Starling (138 page)

T

he sun slowly faded into the horizon, the dwindling
rays backlighting the rose trellis, causing the last
blooms of summer to burn red and orange against the
oncoming twilight. The scene was beautiful, like a
painting, but Cass would never think of fire in the same way again. It

had taken Falco’s life. It had almost taken hers too.

Luca appeared from around the front of the villa. Smiling slightly,
he crossed the garden in a few long strides and sat next to her on the
bench. He seemed completely healed, both from the wound on his
shoulder and the scrapes he’d gotten at Palazzo Dubois. The last
remaining evidence of the fight, a bruise on his jawbone, had turned
from purple to brownish yellow.

Cass reached up to touch it. She still couldn’t believe they’d infiltrated Joseph Dubois’s home, stolen the Book of the Eternal Rose,
and escaped with only a few minor injuries to show for it. “I wasn’t
sure you’d make it,” she said.

A gust of wind sent a bouquet of fallen leaves spinning through
the air. Luca wrapped his hand around hers, and their fingers natu
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rally twined together. “I promised I would, Cass.”
Her lips curled upward. Luca had only just started calling her
Cass, but she liked it. It made her think that he had finally relaxed
around her, that the person he was being was his true self.
“Did you finish all your business?” she asked. She leaned over to
pluck a dead leaf from one of his lace cuffs.
“I did. My loyal staff will be provided for even if Rowan should
decide to sell the estate.” He squeezed her hand, and she could feel
his heart pounding in his fingertips. He licked his lips. A dark bird
made a lazy circle in the sky. Blades of fresh-cut grass tumbled end
over end across the garden. “There’s been more news,” he said finally.
He could have been referring to anything, but somehow she knew.
“Dubois?”
“He’s going to the gallows.” Luca said it without joy. His face was
a mask of grim determination. “Don Zanotta and Don Domacetti are
being held in prison, awaiting their sentences. The pope has sent
royal emissaries to both Venice and Florence to conduct investigations into deaths brought about by the Order of the Eternal Rose.
Anyone whose name appears in the book will be questioned by an
inquisitor. Several members have fled. Rewards have been offered
for their capture.”
“It’s really over,” Cass said. Belladonna and Piero were dead.
Dubois would be dead soon. If the remaining Order members
wanted to survive, they would have to either hide or run away. They
wouldn’t dare try to continue the Order’s nefarious activities, not
with bounties on their heads.
Luca squeezed her hand again. With his other hand, he reached