Chapter 5

Tiziano's POV

Tiziano sat at his desk with papers in front of him and a pen in his hand, but he was not working.

He had not worked in three hours. The papers were the same papers he had brought in that morning, and the pen was the same pen he had picked up and put down a hundred times. The coffee in the cup beside him had gone cold. The fire in the fireplace had burned down to nothing. He had not noticed any of it.

All he could do was listen.

She was in her room. She was walking around. He could hear her footsteps on the floor above him, soft and slow, back and forth, back and forth. And under the footsteps, he could hear her voice.

She was saying: This room is too big. Why is this room so big? There are so many places to hide. But there are no places to escape. The windows are locked. The door is locked. I am trapped. I am trapped in a beautiful prison with a beautiful monster. And I do not know if I want to escape anymore.

Tiziano closed his eyes.

He did not want to hear that last part. He did not want to know that she was starting to like it here. He did not want to know that she was starting to like him. It made this harder. It made everything harder.

She kept talking. She said: Okay, let me think. Let me think about the book. In the book, Serafina dies on the wedding night. In the book, Tiziano kills her and blames the Moretti family. But he did not kill me. He gave me his shirt. He watched me sleep. He kissed my neck. Why did he kiss my neck? Why did he not kill me? Is he different from the book? Or is he playing a game? Maybe he is trying to make me trust him before he kills me. Maybe he wants to see how stupid I am. Maybe I should not trust him. Maybe I should not think about his lips. Maybe I should not think about how his shirt smells. Maybe I should not think about—

The door opened.

Tiziano opened his eyes. His brother Elio walked into the study, tall and blond and too cheerful for this house. Elio had their mother’s coloring and their father’s smile, and he used both like weapons. He was the only person in the world Tiziano trusted completely. He was also the only person in the world who could walk into Tiziano’s study without knocking and not get shot.

Elio said, “You are reading a book.”

Tiziano looked down at his desk. There was a book there. He did not even notice. He picked it up and said, “Yes.”

Elio walked closer and looked at the book. It was a book about the history of the city, something Tiziano had been meaning to read for months and had never opened. Elio said, “You have been on the same page for an hour. I came by earlier and you were on that page. I came by again and you are still on that page. Are you okay?”

Tiziano put the book down. He said, “I am fine.”

Elio did not look like he believed him. He sat down in the chair across from Tiziano and stretched his long legs out in front of him. He said, “Is it the wife? Is she a problem? Do you want me to get rid of her?”

Tiziano’s whole body got tight. His hands closed into fists on the desk. He said, “No.”

Elio blinked. He said, “No? But you said you were going to kill her. You said that was the plan. You said it was going to start the war.”

Tiziano said, “The plan has changed.”

Elio leaned back in the chair. He said, “The plan has changed. In one night. The plan has changed. What changed it? She is just a girl. She is small and soft and she does not look like she could hurt a fly. What did she do to change your mind?”

Tiziano did not answer. He could not answer. He could not say: She has a voice in her head that is the most interesting thing I have ever heard. She has thoughts that make me feel things I have not felt in years. She wants me. She is scared of me. She hates me. She wants me. All at the same time. And I cannot stop listening. He could not say any of that. So he said nothing.

Elio said, “Is she in your head? Is that it? Did she get into your head?”

Tiziano looked at his brother. He said, “No.”

Elio said, “Because she is pretty. I saw her at the wedding. She is pretty. But there are a lot of pretty girls. You do not keep pretty girls. You use them and you send them away. Why is this one still here?”

Tiziano stood up. He walked to the window and looked out at the sea. He said, “I am keeping her. That is the end of this conversation.”

Elio stood up too. He said, “Okay. Okay. You are keeping her. But the Moretti family is not going to be happy. They were expecting a war. They were expecting you to kill her and blame them. What are you going to tell them?”

Tiziano said, “I will tell them nothing. Let them wonder. Let them be confused. A confused enemy is a weak enemy.”

Elio nodded slowly. He said, “And what about Callisto? What are you going to tell him?”

Tiziano thought about his cousin. Callisto had been quiet lately. Too quiet. He had been watching Tiziano with eyes that were too cold and too patient. He had been having meetings that were not on the family calendar. He had been sending messages to someone outside the family, and Tiziano’s people had not been able to find out who. Tiziano said, “I will tell Callisto nothing. He does not need to know.”

Elio looked at him for a long moment. Then he said, “You are not the same, brother. Something is different. Something has changed. And I do not know if it is a good thing or a bad thing.”

Tiziano did not turn around. He said, “I do not know either.”

Elio walked to the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle and said, “Just be careful. She is a stranger. You do not know what she wants. You do not know who she really is.”

Tiziano said, “I know exactly who she is.”

Elio raised an eyebrow. He said, “Do you?”

Tiziano did not answer. Elio shook his head and left, and the door closed behind him, and Tiziano was alone again.

He closed his eyes. She was still in his head. She was saying: I am hungry. But I do not want to leave this room. But I am hungry. But I do not want to see his face. But I am hungry. This is the worst. Maybe I can find some food in here. Maybe there is a secret drawer with snacks. Rich people have secret drawers with snacks, right? Or maybe they have secret drawers with guns. I do not know which is worse.

Tiziano almost smiled. He did not smile. He had not smiled in years. But the corner of his mouth twitched, just a little, just for a second.

He walked to the door. He would bring her food himself. He did not know why. He just knew that he wanted to see her face when he walked in. He wanted to hear her thoughts when she saw him. He wanted to know if she was happy to see him or if she was scared. He wanted to know everything.

He walked down the hall toward the kitchen, and his steps were quick and sure, and his mind was full of her.

He did not see Callisto standing at the end of the hall.

Callisto watched him go with a look on his face that was very dark and very still. He had heard things. He had heard that the bride was still alive. He had heard that Tiziano had not killed her. He had heard that Tiziano had spent the whole night in her room, sitting in a chair, watching her sleep.

Callisto did not like things he did not understand. And he did not understand this.

He turned and walked the other way, toward his own rooms, and his mind was full of plans.