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Baron Pisani frowned. “What if she comes back?”
Dante couldn’t live without seeing Lucia again. “I hope she does!”
“Who is she? Do you know her?”
Dante felt tears in his eyes. “I love her!”
Baron Pisani thought it over, then extended a hand. “Okay, the door stays open. Now, may I help you up? I want to get you to the infirmary. Guards, take off his loathsome manacle!”
Dante sat on an examiningtable, oddly stiff and rigid. He realized he was gripping the edge. He tried to accustom himself to the infirmary, which looked completely different. The examining table was new, a gleaming porcelain white, and the grimy walls had been wiped down. Shelves he remembered as cluttered and filthy had been cleaned. Fresh medical supplies in shiny jars stood in neat lines, with labels he couldn’t read. The air smelled like antiseptic, not mouse droppings.
Dante’s gaze fell on his own clothes, also new. He had on a white muslin shirt with buttons and dark green trousers. He wore proper shoes of brown leather, which felt stiff. A nurse had allowed him to take a bath with medicinal soap, then cleaned his wounds, applied unguents, salves, and bandages, and given him medicine. She had shaved his beard and was now cutting his hair.
Dante felt a tense and silent panic. He didn’t know where Lucia was. She had told him she had a cave in the countryside, but he feared for her. He knew she wouldn’t come back until it was safe, but he didn’t know when it would be safe now. The madhouse was changing, the administrator was new, and he didn’t know if they could escape together or even if he would ever see her again. He couldn’t imagine life without her.
“Dante?” the nurse said softly.
“Yes?” Dante looked up, and the nurse smiled at him, her aspect kind. Her dark hair was tucked under a white cap and she had a soft body in her white uniform, like a freshly made bed.
“I’m finished. Would you like to see how you look?”
Dante nodded, nervous. The nurse picked up a large mirror and heldit up to him, and he confronted his own face. His eyes were a dark bluish-gray, like Lucia had said, and his features were as she described, too. What he couldn’t look away from was his eyes. Heknewthose eyes. He had seen them before. They were the eyes of his mother, and they sparked a memory.
I agree
I agree
I agree
“My mother used to read to me,” Dante blurted out, his chest tight.
The nurse placed a hand on his shoulder. “Then you had a good mother.”
“Yes. I did,” Dante said, knowing it was true. His heart told him so.
For some reason he wanted to cry.
He needed Lucia.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
It was a sunny afternoon in Palermo, and Franco felt free, walking around the city in a sort of disguise. He had on Roberto’s cap, shirt, and pants with hisFbelt buckle. He could pass as his twin to even the most knowing eye, and today, he would have to. He entered a rougher part of town, with fewer people. The streets narrowed to alleys, shady and dark in sections.
Franco kept an eye on his prey, following at a safe distance. He knew her schedule, and she visited her fortune-teller every Thursday at four o’clock. She turned left down an alley that led to the fortune-teller’s apartment, passing an old man looking in a shop window.
“Bruna!” Franco called out, sounding exactly like Roberto.
Bruna stopped, whirling around with a smile. The skirt of her yellow dress spun open like a flower. “Darling, what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to surprise you.” Franco jogged to her, just like Roberto would have, and Bruna opened her arms to embrace him.
“I thought you were in Corleone.”
“The weather turned bad, so I came back.” Franco reached Bruna just as she began to frown, her dark eyes fluttering.
“Wait, you’re not—”
Franco kissed her to silence her, pulled a knife from his pocket, and plunged it under her breast. Bruna emitted an agonized grunt, andFranco hugged her tight, so any passersby would mistake them for lovers. He pressed her into the alley and pushed her against the wall.
