“I’m very much ready to end Dante’s life, Nonno,” I reply quietly, before hissing, “Was that Shabbin?”
He grins, which is such an odd sight. I’ve seen stealthy smiles curve his lips. Never large grins. It makes the middle-aged man look almost boyish. “Yes.”
Incredible. . . Simply incredible.
I finger the slip fringed in pricey gold lace. “Must I do so dressed as a high-class doxy?”
“I picked dress so he distracted.”
The way Justus speaks reminds me of Aoife, which makes my heart pinch. If I manage to kill Dante tonight, then she’ll be free. Unless she’s already free?
I’m about to ask Justus, when he drops his voice. “I swap what he ingests with”—he seems to thumb through his mind for the appropriate word—“placebo. Which mean he no immune to iron, but also magic return.” With a very uncharacteristic wink, he adds, “Dottore Vanche, miracle worker.”
I roll the fabric between my fingers. “Too bad Dottore Vanche couldn’t slip himextrapoison.”
“Poison don’t kill purebloods, Fallon.”
“It would’ve weakened him. I’m no expert assassin, but wouldn’t that have made my job easier?”
“No. He desensitize so much to iron, he would heal.”
“Even if the iron was lodged inside his heart?”
“The Nebban powder harden skin. You would need saw and strength of ten Fae to take off head.”
Bile billows at the back of my throat at the idea of axing through flesh. “Yet when I bit him, my teeth went through his flesh just fine.”
“Because it concentrate in neck and chest since weak spot. That why breath rot.”
I slide my lips together, storing the information. “Remind me . . . why can’t you kill him yourself?”
“Because it must be blood-daughter of Meriam who curse-break, otherwise Cauldron not forgive.”
I raise an eyebrow. I was aware the Cauldron was the source of all magic, but I wasn’t aware it was sentient. “So technically, my mother could do it?”
He nods. “But mother . . . she not understand at moment.”
I frown. “Why?”
“No time to explain now, Fallon . . . Get dress on quick.”
With a sigh, I unfold the flimsy slip and hold it up. “It’s exceedingly see-through, which begs the question of where you plan on having me stash a weapon.”
“I planted dagger in headboard.”
I snap my gaze off the fabric and back onto Justus’s upturned face. “Headboard?”
He nods.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t headboards attached to beds?”
“You sup in king chamber.”
“With Antoni?” What sort of dinner does Dante have in store for the three of us? “Will you be in attendance as well?”
“Yes.”
I find that somewhat reassuring, even though I still don’t love the idea of heading into Dante’s bedchamber in a sheer nightgown. “You better not be expecting me to bed him.”
