Page 8 of Obsidian Prince

Pete watched them go, his face unhappy now that Giovanni wasn’t looking.

The vision was barely shaded as past. It probably happened just yesterday, maybe at the same time that she and Alexander Bennett were walking hand in hand behind his house.

Liliana wondered if anything more had happened. She worried about the bespelled locket she’d seen in previous visions.

When will the wizard give her the locket?

She saw a fancy dinner with even less past shading. A delighted smile lit Sergeant Giovanni’s face as William Eliot fastened the locket chain around her neck.

Ah, he gave it to her last night. What happened next?

Giovanni blinked for a moment, as if confused, then smiled at William Eliot with an even greater warmth. “Thank you.” Her fingertips touched the gold hesitantly. “It’s …” she blinked, as if fighting tears. “I don’t think anyone has ever given me anything so wonderful.”

William Eliot popped a fried mushroom in his mouth at the fancy restaurant. “Well, it should make things a lot easier.”

“Easier?” she asked, voice dreamy.

“Yeah. For me, at least.” He waved down a waitress. “Can I get the check?”

When the waitress came and left again, he wiped his lips with a cloth napkin, then asked, “What do you know about Pete’s sword?”

“Pete’s sword?” Giovanni’s brows knit in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

William snapped his fingers under her nose. “Just give me the details on his sword. That’s what I want. You want to make me happy, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” Giovanni took his hand and laid her cheek against it. “I’ll make you so happy.”

William Eliot pulled his hand away with a disgusted look. “Well, I’m not very happy now because you haven’t told me what I asked.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” She seemed on the edge of tears.

“I’ll be a lot happier when you tell me everything you know about Pete’s sword.”

Giovanni brightened only a little, looking worried. “I don’t know much about Pete’s sword, though. Just that his mother gave it to him before she died when he was a kid. It’s ancient. Is that enough?”

“Where does he keep it?”

“It’s usually in his van somewhere, but oh! I remember. Ben mentioned that someone stole it. Is that what you were wondering about? I mean, his sword isn’t something Pete and I discuss a lot.” Giovanni’s brows knit as if concentrating on pulling something from the depths of memory. “Why do you want to know so much about Pete’s sword?”

“Just because I do, and you’re not going to tell anyone I asked about it.”

Giovanni shook her head as if to clear her vision. “I’m not?”

The wizard answered, “I wouldn’t like that.”

Giovanni’s knitted brows smoothed back to a look of besotted joy. “Of course. I would never do anything you wouldn’t like.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” He stole a grape off her plate.

She pushed the whole plate over to him with a smile.

“Now, do you know anything about Alexander that he doesn’t want anyone else to know?”

“You mean Colonel Bennett?”

Liliana knew Giovanni was fiercely loyal to her commanding officer. She would never answer that question.

The military police sergeant scrunched her eyebrows in deep thought. “Well, you know his dad was murdered when he was a teenager. At first, the authorities thought he did it.”

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