Blood and Petals
e city outside. Emilia's footsteps echoed against the stone floor as she made her way through the nave, with her fingers
had often felt cruel and unpredictable to her. But tonight, there was something different about him. The lines o
rchangel. He didn't speak at first, he merely gestured for her to sit. Emilia hesitated befo
ured. His voice was
herself to steel into her tone, though her hands
ome. "Your father's death was not a tragic accident, Emilia." His eyes, they we
y know that," she said, though the bitterness in her voice did littl
pressing together in a silent prayer
i family was
ent, Emilia could only hear the blood rushin
it confirmed everything, and it sent a fres
ispered, barely able t
tegrity, Emilia. He had seen things; he knew things that put him at odds with powerful peopl
s her nails dug into her pa
"I told myself that keeping silent would protect more lives. But my silence only ensured t
e was no way she would let him see her
ice was steadier than how she felt. "Rumors mea
pression. "This contains documents, letters, and photographs. They are evidence of the betrayal. It names names,
elt its weight as though it carried t
n Lomb
lips before she ha
sion darkened. "Be care
rply. "Do you thi
"No. Not directly. But he's still a Lombardi. You
mind, the way he had taunted her, the way he had looked at her
he k
playing he
bruptly with her grip tightening on the en
lled with worry. "Then you must prepare yourself, Emi
w he wa
already made
ch, there was a
he envelope clutched tightly against her chest, she failed to
as unreadable as he watched her. He had been trailing her since she left
d into St. Michael
changed in the
answers. And that
ly she had learned tonight, but if it had anyth
r
for
the envelope as if sensing she was being watched. She scanned the stre
turned, walking briskl
a moment longer, as his mind
ust a game of push a
ing onto dang
t too close t
whether he'd be a
the one forc