The Raven (The Florentine #1)(127)

His eyes met hers.

“Holy ground bothers me the way the sun bothers me. It’s a discomfort I can manage.”

“Relics don’t affect you.”

“That isn’t quite true.”

“You gave me a relic. You touched it with your hands.”

He hesitated. “I have a few items in my collection from a single source that have no effect on me whatsoever. Other objects, including holy water, cause physical pain. But their effect on me is nothing like their effect on my brethren.”

“Is that why you looked in distress when the hunters waved their crosses at you? Because it caused you pain?”

“Yes.” He shifted his weight. “I didn’t realize you’d noticed that.”

“Of course I noticed it, William.” Her tone reproved him. “You mean something to me.”

“Do I?”

She turned away. The tone of his voice, earnest and almost optimistic, was excruciating.

“You’ll always mean something to me. But I asked you to share your secrets and you wouldn’t. It’s too late.”

He touched a lock of her hair, winding its end around his finger.

“You were right. The secrets function like a wall. They serve their purpose with everyone else, but not with you. Never with you.”

He didn’t give her the opportunity to respond. Instead, he pulled her close and leapt with her to the ground. No sooner had they landed than he ran with her at top speed to the side of the church.

With practiced ease, William scaled the wall with one hand, his figure a ghost in the darkness, a patch of green visible under his other arm.

Raven closed her eyes as they climbed, unwilling to watch the safeness of the earth as it fell farther and farther away.

Finally they stood at the top, under the shade of the gold globe and cross.

William stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist for safety. She fancied she felt him nuzzle her hair with his nose.

“It’s so beautiful,” she mused, not knowing where to look first.

From their vantage point, she could see the stars winking above them, the antlike creatures below, and the great vista of the magical city that spread around them in all directions.

She could look across the river to the Piazzale Michelangelo and see the lighted copy of David. Beyond that, she could see the small hill on which William’s villa was situated.

“We’re up so high.”

“The best view of the city is from here. This is where I spend every sunset. But I’ve never shared it with anyone.”

She glanced down at the ground and quickly lifted her head, closing her eyes.

William noticed her reaction—the speeding of her heart and quickening of her breathing, the way anxiety began to roll off her body. He drew her against him more closely, her back to his chest.

His lips found her ear. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

“My father fell from a roof.”

William’s body tensed.

“I’d forgotten about that. This wasn’t the best idea.” He sounded apologetic, but also disappointed.

“Wait.” Raven wanted to take one more moment to absorb the view, knowing she would never see it again.

William paused, his gaze alighting on Giotto’s bell tower. His grip on Raven tightened. He could sustain a great many things, but not the loss of her.

The realization continued to haunt him.

“We should go.”

Raven turned her head toward him. “What happens if one of the others sees you up here?”

He shifted his weight. “They’d realize holy ground isn’t a deterrent. The more powerful I appear to my people, the more likely they are to want to kill me.”

“Then why risk it?”

He was quiet for a moment, as if he were choosing his words carefully.

“You brought beauty to my world. I wanted to do the same for you, if only for one night.”

An anguished sound escaped Raven’s lips. Their distance from the ground was the only reason she didn’t struggle to free herself from him.

“Don’t torture me.”

“It’s the truth. For years, I thought my days and nights were filled with beauty. Beautiful things, a beautiful city, and beautiful women from time to time. Then you appeared and I realized I’d been deceived.”

Raven closed her eyes. “We need to go. It’s painful for me to be here and I don’t want you to be in danger.”

“I’m sorry for causing you pain. We’ll go at once.” His hand brushed against hers. “But don’t spare a thought for my danger. What can they do to me? I’ve already lost the only thing I value.”

“What’s that?”

“You.”

She shook her head. “I gave you my heart and you handed it back to me as if it were nothing.”

“It isn’t nothing.” He spoke in her ear. “I value it and I value you. I think you know this.”

“It doesn’t matter. I won’t relegate myself to a life of misery, loving someone who doesn’t love me.”

“You’re the only one I want.”

Now Raven struggled against his arms, albeit carefully. “Take me home.”

“Just a moment, that’s all I ask. Please.” He appeared to force a smile. “I’ve learned a verse for you. Do you know it?