I bequeath unto you…
…my heart, my life…
Anger wells up inside me.
The House of Eights doesn’t own me. I get to choose how to live my life.Don’t I?
Rett says, “I don’t trust Hart.”
Oh. Good. It's not just me.
Once we are deposited in a dingy old section of town, I look at Hart. “Let’s split up to cover more ground. I’ll go left, you go fuck yourself.”
Deo and Rett follow me. Hart glares after us.
“It’s fun, innit?” Deo says, jogging behind me.
What part is fun? The revelations that have me panicking, the aimless hunting, or my headache?
Sadly, I think Bizzy could’ve helped. She has a background in art history. She might be familiar with statues, fountains…
Then it hits me.
I close my eyes and concentrate. We talked about… the sacristy designed by Brunelleschi, northwest of Santa Maria del Fiore. It was built for the Medici family. There is a special black material that leads to a… that has to be it.
Do I tell them?
I turn, heading back toward Hart. “I know where we need to go.”
When I start to explain it to him, “Bizzy was telling me—”
“Skip to the end,” he interrupts, the words an order.
While I explain, he pulls it up on his phone, a look of determination on his face.
Deo grimaces. “That’s a trek. I know it.”
The talk in the car revolves around Deo’s ancestors, but I’m stuck on a conversation Bizzy and I had about a piece of art with an intense depiction of doomed love. It sparked talk of the mausoleum they were laid in, near the fountain.
Doomed love like the one I have for her.
My life isn’t going to allow it.
“Why won’t she answer?” Rett asks me as he tries Bizzy again.
Soren turns to him. “She probably understands it’s over.”
“What’s over?” He asks, confused.
Hart shakes his head. “You didn’t think…”
“Rett, the dreams? Now that we’ve seen the picture, it looks exactly like Liz Timms. Elizabeth was never Bizzy. We have a duty.”
God, even saying that out loud feels wretched.
“A duty?” He looks at me wild-eyed. “Are you as fucking crazy as him?” He jerks his thumb in Hart’s direction.
“Without condemning or condoning it, I understand,” Soren says.
