Maybe Massimo was the lord of the underworld after all; his home would certainly suit that role. It was impressive, and so beautiful, it was hard to believe it was real. Art and antiques filled the space. Dark wood and soft furnishings of velvet and satin. The windows faced the most stunning view of Torino. A grand piano stood in the library, and a harp. A freaking harp. Everything looked like it had been brought directly here from a secondhand sale at a royal’s estate.
This was how kings lived.
The kitchen kept the theme, gothically dark but spacious and airy. A display of pomegranates sat on the huge marble island, calling to mind the Hades and Persephone painting upstairs.
Very funny.
Massimo had left a few minutes ago to get breakfast after sweeping up the remains of my smashing session.
He’d sent his housekeeper away yesterday so he didn’t have to hear me screaming all night. It was just him and me, here in thishouse that felt like it had slipped through the cracks between worlds. A place separate from time. A bubble of safety from the storms raging outside.
It was quiet in the library. He had a library. I loved this house.And this man.I sat on the rug before the hearth. There was a fire already burning in the grate. Nox and Pax wound their way around me. Nox confident and curious, getting right onto my lap. Pax held back, coming slightly closer each time. I petted Nox until Pax seemed to feel safe enough to edge closer. She allowed me to stroke her after smelling my fingers for a good minute. A little later, I was bracketed by the two cats, as different as night and day. They snuggled into my sides, and I let my fingers wander through their fur and watched the flames dance in the fireplace. I hoped that Gravy had found someone else to feed him. I wondered if I went up there to call for him, he’d come to me. I could ask Massimo if he could become a member of the household. Sure, he wasn’t regal like Pax and Nox, but he was a bundle of love, and I’d love nothing more than to hold him again.
Once the cats got bored of my petting, they wandered off, intertwining their tails as they went... the night and the moon, diametrically opposed and yet perfectly paired. I went to browse the books in the library.
I wandered past the stacks, enjoying the feeling of the clothbound spines under my fingers.
All the classics were covered here. Boccaccio’sDecameron,Dante Alighieri’sDivine Comedy,andIl Canzoniereby Petrarch.
I pulled a copy ofThe Divine Comedyfrom the shelves and went to sit in the chair before the fire.
“Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.”
The first lines called to me. I felt their meaning deep in my soul.
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a dark wood,
for the straight way had been lost.
The straight way for me had been lost three years ago, when I’d come home to Ivan Markovic and Father Vargas with my mother in her small, humble sitting room. A part of me had been angry at her for a long time for what I’d seen as a betrayal. But over time, that pain had ebbed. She had feared for my mortal soul. She’d trusted the wrong people. She was the only family I had left. Still, she had helped bring me to that wood where Dante had begun his journey through purgatory, hell, and beyond. Would I ever reach the end?
I was so engrossed in the book, I didn’t notice the presence leaning over the chair from behind me until he spoke.
“Before me nothing but eternal things were made,
And I endure eternally.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
Massimo translated easily. He switched effortlessly between English and Italian with a skill I envied. I glanced up at him. I couldn’t get used to the sight of him in civilian clothes.
I shivered. “That has to be the creepiest part of this whole poem.”
“Maybe so, but for you, it’s also the most prophetic.”
I frowned up at him askance, and a contented grin played around his lips.
“For I will keep you eternally, and you shall never leave me. Don’t bother hoping for it,” he murmured.
His hands went to my hair, and he stroked through the strands.
“So, you’re my stalker now?” I attempted to lighten the mood, but honestly, what had happened yesterday was pure madness. The church and rushed ceremony were a blur of memory. I’d woken up thinking I’d imagined it.