Page 28 of The Sinner and the Gunslinger
“All I need to know is that you’re sure,” Leila returns.
Thea looks at Wes, who nods for her to continue. “We translated this last night. Wes pointed out that an early Roman emperor named Constantine was said to have used the nails of the cross to forge a warrior’s helmet and a horse’s bridle. We’re pretty sure that’s the first bet.”
“Okay,” Leila says. “Tell me where to go, and I’ll bring them home.”
Thea slumps. “Constantine’s helmet and bridle were lost.”
“Okay,” Leila replies. “You said first bet. What’s the second?”
Wesley scratches his head. “Venerated Holy Nails are held in nine different European places of worship. If we can’t find the helmet and bridle, then maybe we can forge our own weapon made from holy nails.”
“Nine different claims?”
Thea nods. “That we know of.”
“So we should get anyone not hunting the helmet and bridle to take a location and check.”
“The nails are mostly in Italy.” Wes looks at Dom. “Can you go with a Sinner to each of the locations and authenticate?”
“Si.” He nods and frowns. “I have seen one such place already. But how do I, how you say, authenticate?”
Wes suggests, “A Sinner with thesightwill likely be able to see if the object is truly holy or not.”
Thesight, meaning the supernatural gift these women received after first uniting the two halves of Mary’s gospel. To us, a demonic possession looks indistinguishable from a regular person. But they see the demon’s true face.
Dom nods thoughtfully.
“I’ll go with you,” Leila offers.
My brows raise. She’s definitely busting to get out of here—away from me.
“No,” Thea replies curtly. “We have another job for you.” Her gaze shifts to me. “And you.”
Leila shakes her head. “I’m not working with him. I’ll go with Dom.”
“Mercy is already going with Dom,” Thea returns, her dark brows lowering. “Unless you have a valid reason not to travel with Zeke, the assignment I have for you is more important.”
“Who died and made you our leader?” Leila’s eyes flash. She stabs her dagger into the wooden table. It remains upright, hilt wobbling.
“Look, I don’t have to go.” I raise my palms in surrender. The last thing I want to do is cause a division.
Raven grabs the dagger and points it at me. “You’re going.”
Fuck, she’s scary. “Okay. I’m going.”
To Leila, she says, “You don’t have a choice.”
When Leila folds her arms, I realize how wrong I was. Raven’s not the scariest. It’s my wildcat. Ice-cold death bleeds from her posture. She has a look that shrinks my balls... and I’ve stared down some of the vilest, most brutal bastards around. I’m reminded of how swiftly and confidently she took down Sister Agnes, and I wonder about what else she’s done for this messed-up organization. How much of her soul has been sacrificed?
Her eyes narrow. “What aren’t you telling me? Is this a part of your vision?”
My gaze darts between the Sinners, and when Raven and Thea share a meaningful look that Wes passes onto me, my pulse spikes with a realization.Leila still doesn’t know.She doesn’t know that a Sinner is fated to be with one of my team. Neither does Dom, going by the confusion in his expression. I rub my temples. I don’t want to be part of another lie. But I’m also not the person with the right to reveal everything.
If these people think it’s important to keep Leila in the dark about the truth, then I could mess everything up by blurting it out.
Thea holds Leila’s hard gaze as she grinds out, “You’re needed because we have a lead on an antiquities collector bragging about a new rare helmet acquisition that sounds eerily like Constantine’s helmet. And he has a thing for being dominated by brunettes with long legs.”
“Send her,” Leila growls, tossing her hand in Raven’s direction.
