19
Marcella spent the next hour pacing her hotel room and preparing for the meeting with Renata. She had to calm down, but not to the point that her anxiety would return. She needed her fire to get her through.
The blind anger she shoved down, like she had so many times before, hardened into steel. The coals that were left over from her hatred of Renata had been fanned back to life with one glance at Juliette's suffering.
This is my fault. They were punished because Adamo had been the one person in Forli brave enough to help me leave.
Marcella should have checked on him, made sure he was okay. Who else had Renata subjected to this kind of soul-destroying punishment? She needed to find out because she had never seen Adamo so defeated and afraid.
The city thrummed beneath her feet, seeping up through the old stones of the hotel. It was hurting in some way, and she needed to know what was causing it.
I'm here, she told it, not knowing how sentient the city was. She needed to sink into her magic and greet it properly, to learnwhat had happened to it in her absence, but that would have to wait until she faced Renata.
The dead were whispering to her, and she needed to go to the family cemetery and see her parents, no matter if Renata or anyone else tried to stop her. Marcella had felt the dead more keenly since removing her bracelet for the brief moments to show the Greatdrakes women her aura.
She had always struggled to balance how much she tuned into spirits because the dead would wake her at all times of the night, wanting to talk to her. They were invasive if she didn't have her protections on her.
Marcella was applying her eye makeup, lost in her spiraling thoughts, when she sensed the warm brush of Cosimo against the rose wall of her mind barriers.
She carefully lowered them to see what he wanted. In her mind's eye, he wasn't a man but a dragon. His scales were the same deep Tyrian purple as his eyes.
I can feel your distress. Are you okay?he asked her, frustration and worry coming through the bond.
Marcella kept applying her makeup, her hands shaking only a little at the intimacy of the feeling of him inside her mind.
I don't know what's wrong with the city, Cosimo. It feels broken. Julitte and Adamo are suffering because of me, and I don't know how many others. What if I caused more damage by leaving?
Cosimo growled, a low sound of pure frustration.None of this is your fault, tesoro mio. This is the witch and her son's doing.
I need to stop them, but I don't know how. I don't know the extent of the damage they have caused to the people here, she replied, fighting the urge to hug herself.
I find a sharp dagger between the ribs an easy solution in these kinds of situations,the dragon said with a touch of dark amusement.
Marcella paused.Kill them? I don't know if I could do that and not have it backfire on my magic somehow.
You wouldn't have to do it. I would do it to protect you from them and shoulder any weight that came with carrying their deaths, Cosimo replied.
Marcella put down her brushes and braced herself against the bathroom counter.
I don't know if that would be a good idea either. A part of my magic... Marcella hesitated. She couldn't tell him like this, and his daughters had promised not to share her secret.
What are you hiding, my pretty strega? You will feel better telling me all your secrets,Cosimo purred.
Keep your scaly nose out of my business. I would rather show you than tell you. Maybe then you will understand why killing them is not the best option.Marcella steadied herself.And I'm notyourstrega.
I will let you believe that if it makes you feel stronger for this confrontation.
The dragon's amusement was as rich as wine as it filled her mind. If he was in human form, Cosimo would be wearing that sly little smile of his that made her want to kiss him.
But that pull you have always felt toward my human side? That curiosity before we even met? That was our fates drawing together, inch by inch. I will wait for you as long as I need to. I have already been waiting for years, but make no mistake, Marcella Sforza, youwillbe mine.
With those ominous words, Cosimo retreated from her mind. Marcella drew her rose walls back up tight and tried to catch her breath.
"What was that about?" she asked her wide-eyed reflection.
Was that really how Cosimo's dragon felt about her? Or was it him too?
Cosimo had said that he was incapable of feeling anything too deeply for another person again, and yet the dragon had said he had been waiting years for her.
