If I’d expected exuberant professions of delight, I didn’t get them.
His siblings—at least, I assumed that was who he’d called—were silent too.
Until, eventually, Luc rasped, “We’ll meet atMatri’s in an hour.”
“One hour,” Stan echoed, lowering the box from head height then ending the video call.
When he faced me, I wasn’t sure what I expected. For him to tell me he’d be back later? Maybe. This was a momentous occasion. Their sober reactions said as much.
But of course, this was Stan.
“Ready to go,duci?”
SIXTY
STAN
“You need to put them on.”
Jen didn’t even have a chance to complain before Luc was shoving a large case at her, one that I knew had been sitting in a bank earlier today, refusing to heed her complaints.
“Fine,” she grouched, plunking down at the dinner table where we’d all agreed to gather. “But only because you brought out the Valentini amber too.”
I slipped the velvet box over the linen tablecloth and watched as my brother opened the lid. His jaw tightened, fingers hesitantly stroking over the ancient settings with a reverence that matched my own.
In response, I watched as any of Jen’s lingering irritation melted.
Aurora cleared her throat. “I think you have to wear it for at least a day for the curse to break.”
Scoffing, Jen tucked an earbob into place. “Just you wait until Bella gets her hands on one of these while she’s breastfeeding, then you’ll regret this! That grip of hers will break them.”
Still, she accepted each piece of jewelry with a disgruntled mutter about overbearing husbands and siblings-in-law because not even I defended her.
Yes, drinking chamomile tea while wearing thirty million dollars’ worth of living history was excessive, but we’d been fighting for this moment, striving for so long. There was no putting this off for a minute more.
Rory helped her by passing out the jewels while Luc dropped to his knees to fasten the anklet into place.
“Should we bring Currau down for this?” Kitty asked, voice quiet.
Matrishook her head. “He’s resting, dear.”
With Luc having finished fussing at Jen’s ankle, he stood and accepted the tiara from Rory. My sister-in-law bowed her head to help him place it on her crown, and as she straightened, he cupped her chin, held her in place, then bestowed a gentle kiss on her lips.
“Thank you,riggina mia.” He stepped back to study her, eyes glinting with possessiveness at seeing his queen steeped in the family’s rubies. “Long live the house of Valentini.”
It was a soft utterance, not a cheer like it would have been when these had first been forged, but when Rory swiped at her eyes and I felt a suspicious thickness at the back of my throat, we repeated the salutation.
I could tell the collection, worn en masse, was damn heavy and awkward—Jen could barely turn her head thanks to the cumulative weight of the tiara, earrings, and necklace.
As she grew accustomed to the additional weight, her head wiggling from side to side every now and then, she drawled, “You’d better feed me too, Luc. I can’t bend my neck.”
“With pleasure,riggina mia,” he answered in all seriousness.
Matrirang one of the bells we had at the dinner table.
Almost immediately, staff appeared with the makings of a delicious meal. It said a lot about our families, but none of the servers looked twice at Jen’s appearance.
“We need to host a gala,” Luciu mused as he was served veal marsala and slowly began feeding his queen. “Make it an annual event.”
