Page 84 of An Italian Wedding Adventure

‘The clouds are coming in faster than expected.’

Alarm straightened her spine. ‘Do we need to change plans?’

He shook his head. ‘There are only showers forecast and rushing would be more dangerous than getting wet, but we can’t dawdle.’

She blew out a deep breath. ‘What did I say about adventure weddings being a bad idea?’ They hadn’t even managed the wedding part yet.

The group kept moving laboriously along a rocky track. Sophie didn’t want to know how hot it was, but the air was heavy and sweat gathered on her upper lip. She glanced continually at the enormous cloud that seemed to be exploding upwards over the lake, but it was a single weather system with blue sky all around. Perhaps it would miss them entirely.

Staring at the weather was only a moment of inattention, but it was enough that she missed a sudden movement up ahead and then a shriek made her freeze in alarm.

By the time she pushed through the wedding party to find out what had happened, she found Lucia on the ground, clutching her knee as blood oozed through her fingers. The bridesmaid hiccoughed loudly, half sob and half something else, her eyes glazed.

‘I’m sorrreeeeee,’ she wailed, staring at Lily.

The bride crouched next to her friend as Sophie rushed for the first aid kit. Andreas was already on the job, kneeling next to Lucia and opening the bulky case from his pack. He cleaned the wound with a vial of distilled water and began the process of dressing it.

‘What were you even doing, man?’ Sophie heard one of the groomsmen behind her.

‘Nothing! I only nudged her. How was I supposed to know she’s wasted?’ It was Tom, Lucia’s ex, who earned a dark look from Andreas when he overheard the conversation.

Lucia burst into tears. ‘I’ve ruined your wedding,’ she said between gasps. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. But I slept with Tom again last night and now I feel like shit because I know he’ll never love me and I don’t know why I—’ Another hiccough cut her off. ‘So I packed a little bottle of vodka and I know I’m the biggest idiot who ever walked the earth?—’

Sophie dropped to her knees next to her. Drunk bridesmaids were one of her areas of expertise. ‘Here, Lucia, have some water. Nothing’s ruined but take some deep breaths and no more vodka – for Lily’s sake.’

‘Fuck, it hurts,’ Lucia said with a grimace. ‘How am I supposed to get down?’

Swallowing her own panic, Sophie looked to Andreas. His expression was blank, but she recognised the little flex of muscle in his jaw and when he glanced at the sky, she felt the ripple of unease he was being careful to hide.

‘There’s nothing broken,’ he declared, wrapping a bandage tightly around Lucia’s knee. ‘When she sobers up, she’ll make it down.’

‘But ithurts!’

‘Come on, you heard what he said!’ Tom snapped.

‘God, I have the worst taste in men,’ Lucia said darkly.

‘I heard that!’

‘He’s not even very good in?—’

Sophie interrupted, ‘Oh! Look at the—’ Her words trailed off as she noticed what she’d thoughtlessly gestured to: the swelling cloud rapidly approaching, expanding upward and growing darker every second.

Then a crackle of light flashed through the fuzzy particles at the top.

Andreas leaped to his feet and clapped his hands twice for attention, his expression calm, but grim – his speciality. ‘Allora, we need to keep moving.’ A quick glance was all the warning he gave her. ‘With the chance of lightning overhead, we can’t continue or descend right now and we need to take shelter.’

Gasps and murmurs of alarm rippled through the guests. Roman took Lily’s hand and squeezed.

‘What about the wedding?’ Adelaide asked. ‘And the others?’

‘Safety comes first,’ Sophie said, swallowing the lump in her throat. ‘We’ll contact Kira. I’m sure they’re fine.’

‘Where are we going then? Where can we take shelter up here without going back down?’ Roman asked.

‘There are tunnels dug all through this mountain,’ Andreas supplied. ‘One more short climb and we’ll reach the entrance. We’ll be safe in there until the storm passes.’

One of the groomsmen groaned.

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