“Eventually, you’ll learn to focus on the present and let the past go.” He guided us down a side street I knew well. “Reliving what could have been but never will be is pointless. It’ll only hold you back from what you are. One of the hardest things anyone can do is live in the here and now. Not worry about the future, not rehash the past. Be present, that’s the secret to changing your future. To finding true happiness.”
I mulled that over. “Are you happy?”
“Sometimes.” Domenico lifted a shoulder. “It’s better than when I first found out… everything.”
“How is your father? He seemed worried but proud last time I spoke to him.”
The shifter stiffened for a beat, then kept walking, his long strides eating up the cobbled path. Almost as if he wished to run away from the question. “Dead.”
My own steps faltered. I didn’t want to press on a wound that was clearly fresh, but I needed to know. “Did my sister—”
“Of course not.” Domenico spun on his heel, his eyes flashing pale purple. He immediately glanced around, making sure no humans had seen, then visibly strained to rein his emotions in. “Your sister had nothing to do with it.”
“What about demons?”
“What about them?” Domenico asked.
“Did this have to do with Greed?”
At the mention of Greed’s name, the wolf’s claws shot out. “It was pack business. Leave it at that.”
I held my hands up in a gesture of peace, and the werewolf resumed his forward trek through the neighborhood bordering ours. Unwittingly, Domenico had given me two answers I’d been looking for. If Vittoria was really hell-bent on creating a larger rift between wolves and demons, killing a pack member would have been a prime opportunity. And the alpha had a large emotional reaction to Greed’s name.
My focus shifted from my twin and the wolf issues and latched onto the road we’d just turned down. I stopped walking, unable to pick one foot up and place it in front of the other again. Near the end of the street sat our family home.
Vines curled up and around the trellis, the pale stone gleaming in the moonlight. It was beautiful. Untouched. It had continued on as if nothing had changed at all. My mouth was suddenly parched. Of all the places Vittoria could go, this carved deep.
“My sister is in our house.”
Domenico shook his head. “Look closer.”
“I don’t—” The corner of our house shimmered, lifting slightly at the edges. Like an invisible page had been placed over the whole structure and had come loose in a breeze. My pulse pounded, and I stepped back, shaking my head. “No. No, no. Not this, too. Please.”
Vittoria was suddenly in front of me, her hair blowing from that same magical wind that was now tearing pieces of our house away. “Demand to see its truth, Emilia.”
“I cannot—”
“Yes. You can and you will,” Vittoria said. “Look at the truth.”
My eyes burned as tears prickled behind my lids. This was the final blow, and I refused to allow one single tear to fall. Enough. Something inside me snapped. I was tired of sadness and devastation. I was over all the endless lies and manipulations and days and nights spent crying. My twin was right. I deserved to know the truth, to see it once and for all.
My spine straightened as I set my attention back on our unassuming home. I called forth my magic’s source and aimed it straight at the shimmering part. “Show me the truth.”
My voice echoed with power just like when I’d cast a truth spell. Magic whipped out and sank into the exterior walls like claws, shredding and ripping apart the illusion. I watched impassively as the facade was stripped away, revealing a stone temple.
Our home was glamoured. And I’d never known, never sensed the magic that had been used. Because Nonna kept us ignorant. The truth didn’t break my heart this time; it made me furious. There was no coming back from this deception. A line of demarcation had been drawn—the Emilia before her entire world shattered, and the goddess of fury after all had been revealed.
“What else?” I demanded, gaze fixed on our so-called home. “What else has been an elaborate illusion? A fucking lie.”
“I’ll leave you two.” Domenico quietly entered the temple, not sparing either me or Vittoria a second glance. I braced myself for the final betrayal I sensed was coming.
“This is not truly Sicily.” Vittoria exhaled. My attention finally left the house that wasn’t our home to settle on my twin. For once, she seemed pained. “Welcome to the Shifting Isles.”