With buildings lining both sides and blocking the sunlight, they walked mostly in shadows. In the tiny alley, Tavros could have stood in the middle with his arms outstretched and touched the houses on both sides. They came to a second alley, then a quick zig-zag took them into an even smaller one.
Suddenly, they were standing in front of a four-story house with patios on every floor, marble columns supporting marble arches over each. In the corner was a circular staircase, the entire thing built in the same manner as the patios, with marble columns and arches slowly spiraling to the heavens. In front of the house was a small courtyard with a plot of grass, a single tree, and a well.
“What is this place?” Antonia’s muffled voice was the only sound.
“You’ll see.” Tavros reached through the locked iron gate and lifted a rock next to the tree, retrieving a cast iron key from underneath. He used it to unlock the bronze padlock, then swung open the gate, stepping aside so Antonia could pass before locking it again. He escorted her to the bottom of the staircase, then stopped.
They were in the shade between the house and the stairwell, hidden from anyone who might have walked down the same tiny alley, unlikely as that seemed.
“Nobody will see us talking here,” he assured her.
“Who owns this house? How do you know where they keep the key?”
“I don’t know who the owners are. One of the carpenter foremen from the shipyard was hired to do some work here, and he paid me to make candle lanterns. I came with him to install them.”
“But they’ll find us,” she said, worry in her muffled voice.
“They can’t. They’re in Spain for three months. We are safe from the world here.”
Tavros stood before Antonia and brought his hands to her face.
“Your mask is so lovely, only the promise of seeing your face could motivate me to do this.”
Without asking permission, he gently removed the mask, and Antonia’s hat along with it.
She was even more beautiful than he remembered. He watched as she checked to make sure her hair was still in place, then her green eyes looked up at him. Her smile was radiant, and when she licked her dry lips, he wanted badly to kiss them.
“Now you,” she said. “The beast mask is impressive, but I wish to gaze upon your face while we talk.”
Tavros took hold of the mask and carefully lifted it from his head. Before he had even removed it completely, something startled Antonia. She gasped loudly and took several steps back, away from him.
The initial look of fright in her eyes quickly gave way to confusion.
“It’s you,” she whispered in awe. “You’re the beast.”
Chapter 22
Antonia
Something clicked in Antonia’s mind when she looked up as Tavros removed his mask.
She had seen this before. The horned bull’s head atop his body. The image that came to her was as fully formed as if it were appearing now before her eyes.
It was in the little cabin on the gondola, just after he had kissed her. She even remembered feeling the coarse hair on his neck and shoulders. There was no doubt in her mind.
But could Tavros actually be the beast? Would that even be possible?
She was momentarily frightened but then reassured herself that he would never hurt her. And she was likewise confident the beast meant no harm.
“It’s you,” she whispered in awe. “You’re the Beast of Venice.”
“No, I’m not,” Tavros replied immediately, his deep voice registering concern. “This is just a mask.” He held it for her to examine.
“In the gondola that night, I remember seeing you after we… after we kissed. I recall your horns, your snout, and these same silver eyes, only darker. It was you, Tavros. I know it.”
His breathing grew heavy and his face showed fear and doubt.
“I… I don’t know what to say without scaring you away.”
The pain in his voice was audible.
Antonia placed a hand on his chest. “It changes nothing,” she said softly. Rising on her tiptoes, she planted a sweet kiss on his lips. The feeling of his beard tickled her, then she felt her pulse racing.
Tavros wrapped his arms around her and embraced her tightly. She returned his hug, sliding her hands under his cape and feeling his strong back muscles.
That seemed to relieve the blacksmith. He exhaled as he leaned back, and Antonia found herself looking into those silver eyes at close range.
“This must remain a secret,” he urged. “My very life depends on it.”
“I understand, Tavros. I would never tell anyone.” She searched his eyes for a glimpse of the beast but found none. “You… you’re a minotaur.”
Tavros seemed surprised. “You know about minotaurs?”
“Very little. I was told they are the descendants of King Minos of Crete.”
He laughed softly. “If only that were true. My father was a plum farmer, not a king. Besides, I grew up on the island of Thirio, not on Crete.”
“Did your parents know? About your…”
“My affliction? The curse?” Tavros asked ruefully. “They learned at the same time I did, when I was only a child. They were as shocked as I was and taught me to hide it.”
Antonia held up his mask. “And I see you learned well.”
“I thought it might get your attention if you were at Summer Carnival. Apparently, it worked.”
She gave him a demure smile.
“What causes you to become him, the beast?”
“It tends to happen when I am extremely frightened or angry.”
“And do your thoughts change as well?”
“My thoughts? They don’t change greatly, but it’s like trying to see in a fog. They’re still my thoughts, though. I’m still inside there.”
She nodded thoughtfully, then her lips curved into a smile. “You did not seem frightened or angry that night on the gondola when it happened.”
Tavros shook his head and looked away. “No. It can happen at other times as well.” He abruptly changed the subject. “So where is this fiancé of yours today? Did he not escort you to Summer Carnival?”
Giovanni! She had forgotten all about him.
“He did escort me, but he was more interested in talking to his friend.”
Tavros’s eyes roamed slowly up and down her dress. “How could any man not be totally captivated by this sight?”
Antonia blushed at the compliment, thrilled to be noticed like this. She sucked in a breath when Tavros placed his hand to her cheek, and when he leaned into her and pressed his lips to hers, she felt she might melt. It was a soft, gentle kiss that only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was enough to ignite her passion.
Pulling back, he let his eyes move from hers downward. He traced a finger over her collarbone and said, “This alone is enough to make me ignore an entire city’s worth of friends.”
She felt her breathing deepen. This man was truly going to drive her insane.
His eyes returned to hers. “Antonia, would you like to see the best view in all of Venice?”
She nodded and replied, “How could any girl say no to an offer like that?”
Tavros offered Antonia his hand, and this time she didn’t refuse the gesture. He began leading her up the stairs, and the higher they climbed, the more butterflies she felt in her stomach. She knew it was dangerous to put herself in this situation, but all the danger was posed by others: her parents and her fiancé. She knew that Tavros represented no threat whatsoever.
And to complicate matters, Antonia was now certain she was in love with him. While she had told her mother as much, at the time it was still a theoretical exercise, something to wonder about. But the moment they kissed at the bottom of the staircase, that love had become a living, breathing thing. She felt it in the pounding of her heart, the lightness in her head, and the tingling in the rest of her body. If he wanted to lead her up the stairs, she would happily follow.
The hem of her d
ress made light noises as it skimmed each step. When they reached the top, Tavros opened a heavy door at the end of the top-floor patio. A darkened flight of stairs led to a final door. When Tavros opened this one, the light of the fading sun came through, and she followed him onto the flat roof of the house.
She sucked in a breath when she saw Venice laid out before her this way, with the sun just beginning to set behind the distant waterfront palaces along the Grand Canal. Oranges, reds, and purples created a dazzling panorama across the rooftops as a gentle breeze caressed her cheeks. Still holding her hand, Tavros walked Antonia closer to the edge before they stopped.
“What do you think?” he asked.
She squeezed his hand tightly. “I’ve lived all my life in Venice and thought I knew the extent of its beauties, but I’ve never seen anything such as this. It’s the most mesmerizing sight anywhere on the island.”
Tavros was not looking at the sunset, but instead stared directly at Antonia. “Not today, it isn’t.”
She blushed, then glanced around at the neighboring houses. This rooftop was taller than most, and certainly anyone who might be in a position to see them would be far enough away to not be able to identify them.
When she returned her gaze to him and saw he was still staring at her, she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. He returned her embrace and she burrowed into him, her hands roaming down from his shoulders to the small of his back. Tavros didn’t smell powdery and perfumed, unlike Giovanni, whose overly sweet scent followed him like an invisible cloud.
“You are not afraid of me?” Tavros asked softly. Pressed against him, she felt his deep voice resonate in her breasts and was shocked at the intimacy of the sensation.
Releasing him enough to look up into his eyes, she said, “Not at all. Should I be?”
“Yes. But not for the reasons you might think.”
“I dread to ask: For what reasons, then?”
“Because I cannot stand idly by while you marry Giovanni Donato.”
Antonia’s heart was pounding. “Then we are of the same mind, because I have no desire to marry him.”
“You don’t love him?”
She playfully replied, “Good sir, I would not allow you to kiss me if my heart belonged to another.”
“To whom would it belong, then, if I kiss you once more?”
She couldn’t suppress her grin. “I’m afraid I would require several more kisses before I could properly make an important determination such as that.”
Tavros didn’t hesitate. When his lips touched hers this time, there was obvious intention. His beard brushed against her face as his tongue demanded entrance. When his strong arms pulled her tightly against his body, she felt herself wanting him in ways she had never wanted a man before. She moaned into him, unashamed at the level of her excitement.
Without letting her go, Tavros looked deep into her eyes and said, “Fate brought us together for a reason, Antonia.”
Her pulse raced at hearing him say her name. “I believe that as well. I have never known a man like you.” When he raised an eyebrow, she added, “You know how those words were intended.”
“How do we solve this dilemma that threatens to separate us?”
Antonia refused to let herself cry over what was to be. She wanted this time with Tavros without having to think about her empty future.
“I do not want to discuss that tonight, Tavros.” She looked at the sunset, rapidly turning from red to violet. “I would prefer we instead explore the thing that draws us to each other. Perhaps we could go somewhere where eyes cannot possibly see us.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she hoped she had not been too forward with him. She didn’t regret the sentiment in the slightest, though.
Tavros gazed into her eyes with an intensity she felt could scorch her very soul. Then he released her and, taking her hand again, led her to a small room on the far side of the roof. Opening the door, he took her down another set of stairs, each step darker than the last. Finally, he opened a door and when they stepped through, they were standing in a large rectangular room, with the only light coming from the dusk sunlight as it poured through the cracks of boarded windows on either side.
The house smelled musty. As Antonia was letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, Tavros bent and took her in his strong arms, clutching her against his chest. He strode across the room and nudged open a door with his foot, then stepped through.
The lighting in this room was the same, just a tiny bit through the slit between boards in the window. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, though, enough to see the bed.
“If I am out of line, tell me now and we can go elsewhere,” he said, urgency in his voice.
Antonia could feel his heart beating hard in his chest.
“Would you think less of me if I said this is perfect?”
“My love, there is nothing in this world that could make me think less of you.”
While she tried to catch her breath after hearing him refer to her in those terms, Tavros set her down on the tile floor, then crossed the room to the window and pushed the wooden shutters open. The day’s last rays of sunlight came in, falling directly on the bed.
“It would appear the sun is trying to tell us something before it leaves,” Antonia said, her voice sounding much more nervous than she’d hoped. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks and hoped the darkness hid her blushing.
His hand touched her cheek. “You are impossibly beautiful. I will not rest until I am the man lucky enough to take you for his bride.”
At that moment, Antonia knew she would give Tavros any part of her he wanted, as he had already taken possession of her heart.
His fingers slid to her neck, and with agonizing slowness moved downward. When he found her collarbone, he traced along its length over her lace partlet. Without a word, she reached up under her chin and found the small bow that held the two sides of the partlet together in front. She pulled until one half of the bow came loose, then offered the other end to him.
Tavros understood the gesture and continued pulling until the knot was free. He slid a single finger underneath and again traced her collarbone, this time skin-to-skin. Antonia’s breath deepened as he slowly opened the partlet and slipped his fingers down the middle towards the curve of her breasts.
Then he stepped behind her, and she felt him undoing the laces of her dress. He helped her slide her arms out of the sleeves, and as the air greeted her upper back, she realized how hot she’d become in that gown. The loosened garment fell forward away from her.
Tavros moved in front of her again, and she saw he had removed his cape but was still dressed in his black long-sleeved shirt and black trousers. He glanced at her breasts, barely covered by her linen chemise. When his gaze came up to her eyes, Antonia saw he looked as nervous as she felt.
“I’m afraid I’m far from an expert at this,” he said.
She smiled shyly. “Surely a man like you has undressed many women.”
His nervous answer surprised her. “No, I haven’t. You will be the first.”
The first? How was that possible?
“Let me help a little,” Antonia said as she eased out of her shoes. Taking the dress at her waist, she lowered it enough to step out of the crinoline frame that gave volume to the bottom half. She had to put a hand on Tavros’s shoulder as she carefully freed herself from the gown.
Her breasts pushed against the top of her chemise, which extended down to her ankles. More importantly, it was the sole thing separating her naked body from the man in front of her.
“Take that off,” he said urgently, staring at her breasts through the light linen.
Her breath hitched as she reached to her waist and took the flimsy cloth in her hands, lifting upwards. This was the moment Antonia had looked forward to and dreaded in equal amounts for the last few years. She should have been scared out of her mind, but strangely enough, as she brought the chemise up her body she felt calmer than s
he’d anticipated.
The material passed her breasts and as she pulled it over her head, she felt a rush of excitement course through her as the air hit her naked body. She bashfully held the chemise in front of her, but Tavros gently took it from her and set it on the table where she’d placed her dress.
Antonia wanted to climb into the bed and hide under a blanket, but when she saw how hungrily his silver eyes took in her nakedness, she found the boldness to remain there with him. His hand reached out and softly caressed her breast, and she felt her nipple react and stiffen to a peak immediately. Tavros touched her other breast as well, kneading her soft flesh.
Without warning, his hands flew to his temples and he lurched backwards. A pitiful moan followed immediately as he doubled over in obvious pain.
“Tavros!”
Antonia started to ask him what was wrong, but she knew the answer when she saw the coarse hair sprouting on his shoulders.
“Get away!” he warned pitifully. “Do not come near me!”
He quickly moved across the room away from her. In his agony, Tavros’s anguished cry revealed a lifelong torment that was as much emotional as physical.
Chapter 23
Tavros
Why now? Why?
Tavros’s curse had returned yet again to ensure his life remained one of misery and longing. He heard his shirt ripping and remained doubled over, groaning as the transformation continued, aware that at any moment Antonia would likely faint or flee in fear.
When it was complete, he rose and saw her still standing before him, naked. He was transfixed by the sight, and only broke away at the sound of his own beastly breathing.
“Go!” he shouted brusquely. “Leave me.” The voice he heard was no longer his own, but the beast’s, gruff and guttural. He hung his head, feeling as distraught as he could ever remember being.
Antonia didn’t budge, though. He saw her feet hadn’t moved an inch. She stood her ground, as brave as she was naked.
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