All Chapters of Beneath the confession : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Caterina's POV After returning from the Heart, I awoke with the taste of stone dust in my mouth and the weight of what we'd seen pressing against my ribs. My cell felt smaller than normal. The narrow bed, the simple crucifix, the single window that looked out onto the inner cloister—all of it seemed temporary now, as if the entire surface of St. Eudoxia could fall at any time and disclose the machinery beneath.I dressed up quickly with care, my fingers steady by sheer might. Every sound in the passage outside caused me to pause. Footsteps,the gentle clink of a rosary, and the monastery,had always been a place of cautious silence, but today the silence felt pointed and directed.At morning prayers I kept my eyes lowered. And of course, innocent Jordan was across the chapel, his face composed in the way only someone trained to hide turmoil could manage; you wouldn't even know he stuffs his dick in me and forgets it until it's dripping. Our gazes met once, briefly, during the reading.

Caterina's POV I lay in my cell listening to it against the window, my body restless, and my mind too full of Agnes’s words and the two-day window Safiya had asked for. The rain had settled into a steady curtain by the time the monastery fell quiet for the night.Sleep felt impossible; the ache for Jordan had grown sharper with every careful public hour we spent apart.A soft triple knock came at my door; it was definitely Jordan. My pulse leapt; I rose and opened it just enough. Jordan stood in the dim corridor, rain still darkening the shoulders of his cassock, eyes already hungry on mine. Neither of us spoke; he stepped inside, and I bolted the door behind him.And boom!! He attacked me; his hands went straight for me from the moment the latch clicked. He backed me up against the wall, his mouth meeting mine in a restrained kiss that wanted to be released. I opened for him right away. "Hmm, I miss this little cutie," he muttered as he fed on it, fingers curling into the fabric at

The Bishops POVThe pain in my chest had become a daily companion, a dull pressure that tightened whenever I stood up from my chair or spoke too long. I sat in the private study as night fell over St Eudoxia, the fire reduced to embers, and a single lamp cast long shadows on the desk. Outside, the rain continued to fall softly on the windows. Inside, the monastery was tense. Even from here, I could sense it—the extra patrols, the quieter voices, the way the younger priests stared at each other when they thought I wasn't watching.And now Jordan had arrived at the Heart. More than the physical anguish, the knowing weighed hard on me. I had brought him back here because I thought that a son may bear the load with less of the violence that had characterised my own stay and that the bloodline would stabilise the succession. Rather, he had made the wrong decision. The Vale girl, the daughter of the man I added a tiny amount of wine to and left untouched, accompanied him as they strolled in

Jordan's POV I came to the conclusion that I could not abandon Agnes's hiding place.I went straight to find her after the morning offices. She was examining a ledger in the tiny space at the foot of the belltower with the same attention to detail that she applied to everything. She looked up and slowly closed the book when I walked in."Father Brick," she said. "I was wondering when you were going to ask the more difficult questions.”I closed the door behind me. "You appear to be playing both sides. You warned me and revealed your involvement in Thomas Vale's death to Caterina. You told the bishop you don't believe the expenditure is still warranted. I need to determine which of those things are strategic and which are genuine."Agnes gave me a long look. Her face had become severe over time, but her eyes remained acute."Sit," she instructed.I remained standing.She made a little, exhausted sound that may have been amusing. "You inherited your father's tenacity. Very good. My mot

Jordan's POV Caterina walked ahead of me, holding the lantern low, her movements sure despite the uneven surface. I stayed near enough to catch her if the ground shifted, and my ears were alert for any unfamiliar sounds.The service tunnels beneath the eastern wing were smaller than the main corridors leading to the Heart. And the air here had a strange weight, less of ancient stone and more of damp earth, old roots, and the faint metallic tang of water that had sat too long in the dark.We'd been driving for nearly twenty minutes when we saw the first evidence of Vittorio's troops. Voices, low and controlled, carried through a side intersection. At least two men, and possibly three. Caterina turned out the lantern at once. We pressed ourselves into a shallow nook, the cold stone against our backs, and waited for the words to become clearer."—she is supposed to take the orchard exit. We take her there quietly. "No mess if it can be avoided.""And if she isn't alone?""Then we handle