by Kirby Crow
“Kon?”
“And Mika. What a combination.”
Marion chose his next words carefully. “Tris can’t ever know about you and Kon,” he said. “Ever, Jean. I mean that.”
Jean flicked the end of his cigarette over the balcony and watched the bright arc vanish. He showed no surprise that Marion knew, and Marion had no desire to tell him how he’d found out. There was already too much bad blood between Jean and the Sessanes.
“He won’t hear it from me,” Jean said. “You were right about him. He’s a good lad. Maybe too good. We’ll have to toughen him up some. Now come here, you beautiful bastard.”
He allowed Jean to pull him into his arms. Jean bent his neck for a kiss, and Marion opened his mouth eagerly. With Tris absent, he found their kisses were different. Jean excited him, but the pull inside his chest was tinged with a sweet ache. It would never again be like it was; just the two of them against the world entire.
Marion broke the kiss and rested his forehead on Jean’s shoulder. “Do you promise?”
Jean stroked his hair gently and placed a kiss on the crown of his head. “You have my oath, amato.”
It would have to be enough. They were long past having words on the matter. Marion looked down at the pendant in his hand, turning it to rub his fingers over the inscription: Not all of me shall die.
“I left it hanging from Aureo's neck on the Arsenale,” he whispered. “I thought it lost. I should have made sure.”
“An error we can amend. We don’t get a chance to do that very often.”
The heavy necklace splashed with a muted plunk as it struck the surface of the Canal Tignola flowing past the mansion. The next winter aqua alta would sweep it into the sea. Until then, it would rest at the bottom of the canal like a shadow of memory; a grave warning of resurrecting the past.
“Old lives and ash,” Marion said. His voice was stronger. He took Jean’s hand and led him home.
About the Author
Kirby Crow is an American writer born and raised in the Deep South. She is a winner of the EPIC Award and the Rainbow Award, and is the author of the bestselling Scarlet and the White Wolf series of fantasy novels. Kirby and her husband and their son share an old, lopsided house in the Blue Ridge with a cat. Always a cat.
More Books by Kirby Crow
Prisoner of the Raven
Scarlet and the White Wolf, Book 1: The Pedlar and the Bandit King
Scarlet and the White Wolf, Book 2: Mariner’s Luck
Scarlet and the White Wolf, Book 3: The Land of Night
Scarlet and the White Wolf, Book 4: The King of Forever
Angels of the Deep
Circuit Theory
Hammer and Bone
Poison Apples
Malachite, Book 1 of the Paladin Cycle
Meridian (Mirror Series #1)
Coming Soon
Scarlet and the White Wolf, Book 5: The Temple Road
Windward (Mirror Series #2)
For news of Kirby Crow’s future novels, visit her website at http://KirbyCrow.com
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