The phone went dead, and Marcella released a breath.
"At least we know her information is correct, thanks to your mother," Cosimo said, brushing his knuckles over the back of her cheek. "We will free your father before we leave Forli. I promise you."
"No. We find your sister first. She is alive and can't wait," Marcella replied, leaning her cheek into his hand.
"Good idea. She's good with necromancy and curse tablets. My god, she has a crate of the bloody things still in her tower."
"Of course she does. It's so very…Greatdrakes," Marcella said and kissed his palm affectionately. She put her bracelet into the pocket of her jeans. She wasn't going to hide anymore. She wanted them to be afraid of her.
"After we have your sister, we will go and meet Renata, as she has so kindly invited us. I'm not going to kill her. That is too good for her. I'm going to make her and Carlosuffer, Cosimo, and wish they had never tried to fuck with me and mine."
Cosimo smiled darkly, unafraid of her words and the pulsing magic around her. He leaned inside the car to kiss her softly. "I can't wait to see what you have in mind,tesoro mio."
28
Cosimo was never prouder of his family than when a crisis arose. Where sibling chaos was usually the norm, they all seemed to settle in and focus when a problem needed to be solved.
Cosimo had called ahead on their way back to Forli to tell them what occurred at the graveyard and share the information they had gotten from both Renata and Amalia.
By the time he and Marcella made it back to the hotel, Cosimo's rooms had been turned into a war room, and food had been ordered for everyone.
Marcella looked about at the chaos of maps, laptops, and magicians, and her eyes went wide. "Are they always like this?"
"Yes, aren't they great?" Cosimo said, beaming at them.
"Dad! Finally. I have maps!" Bridget called, spotting them before the others. She had laid out Maria's maps and brought up digital ones of her own. "Santa Sofia is only about half an hour south of here."
"I want to know about the necromancy first," Valentine interrupted, staring at Marcella with new eyes.
In fact, all the boys were looking at Marcella and the aura of power she now had with barely contained curiousity, except for Lachlan who couldn't feel the change at all. The girls just looked smug because they had known and hadn't breathed a word to anyone about it.
"Thanks for the heads-up, ladies," Cosimo chided them.
"It wasn't our secret to share," Charlotte said primly. "Marcella, can you tell me again what you saw when you held the statue of Minerva? I'm trying to look for landmarks around the Santa Sofia area that could suggest where Maria began her search. I very much doubt it was in the town itself."
Marcella went over to sit with her. "I can tell you what I remember, but I can also try and read the statue again to see what I can pick up."
"How about you eat something before you try that?" Cosimo suggested, hating the idea of her collapsing again.
"I'm fine," Marcella said, ignoring him.
"He fusses," Bridget commented, not looking up from her screen. "You might as well just give in. The whole family are a bunch of feeders."
"Dad has reason to fuss. Necromancy takes a lot of magic, and it's better to eat afterward," Apollo said, getting out of his chair to come and stand with Cosimo. The boys seemed to all move in on him at once, and he knew he was in for an interrogation.
"Witches have been watching the hotel all afternoon," Lachlan said in a low voice. "We haven't engaged with them, but they aren't bothering to hide."
"Renata is flexing, that's all. She wants to make sure we leave," Cosimo replied. He had expected her to do something to intimidate them.
"Might have something to do with you cutting Carlo's finger off last night," Apollo said and crossed his arms. "What the fuck was that about, Dad?"
"He was casting compulsion magic on Marcella. The dragon didn't like it." Cosimo shifted under the combined weight of their stares. "Okay, I didn't either. Val was there. He would have stopped me from going too far."
Valentine smiled. "Would I, though? The asshole deserved more than what you gave him."
"What are we going to do about Renata having Marcella's dad?" Bas asked, rubbing at his neck. "I didn't pick up a single thought in her head about it the other night. Maybe she does have some ability to screen her mind."
"Or she just wasn't thinking about using it yet. Don't blame yourself, Bas," Cosimo replied. He ran a hand through his hair. "Whatever we do with Renata will be up to Marcella. I can't step in until she asks me to."
