'Sister Adelita, I have no wish to harm you. I require your help,' he whispered in fluent Spanish.
On hearing her name, she calmed a little and allowed herself to be pressed against the wall. Her eyes were large and dark as they searched his face, but steely defiance lay within them. She was beautiful, with the delicate bone structure of a noblewoman, dusky skin, and black hair pulled back beneath her head covering.
'I am about to remove my hand,' he continued. 'Please do not call out. I have no desire to overpower you.' He allowed the hint of a threat to lace his words.
Once he had taken his hand away, she narrowed her eyes. 'How dare you trespass on this sacred land? We allow no men in this convent.'
'My apologies, Sister Adelita. If I could have approached you in any other way, I would have done so. But time is short, and matters urgent.'
'You are English,' she spat, identifying the hints in his pronunciation. 'Your people were responsible for the attack on my home yesterday?'
Ignoring her, he said, 'I must talk to you about lion Alanzo de las Posadas.'
'My brother?'
The connection surprised Will, but he didn't show it. 'He visited you here at the convent the other day.'
Sister Adelita nodded, her thoughts racing. 'Why do you want my brother?'
'I would know of what you spoke.'
'No!' she replied indignantly. 'Those are private matters between brother and sister. Who are you to ask?' She grew suspicious. 'I will tell you nothing. You wish to harm him.'
'Untrue. I saved your brother's life, and he mine. We are divided by our homelands, but I have only respect for him.'
'Then what is your business with him?'
'A friend of mine is in great danger, a woman I have sworn to protect. She was taken by evil men who claim to be allies of lion Alanzo, but may be just as much of a threat to him. I want to save her, and take her home. If Don Alanzo said anything of her to you, please tell me.' Will wondered how far he would go to get the answers he needed if she did not answer of her own accord.
Sister Adelita searched Will's face for any lies and what she saw appeared to satisfy her a little. 'She is the woman you love?' A half smile ghosted her lips.
'No. She is the sister of the woman I loved,' he said with such honesty she was taken aback. 'There is little enough room for love in this world, Sister. It is a hard place, filled with duplicity, and violence, and loss, and we must seize our moments for comfort when we can, for they are stolen from us when our guard is down. The man I am now was forged by the loss of my love, and I will not see others go easily down that path. This woman I speak of ... she is young and filled with hope and all the opportunities for joy that life lays before her at that age. She deserves her chance to achieve them, and I will do all I can to ensure she gets it.'
'Even though it might harm you in the process?' Sister Adelita pressed.
'My moment for love is gone. I am, to all intents and purposes, dead to the world. I have nothing left to lose.'
'I do not believe that,' she said.
''Tis true.'
He could see his words had touched her, but she still continued to probe. 'And you believe this is the path God has chosen for you? A selfless duty to protect others on the hard, dark road?'
'I wish I had your faith, Sister. I do what I do.'
She smiled tightly. 'And there is no benefit in this for England?'
'I have spoken truly.'
'I am sure that is correct ... of the words you have spoken. But there are many more unspoken, are there not? I know the ways of spies. Yes, I see that is what you are. I lived with my brother long enough to understand that the spaces between words are more important than the things that are said.' Her voice hardened and her eyes flashed. 'I understand the deceit that is set in the very fibre of your nature, and the lies you tell yourselves to do your job. I could not trust my brother. I will not trust you, even with your gentle talk of love and yearning hearts.' She stared deep into his face and added, 'However true that may be.'
'Sister-'
'No, leave here now and this matter will be forgotten. But if you persist I will raise the authorities on you, and you will pay the price faced by all English spies found on Spanish soil.' Turning without waiting for an answer, she walked back through the trees towards the convent.
For one moment, Will wondered if he should force her to speak. A part of him would do anything to get the answers he needed to save Grace; another part knew that he killed himself a little more with every step he took down that road. Finally, he relented. 'Sister, I go now to the cathedral,' he called after her. 'If you change your mind, you will find me there.'
She didn't look back.
Had he given up his best chance to understand the plans of Don Alanzo and the Enemy? Conflicted, he climbed back over the wall.
Most of Cadiz was infused with the bitter smell of burned debris. In every face, Will could only see the ravages of the plague; every woman reminded him of Grace and what she might be suffering. He was consumed by a desperate sense of time running through his fingers like sand.
Launceston, Mayhew, and Carpenter waited in the shade of a large, old tree in the centre of the plaza. In the smart but hard-wearing clothes de Groot had given them, they looked like merchants debating a deal before the start of the day's business.
'There is nothing for us here,' Will said.
Launceston read Will's expression. 'She did not talk. Then we should take her and offer her some encouragement.'
'Torture a nun. Very good,' Will replied. 'Shall we then burn down the convent? Just to teach them a lesson?'
Launceston was unmoved. With a slight shrug, he replied, 'She is Spanish.'
'You inhabit a simple and soothing world. I am faintly jealous.' Will surreptitiously eyed the first few townsfolk of the day to wander across the plaza, a couple of merchants, he guessed, a woman off to the market to buy food for one of the large houses. 'We should not stay in the open too long. The cathedral and then to Seville.'
'Why waste time at the cathedral?' Mayhew sounded drunk. Will had noticed he increasingly appeared inebriated and wondered if the corrosive despair of the Unseelie Court was finally seeping into him. That could make him a liability in the middle of Enemy territory.
'A man like Don Alanzo would not break his mission to visit the cathedral unless it was on an important matter. I do not see him as someone who is ruled by his religion.'
'Show me a devout spy and I will show you a man about to slit a priest's throat.' Carpenter's laugh had no humour.
'Where does that damned Spaniard plan to take the Silver Skull?' Mayhew continued morosely. 'What does the Enemy have planned? And why are the Spanish-?' Catching himself, he flailed erratically.
Carpenter clutched his arm roughly and hissed, 'Contain yourself.'
'We should turn back,' Mayhew said. 'What can we accomplish here, apart from our own deaths? Even if we find the answer to those questions, we will never get near to the Silver Skull. All is lost here. We must find other tactics-
Carpenter drew his knife and kept it hidden in the folds of his shirt, but he pressed the tip against Mayhew's chest. 'Your weakness endangers us all. Any more and I will be done with you.'
'Leave him,' Will interjected. 'He needs some time to recover from the strain of travelling. Take him back to de Groot's house. I will go to the cathedral alone, and meet you back there. But keep him away from the wine.'
Mayhew appeared devastated by Will's intervention, but he left between Launceston and Carpenter without another word, shoulders slumped in a pale reflection of the arrogant man who had survived the Unseelie Court's assault on the Tower. Will was frustrated that he had not noticed the decline earlier.
As he passed through the town, his unease at being alone in enemy territory was emphasised by the unfamiliar surroundings, the North African influence in the architecture from the days of the Moorish occupiers, the
