Page 43 of Iron Roses

Wet hair clings to her cheeks, darker from the bath. Her eyes are red—flushed from crying or something else she doesn’t yet understand. She stands in front of my door.

“My sister,” she says, voice low but steady. “You’re the man who married her, aren’t you?”

I glance past her, toward the door, and reach for the handle. But she moves and blocks me with her body.

She stands tall even as her breath trembles. I could walk through her if I wanted to. But I don't. I meet her eyes.

They don’t flinch.

I feel the shift inside me—tight, sharp, like a rope pulling between ribs. My gaze narrows. Still, she doesn’t back down.

So I do what I must.

I grab her—not roughly, and push her aside, guiding her away from the door. Her shoulder brushes the wood paneling.

She doesn’t fall.

“I saw you make love to her,” she says

My hand still rests on the door, unmoving. The silence thickens between us.

“In the bathtub,” she continues. “I saw it. I felt it. I see you both… in the woods. Holding hands. Men chanting. One of them has a baby.”

She steps toward me, eyes bright with something more dangerous than accusation.

Knowing.

“She calls you Cas,” she whispers. “She loves you. She knows you love her.”

Her lip trembles, but her voice holds.

“She longs for you. And she—” Her fingers brush her stomach, soft and shaken. “She was going to give you your heir.”

Her words land like strikes—no blade, but still they cut.

My stare doesn’t leave her face. Tears streak there.

My hand is on her before thought can catch up. Fingers wrap around her throat.

I shove her back.

The wall catches her with a dull thud, and her breath jolts from her chest.

My grip holds. Control is the only thing keeping me from shattering entirely. My arm trembles. My knuckles are white. Her pulse flutters beneath my thumb like a panicked bird, and my own heart slams in rhythm.

How does she know?

My eyes burn into hers, searching for a crack, an answer, something that makes this make sense.

Did Giovanna tell her?

No. Impossible.

Giovanna swore to keep it all quiet. Swore to protect her from all of this. She didn’t even tell Allegra.

No one knew about our baby.

Not even Lorenzo.

---