“You really want to know?” she asks.
“I do.”
“It can’t hurt. I’m almost out of time anyway.”
I remain silent.
“I’m not alone. I mean, I have someone.”
“A boyfriend?” My jaw tenses.
“On no, not a boyfriend.” She drinks a little more. A lot more, actually. “A villain.”
I try to take the bottle, but she doesn’t let go. “Haven’t you had enough?”
“Nope!” She bounces up from the bench then, bottle in her hand.
A firefly flies past her and she spins to watch it, stumbles.
I stand, catching her as she trips. I relieve her of the bottle.
We’re standing close, and I study her whiskey-colored eyes in the moonlight and see how she licks her lips. I lick mine too and this close, I can smell her shampoo and the soft scent of her skin.
She reaches up and touches the exposed part of my face, and I wrap one arm around her, telling myself I’m only doing it because she’s unsteady. She stands on tip toe and she’s so close, but her forehead furrows then and she blinks once, twice, squinting.
“I know you,” she says.
A gong-like sound goes off then.
“Tell me the rest of the Swan Maiden’s story.”
She steps out of my embrace, then reaches up to take hold of my mask.
I grab her wrist to stop her.
“I know you!” she cries out.
The gong goes again.
“Tell me the rest of the story, Lucia.”
“Let me go.”
I don’t. Instead, I take my phone out of my pocket and dial the soldiers who are waiting nearby. “Bring one of the cars around.”
“I said let me go!” She leaps up, grabs my mask with her other hand, and tears it from my face, gasping the instant she does. “It’s you!” Her eyes fill with tears as she backs away a step.
I move closer. I’ve still got her wrist. “Tell me the rest of the story.”
“You already know it!” She swings her free arm to slap me, but I catch that one too, twist them both behind her back and tug her to me, shifting my grip. “Let me go!”
“You shouldn’t be here, Lucia.”
“I should be a good girl and wait for you to come get me? You bastard!”
“Where’s your father?”
“Not here.”
I shift my grip to take her by her arms, bringing her close. “Are you sure?”
“He doesn’t even know I’m here.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She nods frantically. “Don’t hurt him. It’s not his fault. I snuck out. It’s mine.” She stares up at me, her jaw set, on the verge of tears.
“How did you even get here?”
She just shakes her head.
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She shakes her head again.
“Fine. Does anyone beside Tinsley Constantine know you’re here?”
“No.” One of those tears spills down her cheek. “You spoiled even this for me. This one night. Did you know all along? Were you just laughing at me this whole time?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t know it was you until I took your mask off and no, I wasn’t laughing at you.”
We look at each other for a long minute, the magic of moments ago gone. Something else in its place. Something harder, more volatile.
“You’re wrong, you know,” I say.
“Wrong about what?”
“The villain in your story. You left something out.”
“What’s that?”
“He did return her feather cloak, and the instant he did, she took it and transformed back into a swan, and without a moment’s hesitation, she flew away. Away from him, her husband.”
“Good for her.”
“Do you know what happened to him, Lucia?”
She doesn’t reply, but from the look on her face I’m sure she knows.
“I think you like to spin your stories. But just because you tell it a certain way, doesn’t mean it is that way.” The door on the patio opens, and I see two soldiers approach.
She cranes her neck, sees them, and tries to free herself, but I hold fast.
“You see, Lucia, he was in love with her. The villain loved the Swan Maiden truly.”
“That doesn’t give him the right to kidnap her. To force her to marry him.”
“And when she left, he no longer had the desire to live. He was dead within a year.”
“Good,” she spits.
“Not good.”
The soldiers stand a few feet away.
“What are you going to do?” she asks, looking at them, then back at me.
“They’re going to take you home.”
“That nunnery isn’t my home.”
“They’re going to take you home,” I repeat. “And you’re not going to mention this night ever again, not to anyone. Do you understand?”
She swallows.
“Do you understand?”
She nods.
“Good. Go.”
“Is that all? You’re not going to punish me?”
“Aren’t we both being punished enough?” I ask, truly meaning it.
She blinks rapidly, trying to control the tears, but I think she understands. Or maybe I’m being an idiot.
I release her and gesture to one of the soldiers who steps forward.
Picking up her mask from the ground where it’s fallen, I put it on her. She stands still while I do it. I tilt her chin up and look into her eyes, then bend down to graze my lips against hers.
The instant I do, I hear the snap of her teeth and feel their bite.
I draw back, touch my finger to my lips and see the smear of blood.
It was worth it.
I’m not sure what she’s expecting, but she braces herself when I meet her eyes again.
I lean close, inhale her scent one more time.
“I’ll remember that,” I say and take her earlobe between my teeth and listen to her gasp, feel her hands come to my chest, my shoulders.
“I hope you will, Salvatore Benedetti,” she says, voice trembling. When I draw back, I see how the pupils of her eyes have dilated. “Because our story has only begun.”
“Good night, Lucia.”
She just glares at me.
I gesture to the soldier who takes her and watch them walk away.
“Lucia,” I call out.
They stop, and she turns to me.
“Happy birthday.”
She flips me off, and the soldier tugs her toward the house.
She’s right. Our story has only begun.
Just barely.
Salvatore and Lucia’s story is told in Salvatore: a Dark Mafia Romance. It’s the first book of the Benedetti Brothers Dark Mafia series of five standalone novels.
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Cinderella
Aleatha Romig
Author’s Note
Danger’s First Kiss is a modern-day Cinderella story set in the Sparrow Webs World.