“Please don’t be here,” I whispered to myself. “Please, please...”
Luc’s deep voice rang out in Italian, echoing through the room. I looked toward the dais, where he was now kneeling on the bottom step, repeating, it sounded, what the Grande Cavaliere had just said.
The Grande Cavaliere moved to the altar, grabbed what looked to be a medal of some kind on a red ribbon, and came back. Stepping in front of Luc, he clasped the medal around Luc’s neck, and spoke in Italian.
Luc repeated the words, then the entire chamber chanted the same words in answer. The Grande Cavaliere stepped back and held up his hands. Luc rose, and my heart raced as Luc turned on the steps to face the room of hidden faces.
“Ti present, il Granduca di Toscana,” the Grande Cavaliere called out.
“Il Granduca!” the members in the room responded as one.
Luc showed no emotional reaction—no joy or happiness, no anger or disgust. He was nothing but rock-solid strength, and tears blurred my vision as I gazed at him, pride and love swelling inside me for all he’d done and been and overcome in his life.
He might not think himself a good man, but he was. He was the best kind of man. My man. The only one I would ever want.
Someone moved up on my right as Luc began to speak to the room in Italian. I didn’t want to look away, but the caped individual pushed a series of papers in front of me and held out a pen.
I glanced up, only to falter at the hard dark eyes peering down at me from behind that mask. They weren’t Giovanni’s eyes, but that didn’t ease my sudden fear any because the mystery man was still staring at me with contempt. Still watching me. Still waiting.
I swallowed hard and looked down at the papers. They were written in Italian. I couldn’t make out a single word. And my vision was blurring all over again, this time not from pride but from fear at being so close to one of them.
“As a wife, you won’t be required to participate in the ceremony, only sign as a witness.”
I latched on to Felicity’s words from earlier, took the pen without touching his fingers, and quickly scribbled my name in the multiple places he indicated. And I didn’t breathe again until he moved away from me and disappeared into the crowd.
I closed my eyes, dropped my head into my hand, and fumbled with the neckline of my dress, searching for the outline of the key beneath the fabric. As my fingers passed over the small object, I breathed a little easier, reminding myself it was almost over. That in a few minutes, I’d be with Luc again, and everything would be okay.
Luc’s voice quieted in the front of the room, and I looked up, curious what was going on. The masked man who’d just been at my side was now stepping up onto the dais with Luc. Luc took the papers from the man’s hand and moved to the altar. Laying them out, he used the same pen I’d just signed with and scribbled his name in multiple places.
Almost. It’s almost over.
Excitement and relief swelled inside me. I was so ready to get out of this room. To never come back here again.
Luc moved back to the steps and looked out over the crowd. “I’m going to announce my first decree in both English and Italian so there is no mistake regarding the finality of my words. I’ve just signed legal paperwork, finalizing the divorce between myself and the American woman, Natalie James Salvatici.”
My eyes flew wide, and I shot to my feet, sure I’d heard him wrong.
“Annulment paperwork has already been filed with the bishop and is currently under review,” Luc continued.
No. Disbelief swirled inside me as whispers echoed through the chamber and my heartbeat turned to a whir in my ears. This had to be some kind of joke. Or a ruse, something Luc was announcing to throw them off.
“As of this moment,” Luc went on, “she is stripped of the Salvatici name, and is henceforth banished from House Salvatici and all its lands.”
Masked faces turned my way. My skin grew hot as people stared at me and their whispers grew louder. The room spun around me as I tried to make sense of what was happening.
I turned to Luc, but he refused to look my way. Didn’t even acknowledge I was there. I glanced over the crowd, searching for Marco, for some indication this was all a lie, but I couldn’t find him. The only face I recognized was Luc’s mother, who was no longer scowling but was now looking down at me with a smug and victorious grin.
“And my second decree is this,” Luc said loudly, bringing a hush over the room. “Natalie James is protected henceforth. Any member of this House or any House in the Entente who so much as contacts her will be immediately sentenced to death without trial. These are my decrees by my right as the Granduca. These are now law.”
He nodded toward a masked man standing at the base of the stairs, then began speaking to the room in Italian, repeating, I was sure, what he’d just announced in English. The masked man wove around the edge of the crowd and drew close to me. Heart in my throat, I backed up, but he took hold of my elbow and turned me with ease.
“No.” I struggled against him, but he was strong, way stronger than me, especially in my injured state. “No!” I screamed. “Luc! Luc, please! Wait!”
The man moved behind me, wrapped his robed arms around my waist, and lifted me off the floor.
Up on the dais, Luc’s voice faltered, but he didn’t look my way. I fought and kicked out against the man dragging me toward the door, fighting back tears and a hysteria I couldn’t control. Luc cleared his throat, straightened his spine, and continued speaking as if I wasn’t even there.
The masked man hauled me out into the dark corridor. The heavy doors snapped closed with a loud clank. I continued to struggle, to fight, to scream for Luc, and then I felt soft fingers against my arm and Felicity’s voice saying, “Natalie. Natalie, focus. I know you don’t understand, but I’ll explain it to you. We’ll explain everything, you just have to calm down.”
I slowed my fight, zeroing in on Felicity’s familiar face in my blurry line of sight.
The man at my back pulled off his mask, and then I heard Marco’s voice behind me, saying, “We have to go before they adjourn.”
“The car’s waiting. This way.”
Felicity took my hand and tugged me at a hurried place toward the other end of the corridor. I sniffled, swiped at my face, tried to keep up, but my head and heart were in a constant battle, and I had no idea what was happening.
“Will someone please, please tell me what’s going on? Where’s Luc? Why did he say those things? He’s meeting us, right? Wherever you’re taking me, he’s going to be there, isn’t he?”
Felicity pushed a heavy door open, and we were suddenly outside in the cool night air, my feet stumbling down a series of steps. A car waited at the end of the short walk.
Felicity rushed around the vehicle and climbed behind the driver’s seat. Marco opened the back door and pushed me in, then climbed in beside me.
“Go,” he said. “And drive fast, vita mia.”
“I don’t understand.” I sucked back air, trying not to panic, trying to convince myself this was all part of some plan. Luc hadn’t divorced me. He couldn’t have. Not like that. “Someone please tell me what just happened in there!”
“Luc just saved you.” Marco handed me a wad of tissues as Felicity whipped the vehicle down the windy road.