Company of Angels 02 - The Demoness of Waking Dreams

chest, tracing her fingers over the images of ink drawn over his body. “The demon hierarchy will be out for my head. It is impossible. Corbin would retaliate. He would take revenge. There is Ca’ Rossetti to consider. I have worked for centuries to preserve it. It has been the seat of my family for over a thousand years. And there are other things…” she said vaguely.
    “What? What is there that ties you to this city?”
    Her eyes wide, she didn’t answer.
    “You know it’s possible,” he said. “If Julian Ascher can change his ways, you can, too.”
    At the mention of his name, she flinched. “Don’t talk about him.”
    They sat for a long while, staring out to sea together.
    “If it happened, I would have to make preparations. At home,” she said, very tentatively. “I cannot make any promises. There are others at stake, still. Other considerations, other people. My Gatekeepers…” she said, looking out to sea, wondering where Massimo had gone, whether he had enough sense to make it home without her.
    “That you consider the possibilities is all I ask,” Brandon said.
    She thought of Violetta, and the sad singing that rang through the halls of Ca’ Rossetti. Wondered if Violetta would ever find a way to let go of this world, and if Massimo had spent the night listening to that melancholic singing.
    “Meet me at the opera,” she said, flinging the suggestion out, reminded by that thought. “Tomorrow night. I will consider it....”
    * * *
     
    Back at Ca’ Rossetti, Massimo and Violetta sat on the rooftop. He watched her wistful, young face as she watched the sun rise over the rooftops, unfurling the city into daylight.
    “I wonder when she’s coming back,” he said.
    “I don’t really care,” said Violetta. “I’m glad we have a little time to ourselves. A stolen moment, without her. Where did she go?”
    “With her lover,” he admitted.
    “The angel?” Violetta asked. “But she always says that demons are incapable of love.”
    “Her whole way of thinking is unraveling,” he told her. “Everything she has worked so hard to accomplish is falling apart.”
    “That is the nature of time, my love. The old falls apart. So the new can grow.” Violetta moved her hand to his cheek, mimicking the gesture of touch although the connection was impossible.
    “How did you get so wise in such a short time on earth? And so brave? I’ve never seen anyone stand up to the baronessa like you, even when your life was at stake.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not wise and I’m not brave, Massimo. I don’t even know if I can bring myself to do what is necessary....”
    “What do you mean?” he said. “Have you figured out what you need to do to let go?”
    She did not say anything, but bit her lip and let her long, brown hair hang forward; a sheer curtain covering her sheer face.
    “If you know what to do, then do it. You must. That, or remain a ghost forever. Is that what you want? It’s not what I want for you,” said Massimo.
    “Of course that’s not what I want,” she whispered. “I want to touch your face. I want to hold your hand and feel your breath when you whisper in my ear. I want to be. I want to stay in this world with you, forever.”
    “We will see each other again, Violetta,” he murmured, closing his eyes and wishing he could hold her. “I know we will. After you leave this place. We will find a way.”
    But he knew no such thing.
    He only knew that he wanted what was best for her, and that it did not involve him.
    * * *
     
    Very late at night, when Luciana stole back into Ca’ Rossetti, she heard the singing. So poignant and sad that she almost wanted to weep at the sound of it, right then and there.
    Escaping with Brandon is impossible, she realized.
    Dragging herself up the staircase of her beloved home, she had made up her mind.
    To flee. Alone.
    Because it was the only way she could think of to lessen the risk to those she loved.

Chapter Fourteen
     
    I n her bedchamber, Luciana pulled a box out from her dressing table. Hands shaking, by the dim light of her lamp she sorted through her best jewelry. She put aside only the best of the old family pieces that she had painstakingly recovered after her mother had sold them to various pawnbrokers around the city.
    She would not let these treasures go again. Not even at the risk of getting caught. Especially not after what had happened with Carlotta’s earrings last night.
    “Going somewhere?” a familiar