Page 504 of Reign

“Do you want to see my gift?”

I stare at him. “Your gift?”

“Yes.”

I gesture around the foyer. “The fabric, shoes, jewelry, sketchbooks, pencils, candles, and makeup weren’t from you?”

“Those were definitely from me.”

“Then what else could there possibly be?”

His hand slides into mine.

“The most important one.”

“What is it?”

“I made something for you.”

My eyebrows rise. “You made it?”

“I had some assistance.”

“Of course you did.”

I tighten my fingers around his. Mamma’s dress whispers around my legs as I step closer.

“All right,” I say. “Show me.”

Luciano leads me upstairs.

He doesn’t tell me where we’re going, although the answer becomes obvious when we pass our bedroom and continue toward the closed door at the end of the hall.

I look from it to him.

“This room has been locked for months.”

“Yes.”

“You told me it was being renovated.”

“It was.”

“For what?”

He reaches for the handle. “This.”

The door opens. I step inside and stop.

The room is enormous, but almost completely empty.

Warm ivory covers the walls. The ceiling is smooth and faintly luminous, made from some translucent material that catches the light without revealing where it comes from. A thin line of amber glows around the perimeter of the floor.

The center of the room drops into a wide, oval recess. Two broad, padded steps lead down to a cushioned platform that circles an enormous mattress.

Something moves beneath its pale covering.

Water.