“Ooh, you got a rash. Does it hurt?”
He doesn’t answer. Which is fine. I was going to offer to kiss it better, but if he’s going to be rude…
“It looks painful. Next time you’ll think twice before playing in my secret garden.”
“It looked like a bunch of flowers.”
“Just because it’s pretty doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. People think natural means healthy. I can name twenty ordinary household plants that will kill you.”
“Like belladonna?”
“I’m probably the only person you’ll meet who grows belladonna. Which is a shame. It’s a lovely plant. It just happens to have dark purple berries that can cause you to go mad.”
Kaiser doesn’t say anything. I take a little nap and wake up when he parks the car. I stare up at the neo-Gothic building. The sign reads St. Xavier’s Cathedral.
“A church? We’re going to a church?”
“Father Francis is waiting.” He opens my door, pulls me out of the car and guides me in with his hand on my back.
I half expect him to burst into flames when he enters the church, but he walks in like he owns the place.
I can’t believe he’s making me do premarital counseling for an arranged marriage.
A priest is indeed waiting for us. He’s around forty and looks like someone’s kindly uncle. Kaiser shakes his hand and introduces him as Father Francis.
“Good morning, Belladonna,” the priest says. He has a short beard and deep smile lines around his blue eyes. A disarming face, but something about how he studies me unsettles me.
“Call me Bella.”
“Shall we?” He sweeps out a hand and leads us to his office, which smells like old books with a faint whiff of incense. Bookshelves cover the walls from floor to ceiling. The leather-bound volumes have faded text on the spines. It reminds me of the oldest parts of the main library at UU.
Father Francis settles into a plush armchair that looks older than me. The burgundy velvet is worn down on the arms.
Kaiser maneuvers me to a couch facing the priest. I sit at one end, but Kaiser sits in the middle, and his weight tips me toward him. Then he puts his right arm around me and pulls me close so my thigh is flush against his. And as if it’s not enough that we’re practically welded together, he reaches across with his left hand to grab my right wrist. There are wrestling holds with less contact than this.
Suddenly, I’m hot all over. I try to tilt away from him, but then I’m just snuggling into his arm. I cross my legs, but it only makes me aware of how wet I am, just from him manhandling me. Meanwhile, he looks unbothered. It’s so unfair.
Father Francis smiles at us. “I’m so glad we could meet together today.”
“This is a farce. You know that, right?”
Kaiser’s arm squeezes me gently, but I ignore the warning. “He knows.”
“I do.” Father Francis tilts his head. “I helped oversee the negotiations.”
My heart speeds up. I feel like I’m about to explode. How did a priest get caught up in all this? He must have some ties to Fraternitas. Now it makes sense why Kaiser brought me here.
“Then you know this marriage is fake. My father signed a contract.” My face is flushed with anger. I haven’t forgotten that my father signed the contract on my behalf. “No one even asked me.”
“Is that important to you? Do you want Kaiser to ask you? Get down on one knee?”
Is he serious? He has to be mocking me, except he seems genuinely interested in my answer.
“I don’t want to get married at all.”
Father Francis nods like this is normal. “I understand that the situation isn’t what you’d choose. But people marry for many different reasons. Security, stability, heirs, love?—”
“Lust,” I throw out and wish I hadn’t said anything. I don’t want to be in lust with Kaiser. Although if I confess to this priest all the things Kaiser did to me last night, will that get him in trouble? How much authority does Father Francis have over Kaiser?
