“Stop trying to come up with a lie,” Saturnino said through gritted teeth. “Andtell me.”
“We both know that you can’t hurt me,” Ravenna said, shaking horribly. “But I will make a bargain with you.”
“A bargain?” He let out an awful, humorless laugh.
Ravenna reached forward, slowly, deliberately. She placed a soft hand on the cold fingers that gripped the handle of his blade. He froze, stared at her as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. Couldn’t quite believe that she woulddare.
“I need to stay alive,” she said. “I need to live for my family.” And privately she thought,I need to save my soul.But she wouldn’t ever speak such a thing out loud. It was too raw, too personal, and the immortal standing before her with a weapon aimed for her heart would be cruel and dismissive. “But I will tell you what I can—I will tell you enough so that you might make a plan.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’d be a fool to accept.”
“Then kill me, but you’d be worse off,” Ravenna said. “Left with nothing. No one to extract the Nightflames, no one to feed you useful information.” She thought of the grand reveal his family had announced to the city of Florence. A curious deadline, but they had seemed adamant it had to be the tenth of May. “We both know you can’t afford to waste any more time.”
He remained frozen, his only response a slow blink.
Tension seeped between them. He stood close enough for her to see his locked jaw. The agitated line of his brow. No one else existed. Florence had faded away, the imposing buildings lining either side of the street. The flickering torches tucked into iron sconces.
It was only Ravenna and Saturnino.
“You will play both sides,” he said flatly.
She nodded. Once. “I will have to.”
Anger rippled across his handsome face, making him appear godlike, untouchable. His rage knew no boundary but the one he made for himself. He kept it banked; Ravenna could almost see a host offlames reflected in his eyes. “You will tell whoever it was you were meeting tonightexactlywhat I want them to know.”
Ravenna was already shaking her head, and beneath her palm, she felt his hand flinch.
“I will tell him the truth.”
His voice was fire and smoke. “Someof the truth.”
Ravenna bit her lip. His hand was trembling underneath hers.
“I will tell him enough to keep my family safe. The minimum I can get away with.” She stretched out her hand. She was proud to see that it wasn’t shaking. “Do we have a bargain?”
“You’re wrong,” he whispered.
She kept her hand stubbornly raised. “About?”
“You’re wrong to assume that you’re not replaceable. My family would not hesitate to kill you for your treachery. You better pray that they never find out.”
Her heart thumped against her ribs. “And what willyoudo?”
Saturnino lowered his blade. “My terms, Ravenna.” He began ticking them off with his gloved fingers. “You will work to restore the stones. Do whatever you have to, I don’t care how it’s done. You will give me information—providing it does not endanger your life with His Holiness. I understand appearances must be maintained, but you will drop the charade whenIneed you.”
Ravenna lifted her chin. “And in return, you will protect me from your family.”
His eyes gleamed. “Agreed.”
It was the best she could hope for. Ravenna extended her hand, but pulled it out of Saturnino’s reach at the last moment. She hadalmostforgotten. How many times had the stories warned never to make a bargain with a fae?
Saturnino wasn’t human. He was immortal. The color of his blood was a silver blue. But she didn’t knowwhathe was. “Are you a fae?”
He stared back at her, cold and remote like a glittering star. “A little late to ask the question, isn’t it?”
“Are you?”
“No,” he said shortly. Then he arched a black brow. “What’s it to be?”
