Page 24 of This Vicious Grace

“You have an army. You can—” He glanced around the quiet streets and strode toward her, lowering his voice to a rough growl. “You can kill with a touch. You don’t need me.”

“But I do.” It was easy to let fear and helplessness well into her throat, to let her voice go thick with unshed tears. “A man tried to kill me last night, and my guard helped him escape.”

In for a bite, in for a meal.

She clasped her hands below her chin and let hot tears rolls down her cheeks. They were an indulgence she couldn’t affordin the Cittadella, but if wolves had a weakness for damsels in distress, she wasn’t above playing the part.

If it even was a part.

“I don’t know who to trust or who’s working for whom anymore. I need someone who worksfor me.To watch my back. Temporarily. Just until I choose my next Fonte. I know I can do this,” she lied, “but not if I’m dead.

The moonlight cast blue glints in his hair as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Temporary?”

“We may all be dead in a few weeks. Everything’s temporary.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“Sorry. Gallows humor is all I have left. If you help me, I’ll get you a spot in the Fortezza.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose

“Please?”

He cast an exasperated look at the sky, and she knew she’d caught him.

Ten

Bella in vista, dentro è trista.

Fair face, foul heart.

The thrill of victory faded immediately.

He was marked. She couldn’t walk him through the city gates without revealing her identity—and her unsanctioned trip—to the guards. She needed a plan, and there was only one entrance to the tunnels outside the city walls.

A woman stepped in front of them, carrying a swaddled baby. “Please, miss. Anything would help my baby stay safe during Divorando.”

Alessa had no idea what money had to do with it, but she fumbled for her purse and dropped a few coins in the woman’s hand.

Her new bodyguard was scowling when she turned around. “You going to help them all, or just that one?”

Alessa looked back at the woman, already hurrying down the street as though she feared Alessa would change her mind. “What do you mean? Children are always allowed in the Fortezza.”

“And who’s going to take them in and care for them if their parents die?” His voice was cold, his eyes colder.

“I—I don’t know.”

“That’s why she’s begging. So she can pay someone to take the child before the battle, knowing they might be stuck with the kid for life.” The bite in his voice could have drawn blood. “Welcome to the real world,Finestra.”

“It’s notmyfault. I don’t want anyone to be kept out of the Fortezza. I don’tmakethe rules, I just have to follow them.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a bit late to give a shit now.”

Likehewas some noble advocate for the poor. “I thought Saverio could fall into the sea?”

His mouth pulled up in a bitter smile. “Let the whole island burn or give everyone the same chances, that’s all I’m saying.”

Alessa led the Wolf past the ramshackle dockside buildings and onto a narrow footpath leading into the damp darkness of an immense cavern used to shelter the fleet during storms.

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