alliance.
He hesitated and then pressed his forehead to hers, looking into her eyes. “Once you know this information, you have committed fully to me. We don’t divorce. Not ever. It isn’t done, not without severe repercussions to both of us. Understand that, Grace.”
She couldn’t see how she could understand unless he told her, but she didn’t have plans of running away from him, so she nodded. Vittorio dropped his arms and straightened abruptly. He stepped outside onto the patio and looked up at the stars as if he could find an answer to whether or not he wanted to trust her further. Abruptly, he spun around and stalked her when she backed away from him. He looked like a tiger about to pounce on his prey.
Vittorio caught her hand and drew her back to the chair. She sat down at his silent command and looked up at him expectantly.
“When everyone has absolutely agreed and there is no possible margin of error, the reports are turned over to what is known in our family as a rider. A shadow rider.”
Just the way he said it, or maybe it was the title itself that made her heart plunge, but whatever it was, she was suddenly afraid.
“There are portals in the shadows. Have you ever slipped into a shadow and realized no one noticed you there? Has that ever happened to you?”
It had. Multiple times. There had been a strange sensation, one she didn’t care for, as if her body had been wrenched apart, her chest flying away from her and her body scattered in molecules throughout the shadows. It was just a weird sensation she couldn’t account for, but every time it happened, others would walk right by her and not realize she was standing there. Once, Haydon had almost walked into her.
She moistened her lips and nodded slowly because he was waiting for an answer. She always answered him truthfully. That was their agreement. There would be honesty between them, even if it was difficult. “It’s happened. But I don’t know what you mean by a portal.”
“We refer to the tubes as portals because the shadow itself can transfer us from one place to another.”
Automatically, Grace shook her head. “That’s not scientifically possible.”
“Nevertheless, we’ve done it. I can step into a shadow and be gone from one end of the house to the other. My brother Giovanni was shot and had to have hardware, pins and bolts, just like you have in your shoulder. Because of the hardware, he can’t ride the shadows, so he drives a car here when he comes. The others don’t want anyone, especially Haydon, to know they’ve left their homes, so they use the shadows. It’s necessary to make him think, if he’s watching, that we’re all going about our regular business.”
She stared up at him, trying to change what he said, or change her comprehension. She just wasn’t hearing him correctly. “You are telling me that you and your family are capable of moving in this house, from one end to the other, using a shadow? Not walking in that shadow, but you step in, can’t be seen, and you come out in another room.”
“That is correct. We were trained from the time we were two years old. It isn’t easy. The energy force feels like a strong magnet pulling the body apart. You actually feel as if you’re flying apart. Skin, bones, blood, your very cells. It isn’t a pleasant sensation.”
She’d felt that exact sensation. “You can really do that?”
He nodded slowly. “I know it sounds insane, but I do it all the time. I can step into that shadow cast by the fireplace.” He indicated one that danced on the wall and carried over to the other side of the room. “Once I do, it will take me to the spot by the door where it merges with the light.”
She knew he was going to demonstrate and she wasn’t certain how she felt about it. If he really could do it, it was the coolest thing ever and she wanted to be able to do it. “If it’s true and you could teach me, maybe I could actually get evidence on Haydon, enough for the cops to arrest and convict him.”
“A man like Haydon Phillips won’t stay in prison and you know it, Grace,” Vittorio said gently. “He’s too good at what he does. The man can be anyone and he’s slippery. I’ve read the reports on him, and we’ve got just about