She jumps up. “For your wedding? He of all people cannot be let near!”
“If he makes a scene, he’ll be excused.”
“He shouldn’t be given the opportunity to make even one!” Vincenza starts her retreat into the back, tugging me with her. “I’ll prepare the bar for opening.”
“Uh, bye, Piero.” I wave.
She shuts the door, locks it, and throws herself against me. The door buckles from my head being pushed into it by her kiss.
“You deserve so much more than me,” she whispers.
“All I want is more of you.”
Her forehead leans into mine. “...Are you feeling better? I don’t want your magic exhausted so early.” She wraps her arms around my neck, lazily combing through my hair.
“I am. I was feeling alright, actually, but I still feel better. That wedding sounds fun.”
“We can’t go.”
“What?”
She gets off me, wiping her eyes. “I can’t go. I know that Piero wants his wedding extravagant. A week with you, and it’ll be obvious what’s between us when my eyes keep glowing.”
Cold, again. Like her short-lived rejection yesterday. She gave that one up quick; she has to give up this too.
“What exactly between us do you not want others to know about?”
“This.” She taps under her eyes.
“Then we won’t have that. I can live for ten days without touching you, just the same way I lived eighteen years before I met you.”
Her eyes twitch at the mention of ‘eighteen,’ and she rushes to grab me. “I can’t! I’m obsessive, Kate. I need to take you at every point I can.”
“And never let anyone else know?”
“Never,” she whispers into my ear.
“Why can’t they? This isn’t wrong.”
“The Ring would gag if it knew what we were doing.”
“N-no… No! It wouldn’t!”
“Just—just go tend the counter.” She kisses me with cold lips and opens the door. “Don’t let the future ruin today.”
“Y-yes, Mistress.”
It’s hard not to bear that conversation on my face, especially not as Piero drowns me in questions.
My family of course has their own questioning. They justneedto know my employer’s family drama—drama that I’m not even partial to.
Piero tries to assure me about how minimal the presence of his father will be; he seems to think that’s the problem. Maybe it is. It’s not her only problem, but it’s not helping.
And maybe there’s another problem, some third thing I’m struggling to tell.
Chapter 29
Closing Acts
