“You should go back to Quinn.” Lucca spoke as he reached up and cupped her face. “It’s not my intention to start a war, Ariana, not like this. Not something that would get Quinn or you hurt. Besides, we’ll need to do damage control to get the Royal and High Houses to trust me again, after tongues wag tonight.”
Lucca sighed hard now as he glanced around. As if he was slowly being returned to his sanity after whatever had just happened between them, Ariana saw severe doubt weigh in him now as he saw how many Fae and Vampires had witnessed their disastrous interaction.
At last, Ariana understood why both Lineages considered Dark Fae dangerous, as so many people gazed at her with hooded eyes and barely-veiled alarm. She didn’t even know how to use her magics yet, and still, she had nearly overpowered not just the Prince’s right-hand man and a powerful Master Vampire tonight, but the Summer Fae Prince himself. It made Lucca look weak, and almost foolish to consort with her.
But she also knew it would make him look very powerful indeed – if his magic could somehow tame hers and use it for the Summer Fae’s benefit.
But they weren’t there yet, and Ariana swallowed hard as she understood her magical outburst had probably undone all the goodwill they’d built in the city today. And though these Vampires weren’t Masters, Ariana had no clue whom they reported to; she wondered how many enemies of Quinn’s would receive critical information tonight that he didn’t want getting out. It was a bad situation, just as bad as her outburst at the Vampire party had been yesterday. And as Ariana turned back to Lucca, she knew he and everyone else was right; she needed to get back to Quinn.
Before anything went any worse tonight.
Still, Ariana didn’t want to leave Lucca as she stared up at him, feeling their joined magics pulse in the night. And she knew he didn’t want to leave her either as he stepped close and took her in his arms once more with everyone right there watching.
“I don’t want to be away from you for a minute, Ariana,” Lucca breathed down at her as his eyes still shone with a strangely dark-bright power, “but we need to think this through. Go back to Quinn; settle down for the night and get some rest. I’ll see how bad the damage is tomorrow and send a report back to you and him at the Hotel. I don’t want to start a war or have another Master Vampire challenge him… and having another magical outburst like this again in public isn’t wise. We need to have a talk about our situation. And then see what we must do.”
“Part of me knows you’re right,” Ariana breathed as they stood together. “But part of me can’t stand not being by your side.”
“I know.” Lucca whispered as something in his eyes shone both brighter and darker at her words. “I want nothing more than to spend every waking moment with you, and sleeping as well. But too many things hang in the balance. Too many things that were precariously balanced to begin with.”
As Ariana gazed up at him, she knew he was right. And yet, something inside her keened as she felt Arturos move in, quietly taking her hand.
“Wait for me.” Lucca breathed as he gazed down at her. Reaching up, his fingers smoothed not over her cheek but her neck now as if wanting to possess her like Quinn had when he’d bitten her last night – and like Ariana had possessed Lucca himself tonight.
“What do you mean?” Ariana asked, perplexed but tingling all over as Lucca touched her.
“I don’t know.” He breathed back, intimate. “Just… wait for me. Please.”
With that, Lucca leaned down, brushing his lips over hers. But though Ariana sensed he’d meant to be restrained and give her only the briefest kiss with everyone watching, he surged in now – kissing her like it was his very last breath.
Lifting up, Ariana kissed him back, the both of them devouring each other as if they might be torn asunder and never be allowed to come back together. Even as Arturos pulled her away and Alleno hauled Lucca back, Arturos flooding steadiness into Ariana with his oceanic touch, her heart gripped, feeling like something precious was being torn out of her.
As she and Lucca’s kiss broke and she departed, he stared at her like a man drowning.
Arturos leading her quietly back across the bridge and into the night.
CHAPTER 18 – LOVE
Ariana’s breath hitched as the bridge over the Arno River finally disappeared from sight behind her. Reaching up, she gripped her chest as she and Arturos continued through the old city; glancing over, a strange depth was in his eyes as he watched her. As they moved down a ramp to an underground parking garage, he pulled keys from the pocket of his elegant navy trousers and Ariana heard a car’s beeper go off with a flash of lights. With a blink, she realized he was escorting her towards a dark blue Maserati MC20, a car highly talked about in the art world but which hadn’t been released yet. Escorting her quietly to the car, Arturos opened the butterfly door and held it aloft while she climbed in to the sumptuous dark grey interior.
Then shut her door and moved around to the driver’s side, firing it up.
As they pulled out of the parking garage, she noted that Arturos was an excellent driver, calm and controlled despite everything that had just happened at the bridge. Brushing her hands over the dark grey seat of the sleek sports car, she almost felt like she was back in the human world, driving silently through the dark streets of Florence towards the Hotel. As she heaved a sigh, her heart in knots over Lucca and the massive scene they had just made, Arturos glanced over, shifting down to first gear to take a corner.
“I thought the Maserati MC20 wasn’t even out yet.” She spoke, more to make conversation in the stretching silence rather than talk about what had just happened.
“I own the company. It comes with perks.” Arturos responded quietly as he turned another corner.
“Shit.” Ariana raised her eyebrows, realizing that he must have been fabulously wealthy. “Are all Vampires billionaires?”
“Not all.” Arturos smiled slightly as they rounded a piazza, his wary energy finally settling as they headed back to the Hotel. “Quinn is. He owns more companies than I do by quite a lot. But he has an entire Dark Haven to spend his earnings on, and a few Red Letter Hotels to upkeep. I have only a reasonable manor in Rome. My haunts deep under the waves need no upkeep.”
“Quinn manages a lot, doesn’t he?” Ariana asked with a heavy heart as she saw the edifice of the Hotel towering over the street ahead. Deep inside, her heart clenched, not wanting to tell Quinn how disastrously she’d lost control of her magic tonight – and how publicly, with so many Vampires and Fae watching.
“Your Master has significant investments in both the human and Twilight world, Ariana. It’s one reason so many allies have come to him in so short a time these past two hundred years. Because Quinn is smart about business, and rarely makes mistakes.” Arturos spoke quietly now as he turned into the circular drive where the Hotel’s manticore carriages waited. Ariana saw dozens of sports cars parked there tonight, the driveway busy as Vampires staying at the Hotel for the upcoming Meeting of the Havens went out and about for the evening.
“Are you saying I’m a mistake?” She asked as Arturos pulled in and cut the engine, Hotel valets opening their doors.
“I’m saying you’re a wild card.” Arturos spoke back frankly, though his gaze was kind. “And that Quinn may have jumped into the deep end this time. Probably before he intended to.”
