Starling (18 page)

the person who lived here was disturbed or the candles were part of
a spell.
Or both.
Cass knew she should turn, go, flee, forget this place. But the
paintings enticed her forward. Her heart rose up into her throat as
she recognized the canvases from the art exhibition she had attended
the day of Madalena’s wedding: Mariabella, Sophia, and a woman
Cass thought of as R—each of them painted in a reclined position,
reaching out to the artist, their dark hair falling seductively over
their shoulders. Each with a tiny X carved across her heart. It wasn’t
the fact that they were dead girls that caused Cass’s hands to shake so
badly that she nearly dropped her lantern.
They were dead girls painted by Cristian de Lambert.
Luca’s half brother. The man who had tried to kill her . . . and
promised to try again.