Page 49 of The Curse of Blood and Silenc

She sighed and shook her head. “Not yet,chérie.”

Luigi stepped aside to allow Elena to pass, his suspicious gaze lingering on me longer than usual. I focused on the soup, pretending I didn’t notice, but my mind was racing. Elena hadn’t seemed surprised by the glowing—just how much did she know about Angelo’s and my world? More importantly, would she keep my secret?

The soup was long gone, but I couldn’t focus on my book anymore when I returned to my reading. The words about angelic shields kept blurring together, even as they nagged at me. I closed my eyes, pretending to be resting. Power hummed beneath my skin, different from the visions I’d sent Angelo. The book had described divine shields as extensions of grace, like a bubble of pure light. Was that what I was feeling now?

Steve’s possessed face flashed through my mind—those black eyes, that twisted smile that wasn’t his. I had to find a way to save him.

Without considering that Luigi might be watching, I reached for that tingling energy inside me. Light blazed beneath my closed eyelids as I imagined pushing it outward, pictured creating a barrier of pure grace around myself. The air crackled with energy.

“Santa Maria!” Luigi’s sharp exclamation made my eyes snap open.

A dome of shimmering golden light surrounded me, rippling like sunlight on water. For a moment, triumph surged within me—and then the drain hit. It felt like all my energy was being siphoned away at once. The shield flickered, and a dark presence flashed through my awareness, distant but distinct. Balthazar. He was somewhere north of here?—

The shield collapsed. I slumped forward, my vision going dark at the edges. My hands trembled as I gripped the armrests to keep from sliding out of the chair.

“Fermatevi!” Luigi had his phone out, frantically dialing. “Angelo, sir, she’s doing something with her powers—there was light everywhere, and she almost passed out.” He hesitated, his hand hovering over the silver bracelets at his belt, and he whispered low. “Should I put on the bindings?”

I blinked in surprise. Was that actually reluctance in Luigi’s voice? Maybe my stone-faced shadow wasn’t as cold as I’d thought.

“Wait,” I tried to say, but my voice only came out as a whisper. The room wouldn’t stop spinning, either. But through the exhaustion, hope flickered. For just a moment, I’d sensed Balthazar’s location. If I could do it again, get better and stronger at it...

Maybe I could find him. Maybe I could save Steve.

But first, I had to figure out how to stand up without falling over.

Running footsteps came down the hall. “Serenity, Serenity.” Elena ran over to me. “Mon chérie, what has happened to you? You’re so pale.”

“I don’t know... Maybe the last few days are catching up with me.” I hated lying to her, but I needed to be strong enough to save the people I love.

She put her arm around my shoulder and took my arm, helping me to my feet. “C’est assez. Enough. You need rest. The books can wait until tomorrow.”

My legs buckled, and I sagged against her like a marionette with cut strings even as heavy footsteps approached, thundering down the hall.

“Capo…” Luigi’s shoulders hunched with nervous deference. “I was watching her like you ordered, but?—”

Angelo shouldered past him into the library, his presence filling the room like a black storm cloud. Enzo and Dimitri materialized in the doorway, their chilling stillness more threatening than any drawn weapon.

“What happened?” Angelo crossed the room in three swift strides and lifted me into his arms, his face hard with barely contained fury. “Report, Luigi. Now.”

“She started glowing,Capo,” Luigi said, standing at attention. “Never seen anything like it. The whole room was lit up like St. Peter’s Square at Christmas.”

I frowned at Angelo, trying to focus through the fog in my head. “How did you get here so fast?”

“We were already on our way back when Luigi called.” His voice was softer when he spoke to me, but I could still feel tension thrumming through him. Someone was going to pay for this—I found myself hoping it wouldn’t be Luigi.

Angelo carried me up to our room, cradling me against his broad chest. “What were you doing?”

I stiffened at his patronizing tone.

“Angelo, I’m not a fragile porcelain doll. I need to be helping.” Even as I said those words, I fought to keep my eyes open.

He kissed the top of my forehead. “What you need, sweet Nephilim, is rest.”

He laid me down on our bed. Too tired to argue, I stared up at the ceiling, my vision still swimming with images of Balthazar. Telling Angelo would mean watching his face darken with that dangerous fury, might even mean those silver bindings clicking around my wrists. But keeping secrets from him... God, hadn’t we learned the hard way that secrets got people hurt? Got them killed?

I opened my eyes and stared up at him. I clasped his rugged cheek, steeling myself. “Angelo, I saw him.”

His eyes narrowed. “Who?”

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