Matteo knocked twice before opening the door."Father Andrew to see you," he said. "He says you are expecting him."Lucien looked up from his desk.He was not expecting him.Something moved through his chest, brief and cold. He set his pen down."Send him in."Andrew filled the doorway the way he always had , not with size but with the specific quality of a person who understood how to occupy a space and had been practising it since seminary. The smile arrived before he did. Open, warm, entirely convincing, the same smile that had been convincing people of things since before he was ordained."Lucien!" He spread his hands wide. "Look at you! Four years and you have not changed at all, still the most serious man in any room."Something in Lucien's chest loosened fractionally, the involuntary response of a man to someone he had once trusted completely. He stood and they embraced briefly, the specific embrace of men who had known each other at a formative age."Andrew!" He gestured to
Last Updated : 2026-09-14
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