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“I smell divine, thank you very much. My Nonna makes me soaps and scrubs with homegrown lemons and sea salt. It’s good for the complexion.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. They let you visit your grandparents?”

“No. I’m not even allowed to write to them, but the rules don’t specify who I can shop from, so I order a basket every few months, and Nonna writes secret notes on the inside of the wrappings.”

“I’m beginning to see where your rebellious streak comes from.”

“I’m named after her, too, and I inherited her tendency to take in strays. If she ever met you, she’d force you to eat lots of pasta and scold you for being too handsome.”

“You think I’m handsome?”

Alessa went pink. “No. Butshewould. And she wouldn’t expect you to speak, so you’d be happy. When she isn’t singing to herself, she’s talking to herself, and it’s impossible to get a word in edgewise. My Nonno is Deaf, and she always forgets that everyone else isn’t.”

“Sooooo”—he drew the word out—“she’s an older version of you?”

“I suspect you didn’t mean that as a compliment, but I’m taking it anyway.”

“Whatever it takes to build your confidence, luce mia. Come on, let’s go.”

She didn’t move.

“Up and at ’em, soldier.”

She gripped the arms and hooked her ankles around the legs, but Dante tipped her chair forward, leaving her no choice but to stand or get dumped on the floor.

“I despise you.”

“I can live with that.”

Voices grew audible as they crossed the hall, followed by laughter at a joke she hadn’t heard. Everything she’d wanted for years was behind a door, and all she had to do was knock.

Dread. Hope. Two sides of the same coin, spinning too fast to tell them apart.

Alessa held her hand up until her arm ached, then lowered it. “I can’t.”

“How are you going to face a swarm of scarabei if you’re too scared to knock on a door?”

“Crashing a social event uninvited is worse than a battle to the death.”

“Just say hello.”

Alessa cringed at another burst of laughter from the other side.

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

Alessa moved to block his path.

“Don’t you dare.” She wagged a very ineffective finger in his face as he towered over her.

“Coward,” he said with a grin.

The door swung open, and Alessa whirled to find an equally startled Saida clutching her chest in the doorway.

“Finestra. Is something wrong?”

Behind her in the room, Josef dropped a hand of cards on the floor, and Nina did an awkward dance to save a drink from spilling across the table as she jostled it in her haste to stand. If the girl was half as clumsy outside the Cittadella, Josef must need to use his powers all the time to keep from being drenched.

“No. Nothing’s wrong.” Alessa smoothed her skirts. “I merely wanted to check if you needed anything.”