“How should I know?”
She forced an innocent smile. “Because you were with him last night. Or don’t you remember?”
“I remember everything,” he said, unmoved. “Perhaps I ought to ask you the same question.”
Ravenna’s lips parted in surprise. Was he suggesting thatshehad something to do with his disappearance? Outrage bloomed on her tongue.
But then his dispassionate gaze flicked to her statue. “He looks familiar.”
Ravenna glanced at her Pluto, the resemblance to the knight uncanny. “Your face looks like it could guard the gates of hell.”
His expression was inscrutable, but it was his dark eyes that unsettled her. They were devoid of any emotion, as they had been the other night. “I’m flattered, Good Samaritan.”
She stiffened at the implication that he’d watched her try to give money to the excommunicated family. The back of her neck burned hot with embarrassment. They had turned her away as if she were a stray dog scratching at their door.
“I have a name,” Ravenna said stiffly.
As before, his stillness stood out to her, adding a sense of gravity to his presence. There was a solid quality to his tall, elegant frame. It only served to remind her that she was not of his world and never would be. Saturnino made to keep walking, but he paused, visibly deliberating. When he opened his mouth, it seemed to be against his better judgment, his reluctant curiosity winning out. “Who are you?”
Trepidation stole over her. Again, she thought of dangerous fae princes. “I’m suddenly wary of telling you.”
“I’ll find out soon enough.”
“But you wouldn’t have heard it from me.”
“And that makes a difference?”
Ravenna would not personally give him anything she didn’t want to, not even her name. “It does to me.”
He looked over her shoulder at her Pluto again, his eyes finally landing on the gleaming Nightflame, at the pale blue fire trapped within. Saturnino’s handsome features froze before shifting to an expression she couldn’t define. A private amusement for his mind only.His eyes flicked back to her. Something fundamental had changed between them. He’d been about to dismiss her, but now he gave her the whole of his attention.
A warning creeped into her mind, but it was too late.
For whatever reason, she had caught his attention, and it terrified her.
Ravenna glanced at her brother in his cage, reminding herself why she was there in the first place. Saturnino followed the line of her sight and said, softly, “Ah.” In a louder voice he said, “I’ve found our winner.”
His tone made it sound like she was doomed for the pyre.
The patriarch of the Luni famiglia strode toward them; he walked with purpose, his footsteps heavy and loud, each one like a herald announcing his esteemed presence.
“Wonderful, Saturnino,” Signor Luni exclaimed. Up close his immortal essence was more apparent than in his son. Signor Luni looked like a middle-aged man, graying hair and beard, but there were no lines at the corners of his eyes, and the skin on the back of his hands was smooth and supple.
The patriarch crowded her, and she didn’t like it. A quick glance behind her confirmed there was nowhere for her to go. Unease bubbled to the surface and her fingers wrapped around her cloak.
A low, triumphant hum came from Saturnino’s father.
Saturnino brushed closer; his cool breath graced her temple. “Congratulations,” he murmured, and before she could reply, before she fully registered the mocking tone, he melted into the crowd. She caught a glimpse of his tall frame and sleek black hair disappearing beneath his hood.
He was heading in the direction of her family.
Alarm crept over Ravenna, but before she could set after him, Signor Luni stepped closer. He stared feverishly, hungrily, at her bozzetto, and then he shifted on his feet, his toes now pointed in her direction.
“Come with me, signorina.” He was still staring hungrily, butthis time, it was forher. He grasped her hand, his fingers icy, and she gasped. Signor Luni dragged her through the crowd. Her blood roared in her ears; she was oddly lightheaded. Her eyes went to her brother—his lips were moving, but she couldn’t hear him above the roar of the mob.
Word of the Luni family’s choice spread like wildfire up and down the tables, igniting the crowd as it was hissed from person to person.
An astonishedThe woman won. The heretic.
