Page 39 of Obsession & Oath

Something cold and fearful wraps around my lungs. There’s no way she could know. No one saw us last night. She couldn’t have any idea…

“Your…colleagues, in America. They reported news to you, did they not?”

I try not to let my shoulders sag in relief. “I told you I can’t disclose information about the Prince’s Guild.”

“I do not care for this Guild. I care for why my son is acting erratically.”

“Then why ask?” I snap back, then catch a glimmer of something in her eyes. “Why ask if you’ve already figured it out?”

Evelina disregards all pretense of reading. “How long did they tell you you are to stay here?”

A silence descends upon the table that manages to stave off the warmth of the morning.

But there’s no getting past this; my mother will discover the truth one way or another.

“It could be months yet.”

Evelina doesn’t bother disguising her smile. “This is good news,amore mio.”

“My family is across an ocean fighting a war I have no part in,” I snap back.

“And who am I? If not your family, hmm?” She’s guilt-tripping me, and we both know it. My shoulders still sag in defeat. “Do not resent me for wishing for more time with my son.”

“I don’t resent you.”

We share one long, honest look. Whatever my mother sees in my expression, she must believe it as she turns back to her paper.

“This is good news,” she repeats. “As we are to host a ball at the end of the month.”

I blink at her for a moment. “Can I retract my previous statement?”

“This is important, Dante. The Grasso di Ferro must host an occasion, and where better than theCastelloof our namesake?”

“You want to host your gaggle of bachelorettes here at the castle?” Fury begins to lace my every word. It was just like Evelina to rub salt in an open wound like this.

“The ball is a diplomatic display of power for families across Emilia-Romagna. It is to buildalliances.”

“Throughmarriage,” I bite back. “I told you,Madre, that you will not force my hand with this.”

Never one to back down, Evelina rises to her feet. “You promised me you would consider this, that you would present me with your course of action. But you have not once attempted to assure me of this. Not once have you considered?—”

“I will considernothing!” I find myself roaring, having risen too. “You ask me to take my position as the head of this family and yet you insist on treating me as a child.”

“That is because you are behaving like one,” my mother says, matching my tone. “You can not escape your responsibilities again, Dante. You can not run like a coward this time.”

She should have slapped me across the face. It might have stung less.

I back away slowly. Swallowing my shame as I glower at the burning expression on my mother’s face. No hint of remorse is betrayed in her expression.

Because we both know she’s right.

Unable to bear it, I march out of the sunroom without another word.

* * *

The problem is that Carmen has her own kind of gravity.

I had intended on leaving her alone. I had intended to leaveeveryonealone after such a volatile breakfast.

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