“Enough to bruise, apparently, and maybe worse,” I replied. “I remember times he couldn’t train, when Myrine would say he was sick, but he would always have this look in his eyes. I thought it was just his way, just Dante. He was always moody and brooding. But I didn’t–I mean, I had no idea–”
“Hey,” Luca said, standing as my voice cracked on the last word.
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, cradling my head against his chest. I wanted to push him away, I knew I should, but I couldn’t. I was coming apart at the seams and I was worried no one would be left to put me back together like Harrison had said. I knew I couldn’t let him in again, not like I had before. It was a risk to my House and to my heart. Everyone I ever trusted left in the end. Cosmo and Myrine treated me like one of their own for my entire life, apparently even better than one of their own, and then wanted nothing to do with me the moment Dante was paired with someone else. Nascha claimed to love me but she used me and hid me away when my outbursts created an inconvenience to her political scheming. Dante had dropped me too, the second he was paired with Adrian. So I knew, in the very core of my being, that Luca would leave me as well. He would promise not to, convince me to let my guard down, and then take everything and sell it to his House where they could use it against us.
Finally, I pushed away, sniffling and hating myself for it.
“Nascha needs to know,” I announced, having decided. “It’s another insight into Cosmo's character.”
“I think we’re all aware of Cosmo’s character at this point,” Luca spat.
I met his gaze and found a similar fury burning behind his eyes as what I imagined had ignited within mine.
“I should go,” I said and moved to walk around him. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“I’m not going to be Heir,” Luca spoke once I reached the door.
His words sucked all the air out of the room. I whirled to face him.
“What?” I asked, shocked.
“Grandfather has decided and it isn’t me,” he replied. “It’s Milo’s doing. He accepted the marriage alliance under the condition that Isla inherits the House.”
I blinked, caught entirely off guard by this news.
“So he’s marrying Cora?” I asked, wide eyed.
“No. He’s marrying Isla.”
“But how would that work? Their offspring–”
“Ask your cousin. All I know is he insisted and Raghnall agreed.”
“I’m sorry, Luca.”
He shrugged.
“I’ve known for some time now that my probability of being named Heir was low given my preferences,” he muttered. “I know I’m a disappointment to my grandfather.”
“Love should never be a disappointment,” I said.
“Yeah? Has that been your experience, Olympia?”
I flinched and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry,” he told me. “I shouldn’t have said that. I just…it’s a hard pill to swallow, knowing I won’t inherit my birthright because I don’t have an interest in women. Not that I begrudge Isla. I love my cousin and I know she’ll be a phenomenal matriarch. I guess I just didn’t realize how bad it would feel to lose.”
“I know,” I told him because I truly did.
He looked up and our gazes met.
“Our Houses will be united soon,” he said.
I could hear the question he wasn’t asking, the permission he sought. Luca was an extremely social individual. He thrived in relationships. They meant everything to him. So I knew he wanted, more than anything, to make it work between us. He felt the pull of the bond much more strongly than I ever had but now, as much as I hated to admit it, I was beginning to feel that pull myself.
Tell me what made you lose control before,he spoke in my mind but I didn’t flinch away this time. I didn’t shut him out.
My thoughts drifted to that moment, when Harrison had discovered who I really was and I’d left him there, stunned. I recalled the way I felt at the look on his face in Milo’s study, like he could barely stand to share the same space as me, like he hated me. I submerged myself into the shame I’d experienced for even caring about what he thought at all. And I brought Luca along with me for all of it. I let him hear my thoughts, my memories, my shame.
