Ciò che Dio fa è ben fatto.
Each day brings its own bread.
DAYS BEFORE DIVORANDO: 11
“I demand to see him,” Alessa said the moment they were inside.
Renata shushed her viciously, but she wouldn’t be silenced, not with Dante’s life on the line.
“Will you stop and think, for once?” Renata had never looked so old. “Your Fonte is bedridden, and the people need to believe everything is going according to plan. Ivini plays this city like a fiddle and he’s publicly declared himself on your side. Don’t squander that gift.”
“She’s right,” said Tomo. “You can’t be suspected of sympathizing with him.”
“You know he wasn’t responsible for my dead Fontes. You know he isn’t evil. Without him, I’d be dead a half dozen times over. This isn’t fair.”
“You’ve made it this far without realizing life never is?” Renata’s eyes softened.
“At least let me see him.” Alessa choked on her words. “Please.”
“Dearest…” Tomo said softly.
Renata sucked her teeth. “No weeping. Chin up. Eyes blazing. Walk in there like you’re about to rip his limbs off.”
Luckily for them all, Alessa had more than enough pent-up anger to fake it.
Tears dried, regal mask in place, she followed Tomo and Renata to a small holding room reserved for drunken or unruly soldiers in need of cooling down.
The Captain bowed at their approach. “Finestra, Signor, Signora, I failed to see the threat inside our own walls. If it’s your wish, I’ll resign immediately.”
What Alessa wished for was to slash him across the face with one of Dante’s knives.
“Do you still doubt your Finestra?” Renata demanded.
“No,” the Captain said breathlessly. “Never again. Crollo must be mighty afraid. Our Finestra will be the greatest in history.”
Renata gave Alessa a pointed look.
Alessa held out a gloved hand, palm up, toward the Captain. “The daggers.”
“Oh, of course.” The Captain retrieved them and handed them over.
Alessa examined them, then slipped the dagger painted with Dante’s blood into the hidden pocket of her dress. The other, she flipped, catching it by the hilt as Dante taught her.
Without signaling her intent, she stepped forward and thrust the dagger up toward the Captain’s chin.
His head snapped up, eyes darting to Tomo and Renata, who said nothing as Alessa tapped the knife against the lump bobbing in the Captain’s throat. He could have disarmed her. They both knew it. But she was his Finestra, and if she wanted to kill him, he would let her.
“I will forgive you, Captain,” Alessa said, her words clipped. “If you swear from this point forward you will report directly to me about any concerns regarding my safety.”
Captain Papatonis croaked his assent.
“And if you ever attempt another stunt like that without my approval,” she said, “I’ll feed you to a scarabeo myself.”
“Wonderful. Now that we’ve settled that,” Tomo said, “we’d like to speak with the prisoner before we make our recommendations to the Consiglio.”
The Captain ran a finger beneath his collar as Alessa lowered the dagger. “I’m not sure that’s safe.”
“If the three of us can’t protect ourselves against one chained ghiotte, we’d be pretty pathetic saviors, don’t you think?” Renata said.
“And, besides,” Tomo said with a bland smile, “the Finestra is armed.”
The captain had no rebuttal.
Inside the room, Dante sat against the wall, ankles bound, hands tied behind his back. He could have looked ferocious—monstrous, even—but Alessa only saw fear in his coiled muscles, desperation in his sneering bravado. His gaze locked on her as if he was drowning and she held the only rope.
“Leave us, Captain,” Tomo said.
Alessa managed to wait for the door to close before kneeling to wrap her arms around Dante’s neck. His body was rigid as iron, brittle as glass.
“I hate to intrude, but we need some answers,” Tomo said. “What do you have to say for yourself, boy? Why did you come to the Cittadella? For money? Power?”
Dante scuffed a toe on the ground. “She asked me to.”
“Any other reasons?”
Alessa took a long breath. “He wanted to find information about other ghiotte. Where they might have gone. And we’ve been looking for clues about where the Fonte di Guarigione might be, if it still exists.”
“Why?” Renata asked Dante. “You already have its power.”
“I thought if I found it, maybe we’d be forgiven.” Every word he said seemed to hurt, as though he had to carve the truth out of himself. “Or at least left alone.”
“And you, Finestra?” Tomo said. “How long have you known?”
Alessa pressed her forehead to the tight tendons of Dante’s neck for several breaths before standing to face her mentors.
“A while. He’s been helping me learn to manage my power. That’s why it was going so well … until it wasn’t.”
“Has he ever tried to hurt you?” Tomo said.
Hurt, yes. Tried? “No. And he had plenty of opportunity. He was kind to me when no one else was. Dante has a million reasons to be cruel and heartless—” She laughed sadly. “But he’s absolutely terrible at being evil.”
Dante’s breath shuddered out of him. “I was already planning to leave after Divorando, so you don’t have to worry about me tarnishing her further.”
A hole tore open in Alessa’s chest. “Once people see—”
He shook his head. “If you let me out, everyone will think they were right about you. I’m not worth it.”
“You’re worth it to me.”
Renata’s brows drew together. “You think they’ll stand by you if you ally yourself with a ghiotte? You’re too smart for that, Alessa. When Divorando is over, you two can run away with each other, for all I care. I’ll commission a ship for you, and … I’ll train the next Finestra. Right now, you need to focus on saving Saverio. If you don’t, he’ll be dead anyway.”
“I’m afraid she’s right.” Tomo took Renata’s hand. “We’ve asked far too much of you, dear girl, but right now, Saverio needs you more than you need him. No offense, young man.”
“He’s imprisoned, not dead,” Renata said firmly. “Now, Tomo and I will take what we’ve learned from our interrogation and persuade the Consiglio to keep it that way. In the meantime, you will visit your bedridden Fonte and make sure our little stunt didn’t kill him once and for all.”
The Cittadella buzzed with soldiers whispering about the monster in their midst and servants breathlessly relaying the news to every person who crossed their path, as though anyone in Saverio hadn’t already heard it ten times over.
Alessa saw more concern on their faces during her walk through the building than she had while grieving all her dead Fontes combined.
Their fear and anger had a new target now, a shared enemy, and everyone swelled with righteous fury that a monster had tricked their beloved savior.
One young soldier blocked her path to the stairs, blubbering and taking a knee.
Alessa fumbled her way through absolving the young man, acutely aware how many people were watching to see if she’d offer mercy.
After so many years wishing for a bit of sympathy, she finally had it—because the man she loved was taking the blame for every harm she’d ever done.
Kaleb’s eyes fluttered open as she cracked the door to the Fonte suite.
“You’re awake,” she said, coming in. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened. Everything was fine. Good, even, but … it fell apart.”
“Yuck. Apologies are so awkward.” Kaleb wrinkled his nose. “Besides, it looks like I might have a heart thing. Doctor says it wouldn’t usually be a big deal, but that power flare-up of yours set it off.”
A heart condition. Not her fault. But he’d endured her touch so many times before without collapsing.
“Sorry,” she said. “I mean, not sorry.”
“The secret’s out, huh?”
She nodded miserably.
“Please stop crying. I can’t take it.”
“All this time thinking Dea’s gift was my greatest weapon, and tears are even more effective at destroying men.”
“You have quite the arsenal,” Kaleb said. “Where is he?”
Alessa plucked at the sheets on the side of the bed. “They’re moving him to an empty crypt while the Consiglio deliberates.”
Kaleb shuddered. “How very gothic. Pour me a glass, will you?”
Alessa reached for the pitcher of water beside his bed, but hesitated before handing it to him.
“Oh, stop. I’m not scared of you,” Kaleb said. “What happens now?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided who’s going to take your place, yet.”
“Why choose?” Kaleb asked. “Bring them all.”
“That would be a sight, wouldn’t it? A whole passel of Fontes on the Peak. We’d run out of room.”
“Nah, one group hug and you’d vanquish the scarabeo with a bigger version of that snowflake tornado you nearly killed me with. Other than backfiring on me, it was pretty awesome.”
Backfiring. Something prodded the back of her mind, disconnected thoughts trying to fit together, but they were interrupted by Tomo and Renata before she’d finished assembling the entire picture.
“It was unanimous,” Tomo said, grave faced. “We persuaded them to wait until after Divorando, but they intend to hold a trial.”
Alessa leapt to her feet. “You said—”
“I said we’d try. And we will. This isn’t over.”
A week earlier, Alessa would have been mortified to weep in front of Kaleb, Tomo, and Renata, but no one seemed disgusted or disappointed, not even Kaleb with his aversion to crying.
Kaleb struggled to sit up. “After all he did for us, they’re going to leave him moldering in a crypt through Divorando, with no way to escape if things go south? And then what? A public stoning?”
“Hopefully not, but for now, we have no choice.” Renata looked at Alessa. “He’ll be given food and water through the bars, but the guards won’t have keys. We made it clear we won’t tolerate any mysterious disappearances or ‘accidental’ deaths. Justice will be served.”
Justice. There was no justice in putting someone on trial for what they were, not what they’d done.
Alessa tried to hold on to the smallest bit of hope. For now, Dante was safe. But he’d be alone through the siege, surrounded by marble tombs and people who hated him.
“Go ahead,” Renata said, taking Alessa by the shoulders. “Cry. Rage. You deserve to. You’re angry, and you should be, but you get to choose whether it will make you bitter or make you better.”
The siren call was strong, but Renata was right. Railing at unfairness wouldn’t help anyone.
“Your people have never truly listened to you before, but they will now.” Renata squeezed Alessa’s shoulders. “Win the battle, and we can find a way to save him. But first, you must win. Don’t waste his sacrifice. Take the power it gives you and use it. He’s not the only one who needs saving.”