Chapter Nine
NOT LONG AFTER LUCA and I came into view of the congregation, an unfamiliar woman approached us. She was tall, wearing a flowing beige dress that flattered her light brown complexion. Her interest shouldn’t have surprised me—we were curiosities here—but I felt my insides clenching anyway. Maybe her attention was innocent. Or maybe it wasn’t.
Luca tensed as she neared, and I sympathized. Any one of them could want us dead. We were surrounded by potential enemies, knowing they’d recognize us even while we wouldn’t recognize them.
“You are Simonetta’s students, then?” the woman asked. “I am Julia, of the House of Aeneas.” Her name harkened back to Julius Caesar’s line, which also supposedly traced back to Aeneas. Cute. “And you are?”
I glanced at Luca, who was frowning at the
