by Debra Dunbar
We drove in silence for a while, my heart heavy. Eventually she gave me directions to the villa. I’d had her text Irix for me, telling him to warn Daniela and her family for me, but urge them not to go on the attack. With his help, I didn’t need to be in quite in the tearing hurry that I’d been before. I could take the time to get Bianca settled into her villa, to make sure she was safe there with Ilaria before I left.
Irix and I had approached the villa from the lake, so I was completely lost and reliant on Bianca for her directions down the twisting and turning roads through the steep mountainside that the villa backed onto.
Finally there, we approached a huge black metal gate, ornate flying dragons along the top. Bianca leaned out and typed in the code and the gate swung inward, closing right after we passed through. I parked in a carport, then followed her down a gravel path that opened to the view that had taken my breath away earlier this week. We were up high, looking down at the roof of the stepped villa and the lake beyond. I felt like I could see forever. There was no way dragons could sneak up on this place in their winged form, at least with this vantage point.
“I used to shift up here and fly down, swooping along the lake to land on the lawn out front.” She smiled fondly. “Uncle Guido would always scold, saying that we should not be in dragon form unless it was an emergency. He was worried that the humans might one day decide they didn’t want to live next to creatures such as us, and in our complacency, we’d be vulnerable. He was also worried about pushing the fact of our presence too much into the Sommarivas’ face. But I like to fly. I wish we could all fly without fear.”
I did, too.
We went down the narrow steep steps, past the path to the grotto where I’d first seen Bianca and Sergio together, past the two rooms separated by the arches with the wide lawn where Irix proposed, and into the villa.
“Ilaria!” Bianca called out, but there was no answer.
Just as I’d been reluctant to drop Bianca at the gates and drive off, I didn’t want to leave her here until we’d located Ilaria. There was a war brewing, and for all I knew, someone would sneak in here and do her harm. I believed Daniela’s promise, but if there was a renegade in the Sommariva clan, they may seek to assassinate Bianca. And if, as I was beginning to wonder, there were someone in the Montenegro clan who was using the war as a pretext to kill Sergio, then they might search here, thinking he’d taken refuge in the one place his family wouldn’t look.
There were no dragons in the skies yet. Irix was delivering my early warning. No matter how much I itched to be where I could hold these two warring families off before they wreaked havoc on the lakeside towns, I couldn’t leave Bianca alone.
We searched but still couldn’t find the woman.
“Maybe she’s with the others preparing to fight?” I asked Bianca.
She shook her head. “She’d fight from here. If they wanted her to join in, then she’d meet them here, close to the villa. She wouldn’t go back to the castle only to return with the others. First, she can keep an eye on things and let the others know what to expect in terms of Sommariva readiness. Secondly, she’s very bonded with the villa. It’s her treasure. She aches when she has to leave here. In some ways, she’s more bonded to the villa than I am.”
“Because of her age?” I asked, making myself at home and plopping on a sofa. If the woman didn’t turn up soon, I’d need to text Irix and let him know I was staying here for the foreseeable future…and hope that he could hold Daniela back from any action that might be construed as being on the offensive.
“It’s not just that. Some of us bond more tightly to our possessions than others. Some of us are more dragon than human. Others more human than dragon.”
She sat as well, but perched on the edge of a sofa, her eyes continually straying toward the desk. And I was pretty sure I knew why.
“So Sergio is here? Hidden in one of the secret passageways in the house?” I asked casually.
She shot me a nervous glance. “No. Why would you say that? It wouldn’t be safe for him to hide here, with Ilaria in residence. She’d find him and attack him, chase him away from our treasure. She knows the passageways as well as I do.”
“Not all the passageways.” I watched her pick at the hem of her sleeve and fidget at my words. “Your Uncle Guido showed all of them to you because he was planning to let you have this treasure upon his death. He would have kept some of that back from Ilaria. A man doesn’t build a labyrinth of secret passageways in and around his home for protection from his enemies, then tell everyone about it.”
She sighed, looking again toward the desk. “It was the safest place, the one place his family would not dare step foot on to search for him. Our sense of smell was one of the first things to be blunted when we started interbreeding with humans. As long as he stayed hidden and quiet, Ilaria would never know he was here. It’s how I planned to sneak him in and out once our families came to an agreement on territories. It’s how we were going to continue to see each other if we couldn’t get married and live openly together.”
“His mother is very worried about him,” I told her.
“Sergio believes if he stays away until there is an agreement for peace, his absence will give greater incentive.” She glanced again toward the desk. “He’s deep in a passageway that leads to a neighboring home on the other side of the mountain—a sympathetic human who was a friend of Uncle Guido’s. When it is safe, I’ll go get him. Until then, it’s best if he stays hidden from all except me and our human friend.”
I heard a door slam, and a breathless Ilaria burst into the room, her purse on her arm.
“Bianca! You should be at the castle where you’d be safe. Does your grandmother know you’re here?”
Bianca jumped up and ran to Ilaria, hugging her tightly. “No. They locked me in my room, and are busy with their plans. I’m sure none of them has checked on me yet. Even if they do, my car is still in the driveway, and I obviously didn’t fly out. They’ll think I’m still there.”
Ilaria smiled. “Clever naughty girl. Your human friend here smuggled you out, didn’t she?”
“Yes. I had to be here, to protect my treasure in the coming battle. Ilaria, Amber thinks the Sommarivas didn’t attack our vineyard, that maybe this is a ploy by one of our own to have Sergio killed in battle.”
The woman shot me a quick look. “That seems like a lot of work to go to when patience and a knife in the back would do the job just as well.”
Bianca pulled away from her. “I love him, Ilaria. I would never forgive a kinsman who killed my mate. I’d make sure any dragon that harmed him suffered the same fate.”
“Calm down little one. I was only pointing out the absurdity of your friend’s idea.” She smoothed a hand down Bianca’s hair, still smiling. “I have nothing against that boy. In fact, I’d be thrilled if you both were able to be together forever, to never spend a moment apart.”
Bianca beamed. I knew she was thinking that the future would be so much easier if Ilaria could be a coconspirator in sneaking Sergio in and out. If the woman was as bonded to the villa as she said, then she’d be unlikely to leave it and give the lovers a chance to be together.
But something bothered me. Her casual dismissal of my theory, the lack of fretting over Bianca’s presence in what was about to become a war zone. Maybe Ilaria thought to lure Sergio out with her neutral stance, only to be the one plunging a knife into his back.
“You’re free to go now, Amber,” Bianca told me. “Thank you for giving me a lift, and for keeping me company until Ilaria returned. I’ll be safe now.”
“You won’t leave the villa?” I insisted. “If the fighting comes too close, you’ll escape through the passageways?”
She nodded and I saw a shadow pass in the distance—the shape of a huge black dragon against the snowy cap of a mountain. I glanced out and saw other shapes on the horizon. It was about to begin. And I really did need to get back to Irix before I was stuck right in the middle of the ba
ttle.
Chapter 24
I said my goodbyes, gave Bianca a hug and those air-kisses that these Italians did, and headed out. It wasn’t until I reached my car that I got that weird sense of something wrong. My car hood was still warm from the drive here, parked right outside the carport. There was only one other car there—a blue Fiat. It had been there when we’d arrived. Bianca had left her car at the castle.
Ilaria’s car. And it had been here when we arrived. Where had she gone with her purse on her arm that she hadn’t taken her car? It would have been ridiculous for her to shift into her dragon form and fly somewhere, as she’d be naked and without her purse when she arrived. And the villa was on the side of a mountain, inaccessible aside from the lake or this access road. She’d hardly have gone hiking around the mountain dressed as she was with a four-hundred-dollar designer purse on her arm. And with the open windows, we would have heard her come in by boat.
Ilaria had been in or around the villa the whole time, either on the grounds or in one of the secret passageways. She’d grabbed her purse and slammed that door shut on purpose, to make us think she’d just come back from some trip to town.
I ran back. Had the woman hoped to eavesdrop and find out where Sergio was hidden? Did she now hope to gain Bianca’s confidence and get her to reveal her lover’s whereabouts?
I burst through the door and came upon a scene from a crime show. There was blood splattered on the silk wallpaper, blood soaking the rug. The desk had been shoved aside, revealing an opening in the floor. And there, standing over a body was Sergio.
Terror warred with relief. Sergio was unhurt by the look of him, even though he was covered with blood, but as his odd dragon eyes turned to mine, I saw shock and horror in them.
The body…it was a woman by the legs and shoes. I caught my breath.
Bianca rose from behind the desk and I nearly passed out in relief. She was covered in blood, holding a knife, her face ashen.
“Did she try to kill Sergio?” I came around the desk to see that the woman on the ground, was, in fact, Ilaria. And she was dead.
“No.” Bianca’s voice shook. “She tried to kill me. I’ve known her my whole life. I trusted her. Uncle Guido trusted her.
That was about when I realized that some of the blood on Bianca was her own. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, her eyes welling up with tears. “She cut my arm and I got the desk between us before she could strike again. She said… she said that if I was dead, the villa would be hers.”
“I heard her scream and came running, but couldn’t get out of the tunnel.” Sergio gestured at the desk. “Bianca let me in.”
“He startled Ilaria pounding on the tunnel door, and I jumped her when she was distracted. I didn’t mean to kill her.”
Bianca started to sob and Sergio gathered her in his arms, bloody clothing, knife and all.
Had Ilaria been the one who had killed Guido? Had she planned on using the battle as cover for assassinating Bianca? And the big question…
“Would she have inherited Villa Montenegro if you’d died?” I asked.
“There was no clause in Uncle Guido’s will naming her so, and I have no will.” Bianca looked down at her cousin through her tears, still in Sergio’s arms. “The villa would have gone to Grandmother and been part of her family holding. Ilaria wouldn’t have gotten it unless Grandmother gave it to her.”
I was starting to get a bad feeling about all this. “And if your grandmother died? With you gone?”
“Where are you going with all this?” Sergio demanded.
I ignored him. “Bianca? Who would inherit?”
She took a deep breath, putting a few inches between herself and Sergio, but still keeping her arms around him. “With all her children and only grandchild deceased, the family treasure would go to my great-uncle, Marcus. And so would the villa.”
“And does your uncle have any particular attachment to this villa?”
She shook her head. “No…not really. He’d probably sell it if he ended up with it. The castle and the vineyards and the tower and the winery he loves as if it is his own, but this villa means nothing to him.”
“So it wouldn’t be a big deal for him to give it to someone, say a cousin, who served him well? Who helped him inherit the treasure he really does want?”
Sergio growled and looked down at Ilaria’s body. “Someone promised her the villa if she killed you, and Marcus would be the only one in the position to do that if you died, Bianca.”
“Aside from your mother,” she snapped back. “The villa is in your family’s territory, after all. She’s already threatened to kill me. It would be easy for her to promise Ilaria she’d seize the villa upon my death and allow her to purchase it on the sly.”
“My mother wouldn’t do such a thing,” Sergio retorted.
“She tried to burn me,” Bianca snapped back. “She’d be getting rid of her son’s unsavory choice in a mate, throwing her clan’s enemies into chaos and most likely hastening my grandmother’s death with my murder. And it would be easy for her to go back on her promise to Ilaria or kill the woman after it all was done.”
The other dragon snarled. “She wouldn’t do that, Bianca. Besides, then she would need to face Marcus, who is not in his Melancholy and wouldn’t hesitate to burn us to the ground. Even if she were so cruel as to plot in cold blood to kill my mate, she wouldn’t be so foolish as to trade an enemy who only wants to be left alone in her sorrow for one who is quite eager and capable of killing us all.”
“He’s right,” I told her. “Daniela and her family weren’t responsible for the lame attack on your family’s treasures last night, and they’re not behind this. It’s Marcus.”
Bianca caught her breath. “He’s not so stupid. He’d never get away with it. Grandmother would kill him for plotting my murder.”
“Not if your Grandmother thought the Sommarivas killed you. You snuck out. You were here, in their territory at your villa in the middle of a battle. She’d think that one of them—probably Daniela since she threatened you—snuck in and killed you.”
“No.” She shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t.”
“Yes, he would.”
I froze at the deep masculine voice, turning to see Marcus standing in the doorway.
“And now I don’t have to worry about Ilaria blackmailing me.” He walked over to look down at the body and the rest of us edged around the desk. “How convenient.”
Crap. I knew, without him saying another word, that none of us were to leave this room alive. Even me. He might have spared me as someone he thought human, but not after I’d made a big deal about brokering peace between them, and made it clear that I was very much involved in matters between these two families. I knew he’d never let me out of here alive. I’d end up a casualty of this battle, just like Bianca and Sergio.
A long, thin knife appeared in his hand, a duplicate to the one Bianca had taken from Ilaria. “Let’s do this easy, shall we? Quick and painless, just like Guido. We don’t want to destroy your pretty treasure now do we Bianca? I’ll even let you name which cousin you want me to give this wretched place to.”
We all shuffled a few steps around the desk, and I saw that our movements weren’t just to keep the furniture between us and Marcus. There was a tunnel under this desk, an escape route. And every step we took brought us closer to it.
“I won’t let you kill her,” Sergio vowed.
I felt the same, but I was holding my speeches, waiting to see how this played out before I made my move.
“It would be a shame for you to resist.” Marcus took another step. “If you fight me, we’ll do it as dragons, and a reptile my size is going to seriously damage this room and the priceless valuables inside it. Afterward I’ll make sure to burn as much of it to ash as I can. You’ll both still die, but Bianca will die in agony, knowing that her treasure has been destroyed.”
“I’d rather die fighting,” she vowed. “If the vil
la is damaged in the process…well, that’s the price I’ll pay for not laying down and letting you slit my throat.”
We continued our slow dance around the desk. Marcus made a tsk noise, but before he could say another word, Bianca stepped over the opening and dropped straight down.
Marcus shouted and lunged, but just as Bianca vanished, Sergio transformed, ripping his clothes and knocking everything aside, including me, as he became a black dragon.
By the time I’d rolled to my feet, Marcus was a dragon as well, and I could do nothing but dive and duck, hugging the edges of the room as the pair of them lashed into each other.
Well, there was one thing I could do. Huddling in a corner, I pulled out my phone and texted Irix.
I could hardly tell which dragon was which. They were grappling, intertwined as their mouths bit down on shoulders and torsos. Wings flailed, talons at the very edges slashing and tearing through the leathery membranes. Powerful legs kicked and scraped as they tried to dig claws into the hard scales covering their flesh. It was all I could do to keep from being trampled or concussed by swinging wings and tails. The noise was deafening—roars and the sound of smashing furniture and broken glass as shelves crashed and the desk and chairs were stomped on and knocked into walls. The silk wallpaper was torn and shredded, the stone underneath dented from the repeated blows. Marcus kicked out a back leg as he lunged forward, and sunlight streamed through the hole he knocked through the thick wall.
I cowered and ducked, wondering what I could do. There wasn’t a plant in the house for me to speed-grow. That was my one big trick, aside from a few things with water that I’d done in Maui, and there was none of that nearby either. The only thing left in my lame half-breed arsenal was lightning, and I was reluctant to unleash that in such close confines. Looking around, I saw something that might be of use and ran across the room, jumping over a swinging tail and climbing up a low, splintered shelving unit to yank a sword out of a decorative teak holder.