Behind her, Tomo stared up at Alessa, looking more disheveled than she’d ever seen him before.
Dante whispered, “They were frantic when I left.”
Alessa let that fact sink in as her mentors hurried up the stairs.
“Blessed Dea, we thought you were dead!” Renata said, breathless, when she reached the top.
“Not quite,” Alessa said with a rueful smile.
“We thought we’d lost you,” Tomo said.
Renata cast her eyes to the ceiling in silent prayer. “Child, you scared a decade off my life.”
Tears trembled on Alessa’s lashes. They were relieved to see her alive—her, Alessa, not the Finestra. She hadn’t realized how much she needed that. “I’m sorry. I thought I’d killed Kaleb, and the gods were telling me to sacrifice myself.”
“Dear girl.” Tomo shook his head ruefully, too choked up to continue.
“While I admire your decisiveness, this would have been a very good time to ask for a second opinion.” Renata exhaled a shaky breath. “But I must say, I am proud of you for your willingness to make difficult choices. You’ve grown up.”
The tide of guilt retreated at Renata’s gentle tone, and Alessa pulled herself together. “What will we tell people?”
“Nothing,” Renata said firmly, brushing her sleeves as though trying to smooth the wrinkles in their plans. “You’ll pick someone else, and we’ll keep it quiet until after Divorando. I don’t like lying to the public, but all will be forgiven once you’ve saved us.”
“We’re just thankful you’re safe,” Tomo said fervently.
Renata’s face softened. “Dea have mercy, I might sleep tonight after all.”
“Come on, then.” Tomo tugged on Renata’s arm. “You need sleep, and I need a drink.”
Alessa backed away from the railing as they left, and the Cittadella fell silent once more.
Brushing her hair aside, Dante dropped a kiss on the back of her neck. “I should go,” he said, but his arms tightened around her.
She turned to face him. “Nina swore she wouldn’t tell, and that man has no idea you’re here. Stay until Divorando, so I can drag you to the Fortezza myself and face battle knowing you’re safe and not doing something reckless like trying to protect the docks single-handedly.”
“Always with the hero stuff,” he murmured against her lips. “I keep telling you it’s not my thing.”
She slid her hands into his back pockets and pulled him closer. “You can lie to yourself, but you can’t fool me.”
At the sound of a harsh throat-clearing, they leapt apart again.
Poised at the top of the stairs, Renata’s face was studiously blank. “I forgot to mention, your armor is in your room.”
“Armor?” They were still two weeks away from battle.
“For the Blessing of the Troops.”
Of course. When the sun rose, she’d stand before the assembled army and most of Saverio to bestow Dea’s grace upon the army. Carnivale celebrations were over, she had wed Kaleb on the day of Rest and Repentance, and now the final stage of preparation began. Soldiers would bid farewell to their families, march to their posts, and camp out on every hillside, cliff, and stretch of shore around Saverio, weapons at the ready and eyes on the sky. Saverians with Fortezza passes would begin to move inside in shifts, and those who were marked would nail up every window, erect makeshift barricades, and pray with newfound desperation.
“If we’re lucky, it will be so blinding, no one will notice your Fonte isn’t with you.” Renata speared them with a loaded glance. “Until then, might I suggest you move this reunion behind a closed door?”
Dying a thousand deaths by mortification, Alessa managed to nod regally. She’d never asked what the punishment was for a Finestra who violated the rules about touching someone who wasn’t a Fonte before Divorando, but not tattling was probably one of those unspoken courtesies each Finestra offered to the next.
Alessa followed Dante inside her suite as Renata’s prim footsteps ended with the slam of a door on the level below, and covered her face. “Please tell me that didn’t just happen.”
Dante was trying too hard not to laugh to answer.
“How can you laugh? That was mortifying.”
“Consider it a rite of passage.” Dante kissed the margins of her face around her splayed fingers. “You know those two were getting handsy before their big battle.”
“Why would you put that image in my head?” Alessa wailed. “Besides, they were wed and blessed, so they were allowed.” She nudged him with an elbow. “I’m the terrible person who left her unconscious partner’s bedside and got caught groping my bodyguard.”