“You were never going to honor our agreement,” Ravenna said. “You have no right to be angry with me.”
Slowly, Saturnino lifted his gaze, jaw set. She inhaled sharply at the primitive anger in his expression. He yanked her against him, doubling her wrist behind her in a tight hold that made her gasp. It didn’t hurt, but it kept her exactly where he wanted her.
At his mercy.
His fingers were icy against the feverish warmth of her skin. She squirmed, but stilled when he lowered his head, his lips brushed against her temple. “I haveeveryright.”
Ravenna tested his strength, pulling backward, but his hold was firm.
“Why were you on the bridge with Sforza?” he demanded.
She set her mouth to a mulish line. “Why would I tell the man who’s planning onreplacingme?” She pitched forward and stomped her foot hard onto his. He let out a surprised grunt but didn’t release her. Ravenna drew up her knee sharply, but he shifted away from her, then wrapped his other arm around her body, pulling her against him. She struggled but couldn’t break free; her cheek was pressed against his chest, the soft cotton of his tunic.
“Ravenna, Ravenna, shhh,” Saturnino breathed against her temple. “I’ve been searching for a replacement tosave your life.Someone else they can focus on and try to control.”
Ravenna scoffed, her eyes narrowing into slits. Of all the things he could have said! He was trying to trick her, and she struggled anew. Saturnino tightened his grip, but he caught the look on her face, her anger and disbelief, and his features softened. But Ravenna watched as heruthlessly drove it away. Her intuition bellowed to every corner of her body: this immortal was grappling with a very real human emotion.
And he hated it.
Abruptly he released her, and she stumbled back.
“It’s true,” he said. “Whether you believe it or not.”
Her lips parted, a strange fluttering of hope taking flight within her. “Is it?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Courtesy of the terms of our bargain, of course.”
“Of course,” Ravenna muttered.
They stared at each other, breathing hard. Frustration lanced her, sharp and biting. They were getting nowhere. He might have been telling the truth, but every time he let her see a glimpse of the man underneath his cool facade, he drew away from her, snapping at her like a feral creature.
Ravenna closed her eyes to settle the rioting emotions flooding her. By the time she opened them again, she had come to a decision. They would get nowhere if one of them didn’t bend. “I only received the message recently, and I was planning on sharing it with you during the banquet. But then I heard what you said, and so I panicked and did exactly what the pope wanted me to do.”
“Which was?” he asked softly.
“To lure Sforza out to the old bridge at midnight.” Ravenna paused. She had to be so,socareful. Above anything else, she couldn’t set Saturnino after her brother. “I wasn’t given a reason for the meeting; I assumed the pope would resort to blackmail in order to control Sforza.”
“But that’s not what happened,” Saturnino said flatly.
She shook her head. “He was shot and killed.”
“By your brother.”
The air rippled between them, taut and consuming, as if unleashed by a furious tempest seeking annihilation.
“Saturnino,” Ravenna pleaded. “I will not speak of him with you.”
“He’s a menace,” Saturnino said, but instead of sounding angry, he’d gentled his tone. “Dangerous to me and the others, but especially toyou.”
“No, he’s grieving, he’s recovering from what the Med—” Ravenna broke off. It was pointless to argue this point. The Luni and Medici families had a partnership that seemed unbreakable. She would never be able to come between them.
“Finish your thought.” He drew closer to her, slowly, as if he were expecting her to run from him. “I’m listening.”
“We lost friends, family. They put Antonio in a cage, scheduled his execution. I’ve been angry, too. I wanted…”
His voice was a whisper against her skin. “Revenge?”
“Maybe at the start,” she said.
