Page 164 of Storm and Sea

“Yes, Signore.”

“Do you know who I am?”

“Y-yes Signore.”

“Then who are you?”

Atreus choked, his throat impossibly dry.

“I—I’m….”

He dropped his gaze but instantly lifted it again when Giovanni commanded him.

“Who are you?” Giovanni asked again, his voice terrifyingly calm.

“I’m— me.”

Giovanni nodded. “Are you the Atreus I know?”

Was he? Was he truly the person he’d painted himself to be? The person he’d shaped himself to become in order to live in Baia Vita? To live among these people? To become one of them? To love them like they were his own flesh and blood?

Is that really me?

“Atreus.” Giovanni’s voice rumbled so low in his chest it shook the air. “Beneath the skin. Beneath the scales. Are you the Atreus I’ve grown to know?”

Atreus had hidden himself, lied to bury the truth of what he was. But his love for Baia Vita—for these people, for Giovanni, Horace, Marina, and even the damn cat—none of that was a lie.

It was real. As real as the setting sun. As real as Nyel’s steady hand resting against his back. Giving him strength.

“Yes, Signore. Yes, I am.”

“And what did I tell you about the formalities?”

Tears welled in Atreus’s eyes.

“Yes, Giovanni.”

Giovanni nodded approvingly. “As I thought.”

The mountain of a man moved to stand beside Atreus, and before he knew what was happening, Giovanni’s voice roared, carrying to every ear that listened with unquestionable authority.

“Today, we have discovered the old tales of the Uomo del Mare are true. The Men of the Sea live among us! And how fortunate for us that we learn through a man we already know. You’ve watched Atreus grow alongside your children, watched him work alongside your men. And today, he has saved one of our very own. He is a hero of Baia Vita! And…”

Giovanni reached for the shark tooth necklace, yanking it off his neck and tying it around Atreus’s.

“... A man I will proudly call my son.”

Atreus must still be in the waters by the cliffs, the waves knocking his head against the rocks. That was the only explanation that made any sense. Yet the solid weight of the leather strap around his neck and the shark tooth resting against his sternum was too heavy to be imagined.

They were real.

This was real.

The villagers, who, moments ago, were poised like a cat ready to pounce, eased at the lion’s roar. At his promise that all would be well. Giovanni had made the ultimate gesture of trust, and their fears were quelled.

They exchanged words now with an air of excitement rather than fear, the volume growing.

“Emelia, I suggest you take your boy to Dr. Romano right away,” Giovanni said, snapping the golden-haired family back to the present.