Page 29 of Iron Roses

But not.

Giovanna’s mouth tilted differently when she slept. Softer. Like she was smiling at something left in a dream.

Elaria looks… haunted. Even here. Even now.

My eyes trail the line of her jaw. Her throat. The bare skin above her collar where sweat clings in a fine sheen.

I lean forward.

My lips hover inches from hers. I sigh and I pull away and I walk over the sofa in the room.

I warned her father.

When Allegra came to me with the intel, her voice had shaken—just slightly. Enough to be real.

“They’re going to kill him. Within the week. There was a leak, they know everything.”

I told her I’d handle it. And I did.

I sent Oreste a message. Personal. Not from the family. From me.

He read it. Sent one line back.

“I have lived long enough. It’s about time I died.”

I didn’t argue.

I didn’t try harder.

Allegra did.

She’d begged. Her voice cracked in the stairwell behind my study door.

“What about Giovanna’s baby sister? You knew her as a child. Are you going to let them bury her too?”

I said nothing.

But I’d known.

I knew Allegra would get the girl out.

And she did.

So why was she here, now—burned into my mattress, breathing under my roof, bleeding memory onto the floor of my chapel?

Elaria stirs.

A moan leaves her lips—My eyes sharpen.

She shifts in the sheets. One leg curls, the other presses down. Her hips twitch. Her head tilts, baring her throat.

She moans again. This time, lower.

My breath freezes.

Heat rushes downward. Blood stirs behind my belt.

I close my eyes. My jaw clenches. It doesn’t help.

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