The clapping went on and on, and finally, I managed to lift my gaze to the platform, and the sight was another punch to my gut.
Giovanni was too clean for this place, too soft, in his pretend friar’s robe and sandaled feet. His round face was filled with cruelty and cunning, and because he was no longer in the city, no longer hemmed in by society’s polite rules, his civilized mask was gone.
Here, he could be himself—an apex predator amongst baser monsters, far worse than anything this cesspool had ever birthed. I met his gaze, still on my knees, but with my chin high.
“What a surprise,” he called, voice carrying effortlessly. “Still breathing. I’d so hoped to see your beast come out, but I’m told you’re being stubborn to the end.”
I didn’t blink. I didn’t bow.
He descended the steps onto the ring with five guards flanking him, and I couldn’t help but smile. The Overseer met him halfway across the ring, and they both stopped in front of me, close enough to smell the cedar and beeswax, close enough to see the way the Overseer’s breastplate gleamed.
Like the bastard spent hours polishing it.
“I have to admit,” Giovanni said softly, as if we were sharing a private joke, “I expected you to have broken by now. Over four weeks without feeding. Beaten to a pulp every day. I’d be impressed if your endurance wasn’t so inconvenient.”
This was the fucker who had killed my wife. He’dcrushed her skull and left her to drown. My heart beat against my ribs like a war drum.
“You’re paying dearly to keep me alive,” I rasped. “How is that going for you? I’d think you’d be pleased you were getting your money’s worth.”
Giovanni’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, I’m pleased enough.” He gestured around us. “Look at you. Back where you belong. In the dirt and the reeking filth. This is all you will ever know for the rest of your miserable life.”
“Did you spend time practicing that speech in front of a mirror?” I cocked my eyebrow, and blood poured down the side of my face. “Word of advice… it needs work.”
His jaw worked, making him look more pathetic than pious.
I tipped my head, even though the entire world spun in circles.
“Tell me one thing. Where is myfucking wife?” I hissed. “What did you do to her?”
Keeping up the act was foolish, but I wanted to hear him admit he was the villain, so I could cradle the admission close, use it to fuel my rage.
His smile… I’d seen a lot of evil fuckers in my life, but that smile sent a chill straight into my soul.
“My dear niece, you mean?” he studied me, trying to see past the blood and sand and…yes, filth. “She died in the explosion, of course. A terrible loss for the bloodline. My nephew is still mourning.”
A ripple of doubt went through me, even though Giovanni was a liar to his very core.
What if he was telling the truth? I’d convinced myself Emberline survived, but what if I was wrong?
For a second, the world wouldn’t stop spinning, and then…
“Of course, that is the story I spun for the council since they tend to frown on murder. Just last night, in fact, I held a grand ball in her honor. Who knew her death would come in so handy? An opportunity to gather all my new subjects in one place and begin what your father could never accomplish. Impose my will over all three dynasties.”
“I don’t give a shit about your schemes.Where the fuck is my wife?” I hissed, jaw clenched hard enough to break teeth.
With a gleeful smile, Giovanni leaned in, his voice dropping. “I drowned her in my basement.”
Even though I knew the truth, the words were like bullets, ripping holes in my heart, the world disappearing into the roar of blood in my ears.
“You’re lying,” I breathed. “Emberline’s still alive. I know it.”
“I found her poking around in the palazzo. She’d become a liability.” He spoke as if he was talking about the weather, and I forced myself to stay right where I was and not wrap my hands around his pasty throat andsqueeze.
“That’s a lie.” I snapped. “We had an agreement to make the best of our marriage, and…”
Better to play the fool husband than give this fucker a clue that there was a bigger conspiracy afoot.
One that would hopefully bring him down.
