After a long while, the Female Pope sighed. "How can I trust you?"
Without waiting for Pan Long to answer, she continued, "Given who you are, you must know about those humiliating things I did back then. That scum had me so besotted I couldn't think straight. All I could think about was finding a way to live forever and staying with him for eternity. Laugh if you like, but that was truly what I wanted. Even though I came from a lowly background and didn't even have formal citizenship, even though I could only be his secret mistress, I was willing."
Pan Long sighed. "You weren't the only one. That scum deceived several people back then. You weren't even the one he hurt most."
A self-mocking smile crossed the Female Pope's beautiful face, making her look sadder still. "So I wasn't the worst off? What happened to the one who was?"
"The one who had it worst? When that scum, the Old Count, ran out of money for his occult research, he went to the fishfolk who lived underwater. He wanted them to give him the riches they'd salvaged from shipwrecks on the seabed. We can skip the horrifying details of their bargain—blood, sacrifices, slaughter, death. The usual. Later, his appetite kept growing, and the fishfolk demanded that he find them a queen..."
"I think I understand," the Female Pope said with a sigh. "That woman truly had it worse than I did. At least I was free, and I didn't have to become a breeding machine for the fishfolk."
After a sigh for a fellow victim, she asked, "Do you intend to speak with that woman too?"
Pan Long shook his head. "I don't want to disturb her. She's a true fishfolk queen now. The suffering she endured