anthearin
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Cardinal Thomas Lawrence has been my patient for years now.
Today, Cardinal Lawrence is back for his checkup. He looks better than he has in years, and I tell him so; I think I can see the slightest blush on his cheeks.
Bookmarked by anthearin
10 Feb 2026
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“You’d like him, you know,” Thomas said.
“I do like him,” Aldo said automatically, twirling the stem of his wine glass, looking into its deep red like it was a scrying mirror.
“I mean as a friend. If you spent more time with him. You have a lot in common.”
“Do we use the same shampoo?” asked Aldo, raising an eyebrow. Thomas gave him a warning look but his mouth was tugging up.
“You’re both stubborn,” he said bluntly.
*
Cardinals like Thomas Lawrence and Aldo Bellini know all too well how slowly things move within the walls of the Vatican. But with Vincent Benítez's election cracking their world open, and the new Pope cutting away the old branches to make room for the new, both find that change is flooding in everywhere, mostly within themselves.
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- English
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- 1/1
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Bookmarked by anthearin
04 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Note to self: this is the one where Vincent pretends he knows how to play chess...
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Summary
When Thomas Lawrence came by the papal apartments that evening, he came, unsurprisingly, with a bundle of papers under his arm.
Vincent tried on and discarded four separate teasing comments about it, but didn’t get to decide on one before Thomas silently handed them over, and he realized they were newspapers, opened and refolded over the weekly comics, his favorite. Three of them, one for each week he’d been away.
Ah, he thought, with the feeling of a sudden hard deceleration in his chest, the press it put on his heart. Ah. All right then.
Bookmarked by anthearin
01 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
What lovely and evocative narration, conducted in a non-linear way so expertly (unlike other authors who stumble and trip over it). This explores beautifully Vincent's background as a Mexican priest, and his international missions in war and extreme difficulty. All that, and we get to see the first consumation of love between Vincent and Thomas, two old Catholic priests... This is just jaw-droppingly superb. Reading this once will make you want to instantly re-read it again.
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all that heaven will allow by riversdark
Fandoms: Conclave (2024), Conclave - Robert Harris
31 Dec 2025
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Innocent is looking out of the window as though he can see something more there than the blackness of a howling winter night. “I find myself wishing for his guidance.”
“If it is of any comfort,” Aldo tries, “He trusted Thomas to steer the Church through the Conclave. He was sure of his integrity like he was of no one else’s here. And Thomas has complete faith in you. You can be sure of his counsel.”
“I know I can. He’s been a blessing.” At the mention of Thomas, Innocent had brightened, but there is something searching in his expression when he looks back at Aldo, like he hadn’t quite gotten the answer he wanted.
Or: Aldo and Vincent discover that they have some things in common.
Series
- Part 1 of it takes a leap of faith
Bookmarked by anthearin
04 Jan 2026
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Summary
Simply, Thomas suffering from Erectile Disfunction.
Bookmarked by anthearin
03 Jan 2026