Page 136 of Peasants and Kings
Daylight streamed through the large glass windows in the room. I untangled my limbs and climbed out of bed, realizing I was still in my dress and jewelry from the previous evening. Only my heels were missing.
I walked to a set of glass doors that led to a stone balcony and looked out. A sprawling, manicured garden went on for as far as the eye could see. It reminded me of the garden at The Mansion, the place I’d spent my first night with—
I doubted the doors were unlocked; why would my family take any chances that I might escape?
I was my mother’s daughter, after all.
My hand went to the doors anyway. Surprise sparked inside of me when they opened freely, and I stepped out onto the balcony and took a deep breath of warm air. I smelled earth and soil, not ocean and mountains.
I had no idea of my exact location—Luca had never mentioned where in Italy he lived. Yet when I breathed in, the scent of vines tickled the back of my throat and I knew instantly I was in the home my mother had grown up in.
The land called to me. It was innately in my blood, and though I’d never visited the vineyards, or been weaned on the stories of my ancestors, something clicked into place inside of me. A feeling of belonging, a kinship.
I heard the faintest sound of the bedroom door opening but refused to turn to see who’d come. Leather soles padded across the wooden floor before halting a few feet behind me.
“You’re awake,” Luca said as he came to stand next to me on the balcony.
I touched the side of my head where it was sore from Nico’s strike. “What happened? How did I—”
“Family secret,” he said without smiling. “Every Moretti knows specific pressure points that will either result in death, or unconsciousness.”
“Every Moretti male, you mean?”
“Yes.” He stared at me pensively. “Cousin—”
“Don’tcall me that.”
“But we are cousins,” he said.
“No. I am no more than a pawn to you.”
Anger and hatred ripped through me, but it wasn’t a hot, blistering ember. It was a ball of ice, and it continued to spread through my body, freezing everything that had once made me,me.
“So? What will happen now? Are you and your father going to keep me locked in this room?” My tone was bitter, but Luca didn’t rise to the bait.
“The doors aren’t locked, but times have changed. We won’t lose you like we lost Violetta. You have no allies here, no money, nothing. If you run, we will hunt you down and bring you back. You will marry Raphael Foscari and unite the Foscari and the Moretti once and for all.”
“Fuck you, Luca. I’m not a Moretti. You are not my people.”
His eyes hardened. “Do you know why I’m up here with you instead of my father or my brother? Because unlike them, my heart isn’t dead. I saw the way you and Hadrian looked at each other. I’m sorry there was nothing to be done about it. If I were in charge of the family, I’d—” He abruptly cut himself off. “This is out of my hands. I am my father’s son and Iama Moretti.” His tone turned frigid as he went on, “Your life is at stake, Sterling. If you accept your fate, if you align yourself with us, if you make good on your mother’s unfulfilled promise, then you will live a good life. The Foscari will treat you the way you were always meant to be treated—as a Moretti married into their own family.”
“You want to give me to the people that murdered my father and hunted my mother,” I lashed out.
“You only have to fear them if you are their enemy, and right now you are. So, make this right.” His hands dropped from my shoulders. “You have two choices, Sterling. You can marry Raphael Foscari. You can give him heirs. You can be treated as a queen. Or…”
“Or?” I prodded.
He turned his attention to the gardens. “Or I can leave you unattended for a few minutes. You’re on the sixth floor. Your only way out of this is death. I hope I’ve made myself clear.”
I blinked. “Jump? You expect me to jump?”
“No. I don’t expect you to jump. You’re a Moretti. I expect you to survive.”
We stared at one another, bound by blood. My kin.
“Hadrian will come for me,” I vowed. “And when he does, you will beg for mercy, Luca.”
“Accept your fate, Sterling.”
