me. I felt it. Where is she? You didn’t bring her …’ He scanned the area. The muted light made it difficult to see anything clearly. The world was a smear of pale shadows.
‘No, no. I didn’t bring Tallow.’
‘You tried to kill her,’ he said between clenched teeth. ‘You tried to kill me.’
‘It wasn’t me, I swear,’ said Katina quickly, but she glanced away. ‘We were following …’ She stopped mid-sentence, her face revealing what she didn’t utter aloud. She changed tack. ‘Tallow is alive. I just don’t know where she is. Somewhere safe in Serenissima; if the gods are on my side,’ she added quietly.
Dante swallowed his next words. There was something in Katina’s manner; something about her that registered with him. ‘You’re the cousin from Jinoa, aren’t you? The one who lived with Tallow for a while, bought her the glasses.’
Katina gave a harsh laugh. ‘She told you about me?’
‘Yes, she told me how you helped her perfect her candles. Make them so sought after. How you gave her confidence and how you stuck up for her with Quinn. Then you left. Had to go back home suddenly. Family emergency. I believed her, even though I knew there was something about you she wasn’t telling. I never suspected you were a Bond Rider. She missed you terribly.’
Dante sank back to the ground, resting the back of his head against the tree. He closed his eyes; his cheeks paled. Katina strode over to her horse and fumbled in the saddlebag, producing a flask. ‘Here, drink this – it will make you feel better.’
Dante’s eyes flew open and he shot her a look of incredulity. ‘I don’t think that’s possible right now.’
Katina gave a half-smile as he took the flask. ‘No, you’re right. But it won’t hurt either.’ She knelt beside him and gave a deep sigh. ‘Let me try to explain what happened.’
‘Go ahead,’ said Dante, first taking a cautious sip, then a longer one. ‘If I understand anything about Bond Riders, it’s that I suddenly have a great deal of time.’
As Katina spoke, Dante hung on every word.
‘So, you see, when we failed to secure Tallow, to bring her with us, we had to flee. It was never meant to happen the way it did. It was meant to be … easy. What we didn’t account for were the effects of the Morto Assiderato on the popolani, what Tallow had done with her candles. That she’d drawn so much attention to herself …’
‘So, she really is a she?’ asked Dante, casually shifting his hair off his forehead.
Katina nodded. ‘Oh, sì. She is. Pretending to be male was to protect her. There are those in Serenissima and beyond –’ she lowered her voice and glanced over her shoulder; Dante found himself peering through the eternal gloom trying to catch the invisible eavesdropper ‘– who seek her.’ Katina’s face was troubled.
Relief that Tallow lived replaced the ache that had sat like an anchor inside him since he awoke. Relief followed by despair. Tallow. She was what he’d suspected, what his family had uncovered – an Estrattore. Hunted, sought. By whom? Why? The Bond Riders were after her, her friends and neighbours and God knew who or what else. Where was she? His heart filled. She. Tallow was really a girl. No, he corrected himself as he recalled the soft swell of her breasts as she’d pushed his hands against them in those last moments they’d shared. She was a woman. His heart began to beat faster; heat filled his body. Agitation made his fingers move from his hair to his clothing before pulling at his lip. Soft lips, a tender tongue, blood, eyes, hair, Tallow … A low moan escaped. He was aware of Katina watching, waiting. He forced his hand to be still. She’d held him so close, whispered words he’d longed to hear, and at the same time …
He’d known he was dying. He was so cold, so divorced from his corporeal self. Even the agony of his injuries had started to fade as he felt his spirit, his soul, whatever it was the padres called it, leaving his body. Then, as Tallow lifted his head and shoulders and crushed her mouth against his, something had shifted, changed. He’d felt light and warmth and, above all, love and strength, trickle into him. It had come from Tallow, but she didn’t seem aware she was doing it.
And he’d finally told her he loved her. Months of repressed emotion had