Again, Ravenna extended her palm, and he took it, pulling her forward until her hand lay flat against his chest. Her fingers shivered under his cold touch.
“We have a bargain, Ravenna. And you will keep your end of it tonight.” Then he took her hand and dragged her back to the palazzo.
Capitolo Venti
Saturnino took Ravenna to his chambers. His hold never faltered, and while it wasn’t painful, there was no give. No mercy. She could not escape him if she wanted to. It was only when they reached a tall wooden door made of oak that he finally released her. Ravenna used her thumb to rub circles on her skin. She felt his gaze sweep over her dispassionately, until he caught her trying to warm her wrist.
“Does it hurt?”
Ravenna shook her head but kept her attention on the intricate heraldic emblem carved across the door’s surface. An armored bear guarding a tower, the arrows at his back within easy reach. She very much felt like she was about to enter the lair belonging to a protective and furious predator.
Saturnino pushed the door open. “Inside.”
She’d never been inside a gentleman’s bedroom. “This isn’t proper.”
“We’re beyond that,” he muttered.
Ravenna walked inside and flinched when he slammed the door behind her. He strode around her, his pale fingers unbuttoning his doublet. Ravenna gaped at him before quickly averting her gaze. Her eyes landed on Ombretta sprawled across Saturnino’s canopied bed.
“I can’t get rid of her,” Saturnino said.
His presence loomed over the room, overher, like a winter storm covering everything in frost. She rubbed her arms, but the cold had seeped through the fabric, through her skin, and touched bone.
“Are you cold?” he asked softly.
“Always, around you.”
Saturnino walked to the marble fireplace, the focal point of his room. Classical scenes from mythology were carved into the stone, complementing the decorative tiles lining the hearth. Bronze andirons in the shape of snarling bears held the logs in place. Saturnino pushed the embroidered fire screen to the side and kneeled in front of the fireplace. He struck flint against steel, and seconds later dancing flames warmed up his chambers.
“Better?”
Ravenna nodded.
Saturnino stood and removed his doublet, throwing it onto a plush upholstered chair. His manner reminded her again of a prowling, restless bear, but something out of a folktale, the ones she heard from travelers who explored bitterly cold lands. They returned with myths about Norsemen, about bears with pale white fur, mysterious beasts that roamed free across the far north in the frozen Arctic. Ravenna’s gaze returned to the flames dancing in the hearth. She was no longer shivering; her wool cloak now felt too warm. Suffocating.
To undress was unthinkable. She darted a peek at Saturnino. Standing out in the cold, he had been furious. But now he was almost… considerate. She never knew which Saturnino to expect at any given moment.
Ravenna narrowed her eyes. “Why are you being nice?”
“I’m allowed to be nice.”
“When itsuitsyou,” she pressed.
Saturnino sat on his bed, the plush mattress giving under his weight. The black cat immediately tried to sit in his lap, but he firmly pushed her aside and began unlacing his boots. “Maybe I don’t know what to do with you.”
Ravenna scoffed. “That’s not it.”
He tugged off both boots, then straightened. The maids had already prepared his room; oil lamps flickered with narrow, twisting flames, and the corner of his deep blue bedding had been pulled back. She tried very hard not to think of him lying down in that bed. Theidea sent a curious and alarming frisson down her spine, reaching to her toes in her too-tight boots.
“No?”
“I think you plan every move you make, several steps in advance,” Ravenna said. “Do you know that in my mind, we are sitting across from each other, a chessboard in between us?”
An indescribable expression stole over his face. Ravenna knew she would never be able to define it. Again, the curious sensation crept over her, but this time it swam deep in her belly, as if she’d drunk a potent glass of wine. It settled over her, made her head spin. She fiddled with her cloak, wishing she could take it off. She needed air. She needed a clear mind.
“Who’s winning?” he asked.
“Have a guess.”
