Carpathian 10 - Dark Symphony

had access to everything. She's the one who drew me a map to the vault and gave me the access code."
    "You were willing to die instead of going to a hospital so she wouldn't go to jail? Lie and take the blame for missing objects, for Justine? Paul, you aren't thinking clearly. You should have come to me with this immediately."
    Antonietta, Justine did not steal. She regretted giving Paul the codes and the map. She wanted to give him money, but he refused. She believed he was in trouble and wanted him to tell you, but he refused that option. He convinced her he would be in danger from the men he owed money to. It is clear he thought she would involve him in the theft ring, but she did the only other thing she could. She gave him a map and the codes. I felt it was a betrayal of your friendship. But that is all it was. She is not involved in any theft ring.
    "I'm not going to turn Justine over to the police, Paul. But you need to tell me who did this to you. They have to be dealt with."
    "Stay out of it, Toni. These people play for keeps."
    He did not see his attackers. There is nothing he can tell us about the men who assaulted him. The thing uppermost in his mind is protecting Justine.
    "Send him to sleep. I'll let Tasha and Justine in to watch over him tonight. Nonno must have been informed by now; I can't see Franco keeping it from him."
    You know Marita is more likely to be the person stealing and handing the goods over to someone else. And it was the elder Demonesini she was going to meet with the Handel score.
    Franco will be devastated if it is so. She made her way to the sitting room while Byron issued the order for Paul to sleep. Tasha and Justine practically fell into the room with Franco and Don Giovanni on their heels.
    "He is alive," Antonietta reported. "Just barely. He needs sleep. And plenty of liquids.
    Can you clean him up and fix the bed? We're both exhausted. Byron has a talent for healing much greater than mine, and he did most of the work."
    "I would like to take Antonietta to my home where she can rest," Byron added.
    I can't go anywhere.
    Paul will not wake until we return. Just enough for them to give him fluids.
    Too much is happening.
    I need you this night, Antonietta.
    "Your family excused themselves," Don Giovanni explained. "They could see we were uneasy. I'm afraid we didn't make much of an impression on them, my boy."
    "They understood," Byron assured. "Have the police left?"
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    9/13/2007

    Dark Symphony
    Page 136 of 188
    "They've questioned everyone but Paul and the two of you. We said Paul was out, and you two would be available tomorrow," Franco said.
    "Grazie, Franco," Antonietta said, "I doubt if I could sit through more of their questions."
    Byron took Antonietta's hand firmly in his. "Good night everyone, we will return tomorrow evening."
    "What are we doing?" Antonietta lifted her face to the wind. She hadn't been out on the battlements in years. It was far too dangerous. Even with Byron, she was afraid. It would only take one careless slip, and she would fall to her death. When she inhaled, she could scent the faint odor of the cat's presence lingering. The idea that the jaguar could be near, could be watching them at that very moment, was terrifying.
    "I am going to take you flying. You said you wanted to try. The sky is clear, just a trace of fog rolling in. I think you will enjoy it after such a difficult evening." She studied his voice not the words. "What is it, Byron?" He pulled her to him, buried his face against her neck.
    "You are in my keeping, Antonietta; always your safety comes before all else. Your acceptance of what and who I am means everything to me. I want to give you something special. Something you will always remember."
    Her fingertips moved over his face. Byron found it curiously intimate each time she read his expression. There was a caress lingering on his skin whether she knew it or not. He knew she was reading his apprehension of what was to come. She was too connected to him. So much had happened from the moment she awakened, so much more would be demanded of her.
    "If flying is so memorable, why are you afraid for me?"
    For the first time he caught her wrists and pulled her hands from his face, cradling them against his chest. He leaned his forehead against hers.