Panic stole Ravenna’s breath. Saturnino’s arched brow held a question for Ravenna.Look what you’ve done. Are you happy now?
She wasn’t. She really,reallywasn’t.
Capitolo Tredici
Ravenna and Saturnino faced each other in front of the closed dining room doors. He leaned against the frame, arms folded across his chest, one ankle crossed over the other. She blinked at the sight of him, behaving more and more like a human. The difference in his posture, in his manner, unnerved her. She’d grown accustomed to his precise and controlled behavior, the economical way he moved, its terrifying efficiency. He didn’t slouch, he didn’t fidget, and he didnotfold his arms across his chest.
What’s more, his lips were pressed into a small smirk. A mischievous gleam lurked in the cool dark of his eyes. He was just like one of the Medici lions, lashing out on instinct, using fear and threats to keep her enthralled to his will. But he’d switched tactics, displaying another side to his lion: the cunning hunter who knew how to bide his time. The one who knew how use his smiles as a weapon, his beauty as a scythe.
Ravenna would not yield.
“Bravissima,” murmured Saturnino. “Well, you’ve gotten what you wanted—a meeting with the most powerful man in Florence.”
“You and I both know that it’s your family who rules the city.”
“Clever,” Saturnino murmured. “You might survive Florence after all.”
Ravenna studied the knight; he hadn’t disagreed with her. It took a brilliant strategist to know one’s place in society, to know where one stood in the hierarchy of influence. Saturnino used his power in dark alleys, behind closed doors, and never in the public eye.
Not like Lorenzo de’ Medici.
She was beginning to understand how the two families worked together. The one had Florence in the palm of their hand, while the other moved in the background, using the cover of darkness for their machinations.
Together, they controlled a city’s fate from within and without.
“I didn’t want any of this,” Ravenna said. “I only wanted to save my brother.”
He dipped his chin, giving her a level glance that reminded her of the way he’d looked at her when he’d first clapped eyes on her. Remote, jaded, skeptical. He hadn’t thought much of her then, much like he didn’t believe her now.
He pivoted neatly, and said, “It’s time for you to work. Come along.”
He walked alongside her, footsteps silent and measured, as they traversed one corridor after another, walking by many rooms, some of the doors left wide open.
One such chamber made her stop.
Saturnino had gone past her, but then he half turned, realizing Ravenna had disappeared inside. He followed her and watched from the doorway as she gaped at the four walls, the ceiling, at the immense terrestrial globe mounted on a stand in the center of the room. Taller and wider than Ravenna, and painted in blue, pastel green, a fudgy brown, it spun slowly with the merest brush of her finger.
Names of places she had never known existed swirled across her vision.
Uncharted land. Wildernesses filled with extraordinary creatures. Unicorns, dragons, chimeras, mermaids. The fae kingdom to the east, one of many situated across the continent, but this one was tucked within the Forest of Shadows, an ancient woodland famed for its wild orchids. The vampyre caverns to the north, hidden in the belly of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Her gaze snagged on the triple- peak mountain range that seemed to climb to the heavens, disappearing into swirling mist.
Her eyes couldn’t take in the splendor of the room all at once. Large gilded frames covered the walls, each holding maps of the known and unknown world, trade routes, trade winds, constellations, comets, asteroids. Earth and sky. Day and night. Wooden cabinets stored rolled-up maps, books, compasses, and astrolabes.
“I love this room,” Ravenna breathed.
“Sala delle Carte Geografiche,” Saturnino said.
“Why couldn’t I sleep inhere?”
Saturnino let out an incredulous laugh while gesturing with his hand in a wide sweep. “Where, exactly? On that table? The desk?”
Ravenna smiled ruefully. The furniture appeared sturdy, with many drawers storing who knew what. Only good manners kept her from pulling at the latches. That was not to say that she wouldn’t come back later without Saturnino. An armchair sat in the corner of the chamber, and the black cat was settled onto its plush cushion. Her head lifted, slitted yellow gaze fixing on Saturnino. She leaped off the chair and went directly to him, her tail high and swishing. The cat purred against his legs, and Saturnino studied her with a mixture of resignation and exasperation.
“You’re a stubborn creature,” he said in a scolding tone. “I have nothing to give you.”
“She’s your little shadow,” Ravenna said, delighted. She walked over to the cat, looked down at her and smiled. “Ombretta.”
Saturnino shot a look to her, pained. “No.”
