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His eyes crinkled with a suppressed smile. “Isthatwhy it’s so bright?”
“Indeed. I’m starting to think this window might have a few cracks in it, though.”
He snorted. “All the better to let in that holy light, luce mia.”
She gazed longingly at the pale blue sky above the wall.
“If you’re planning your escape, that’s not the easiest route,” Dante said.
Alessa tapped the wall. “If I climb over, will you pretend you didn’t see?”
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”
“And I’m sure it will beawful,” she said. “They hate me.”
“Do they even know you?”
“They don’t need to. I killed their friends.” She waved in his direction. “Quick. Get me a ladder.”
Dante turned at the low rumble of the gate. “Too late.”
Renata and Tomo were waiting just inside the courtyard. On the other end, framed within the tunnel, a small group huddled like fish caught in a net, shoulders curved with misery.
Kaleb embraced an older man, thumping him with violent affection while a middle-aged woman wept beside them. Josef and Nina clutched each other’s hands. Saida stood beside her solemn parents.
They said their goodbyes like heroes entering the jaws of a monster. They were there, but not willingly. They would serve their duty, but they had no faith in her.
Kamaria stood apart from the others, glaring at everyone and everything.
“The other twin fled last night,” Renata said with a disapprovingtsk.
The Consiglio wouldn’t like that. It might not be fair to hold her brother’s treachery against her, but Alessa had no doubt they would. Hard to say whether it would be enough for them to veto Kamaria if she became a top choice, but she could worry about crossing that bridge later.
Alessa’s feet itched to run, but she settled for picking at a thread inside one of the pockets artfully hidden within her full mauve skirt. “Should we wait for the rest?”
“There are no more.”
Alessa’s heart dropped like a stone. When she’d risen to power, the island had two dozen Fontes, more than enough to choose from, even accounting for those who were unfit for health reasons, age, pregnancy, and the like. She’d killed three. The rest had chosen to abandon their home forever. She could only assume they’d gone to Altari, the closest of the two sanctuary islands still inhabited.
Other people had fled in recent years, too, butthey’dbe permitted to return after the siege… if the island was worth returning to. For the god-touched, however, lack of faith was treasonous, and treason meant banishment.
The remaining five stood before her. Well. Five was—slightly—better than none.
Renata stepped forward. “Greetings, and welcome. We’re honored by your presence. Please, come into the atrium where the Finestra has planned a lovely reception for you.”
Alessa hid her surprise. She had?
Renata waved them inside, waiting until the first round of servers emerged from the kitchens with trays, then made a show of following the servants carrying bags upstairs, to oversee the delivery of the Fontes’ belongings.
Tomo conspicuously ducked out next, saying he was going to check on preparations for the evening’s banquet, leaving Alessa alone with the Fontes. And enough stilted silence to fill every bit of the four-story atrium.
They’d come dressed for comfort, as she’d requested, but no one looked comfortable.
Kamaria, who’d shed her defensive posture when Renata and Tomo left, did the best at faking it, thumbs hooked in the pockets of her buckskin breeches, wide mouth curled in a smile that said she hadn’t a care in the world. Her loose blouse, worn leather boots, and the touch of color in her coppery cheeks gave the impression she’d just leapt off a horse after an invigorating ride. Still, she twitched at sudden movements.
Nina, in a simple cotton dress, clutched her skirts with one hand, and with the other clung to Josef’s arm.
Kaleb pounced on a plate of hors d’oeuvres, startling the server, and ate in furious silence.
