students

cruelty and

began to say something but Eneko waved him silent with a little motion of his hand. “It is time for a full introduction, I think. Francesca, let me explain who we really are.” He nodded toward Pierre and Diego. “By ‘we’ I include more than just the three of us. There are some others sworn to our cause. Most of them—which is not many; a half-dozen—still in Toulouse or Orleans. Another, Francis, now resides in Mainz. All of us, at one time, were students at the University in Orleans. That is where we first met, and forged our brotherhood. Which explains, of course, our intimate knowledge of Aquitainian affairs.”
Francesca’s lips twisted into a wry little grimace. “I wouldn’t have thought Orleans—anywhere in Aquitaine—would make a good breeding ground for the creation of brotherhoods and the forging of causes. Except those leading to personal advancement, which—” She gave f