father Mosto's murder on you, I didn't understand when you shot Uncle Tony. There was no way then I could have believed-"

"Anthony fooled everyone, Bravo. Even, until the very end, your father."

It was only now that he noticed the dark circles around her eyes, her hollow cheeks, the blue veins at her temples, as if her skin had thi

Her fingertip brushed his lips. "Can't you let it rest for now?"

"I've waited too long already. Father Mosto told me that you and my father were having an affair. I was so angry I couldn't see straight. That's what clouded my instinct, my judgment of you-"

"But, Bravo, I never had an affair with Dexter."

Bravo felt a roaring in his head. "I don't understand. The flat he set up for you in London…"

"Ah, you know about that." She sat back, her eyes turned inward.

He took her hand in his. "Don't lie to me about this, Je

Her eyes were firmly focused on the past. "The truth, okay." She nodded, but she couldn't bring herself to begin. Then she took a deep breath, let it out. "I had an affair, but it wasn't with your father."

"Who, then?"

"Ro

"He would never have told you himself, especially not in your state of mind."

"No, of course not," she said. "Instead, he told me endearing stories of fairies and elves."

"Did he tell you about the elf who could turn water into fire?"

Je

"And in retaliation put a spell on the fireflies hired to illuminate the party so they turned into wasps."

They both laughed softly.

Je

"The zebra who bet his stripes, and lost-"

"The parrot who captained a pirate ship-"

"The greedy terrier who ran his company into the ground."

She laughed again, delighted as a child, and Bravo could imagine how his father had been taken with her, how he might have seen her as a surrogate child that eased the misery of Junior's death.

"And then there were the books we read together," Je

"What if I have designs on you?" Bravo said.

Cheeks flaming, Je

The Sumela Monastery, set into the bedrock of the sheer mountainside, rose into the cobalt sky like the fortified portal of a Roman citadel. They lacked delicacy and finesse, these golden buildings; defenders of the faith, they seemed built for war.

"A war is what we'll have now," Camille said.

"There's no other way?" Bravo asked her.

"Sadly, my son has made his choice," Camille said. "With the pressures at play, the stakes so high, I doubt he could change his mind now, even if he had a mind to do so."

The three of them stood in the arched shadows of the ancient aqueduct that long ago had provided water for the monastery. Nearby was Cornadoro's truck, which Camille had parked on the narrow, twisting street some distance from the rank of tour buses, disgorging flocks of people armed with name tags, water bottles and digital cameras. No one seemed interested in their presence, but now each of them, infected with paranoia, studied the horde with obsessive interest.

Bravo turned to Camille. "I thought Jordan was my friend." He had explained, in as bare-bones a way as possible, the history of the Knights of St. Clement and Jordan's involvement in it. "How could he have betrayed me so callously?"

"He's a consummate actor, and for that I must take the blame." Camille stared up at the series of arches that carried the aqueduct on their brawny shoulders up the sheer cliff. "He never knew who his father was, but it's only in retrospect that I see how bitter he had become. I think now that it put a shell around him, turned him inward upon himself. But it would have done him no good had I told him; he'd have gone off on a futile and disappointing quest." She bit her lower lip. "Poor Jordan. We can't regain the past, much as we might want to."

"No point in recriminations," Bravo said.

"Yes, what's done is done, n'est-ce pas?" she said bitterly. All at once she fell into Bravo's arms. "Ah, Bravo, my only child has betrayed me as unforgivably as he has you."

"We should go on," Je

"Yes, yes," Camille said, coming back to herself, "tell us what we must do, Bravo. We're both here to help you."

Jordan Muhlma