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Chapter Ninety-Five

LUNA

When Mom and I return to the kitchen, Serafina’s at the stove, waiting for the moka pot water to boil. There are already little espresso cups and saucers set out on the table.

“Alex is letting you near the stove?” I ask.

“They’re recovering.”

“Oh, crap.” I cover my mouth as if that will hide my shame. “I forgot. Are they okay?”

“Eh.” She rocks her hand. “Eventually. Sam though? Stony, yet pissed off in two genders.”

“At me?” I couldn’t bear it if Sam was mad at me for what happened to Alex. I was the one who ran downstairs to confront Charles.

“Everyone.” She shuts the burner and lets the coffee steep. “How is Nunzio doing?”

“Wearing Carmine’s clothes from 1970-something.”

“God, I’d pay to see that.” Serafina grabs a bottle of sambuca and sits.

“Me too,” Mom says with a laugh.

Serafina shoots me a look that asks if my mother is all right. I shrug because I don’t really know. She may have been making a joke about her blindness or just agreeing.

“He looks good, frankly,” I say. “Like a handsome guy in a costume of a handsome guy.”

Serafina tips a little liqueur into the three cups. “So why do you look like someone ate your dog?”

“Fucking strigoi is why.” I grab my drink. Sambuca is for sipping and I’m not in a sipping mood.

“This is going to be good.” She sits and slides one of the glasses to touch Mom’s hand.

I tap the other two cups before they even pick them up and pour the sambuca down my throat. It tastes like shit and burns like hell.

“Fuck!” I smack down the shot glass.

“Carmine offered to separate her from her power to protect her.” Mom sips her sambuca. “Or ship her off to an island paradise. Personally? I’d go for door number two.”

“I mean…” Serafina shrugs as if it’s obviously the correct choice.

“Both are ways for him to give up on the knife so he can focus on Charles.” I pour a full shot of sambuca. Fuck the espresso. “He’s ‘setting me free’ but also ‘protecting me’ in case he doesn’t make it.”

Mom nods, fidgeting with her spoon.

“I was just… I really love him.” I slam the liqueur. It goes down easier this time. “And I don’t want to hear how stupid that is from you guys. I’m aware, okay, and also… what the fuck?”

“You’re not stupid,” Serafina says with a nod, getting up for the espresso.

“All I want is to have him with me. You and Nunzio should be close by. My family. All together.”

“Aw, how sweet.” Mom taps her spoon on the side of her cup. “Like I’m not even here.”

“Even you,” I grumble, then squeeze her hand. “But not Laro,” I add with a whisper.

“To be near me, you have to live near a bunch of wolves.” Serafina brings over the pot and pours out the espresso. “They’re collecting me tomorrow.”

“If Carmine’s not going to get the knife tonight, is there even a deal anymore?”

The silence that follows buzzes with our simultaneous realization. I can feel it in my fingers. Puzzle pieces click together.

“The deal ends tomorrow at midnight,” Sam says from the doorway, her arms crossed. “No matter success or failure, it ends.” She comes in.

Serafina said Sam was pissed, but I don’t see it.

“I’m sorry about Alex,” I say. “How are they doing?”

She ignores me. “This deal is chiseled by the hand of Mithras. The Luganos will invite the Raven King into the building and show him the way into the labyrinth. Enough time will be given for the king to emerge with the knife, then the Luganos will receive their kin.”

“What if he doesn’t even go into the labyrinth?”

“The deal is not consummated. It is moot.”

“What if I go in?” I ask.

“What?” Serafina asks sharply.

“The deal is not with you,” Sam answers. “Still moot.”

“But… still what ?” Serafina demands.

“It’s rhetorical. I told him that since he was going to be distracting Charles, I should get the knife. So of course, Carmine commanded me to not go into the labyrinth. Explicitly. Then he said not to touch the knife or ask anyone else to get it for me. I can’t do anything.”

“Thank God he put you under his strigoi spell,” Serafina says.

“I hate it.”

“I can fix that.” Mom taps her spoon on the cup once.

“Fix what?” Serafina asks.

“How?” I ask at the same time.

“I’m in thrall to Laro.” Mom reaches across the table to take my hand. “I felt it happening. I paid attention. I can’t do anything to help myself, but I can get you out. I know how.”

“Really?”

“If you trust me.”

“I…” This is the wrong question. She’s in thrall to a monster. I shouldn’t trust her, and she knows it. “Did Laro put you up to this?”

“No.”

Too vague. If I want to be sure, I have to be dead-on explicit. “Did Laro command you to remove my thrall?”

“He has no idea that’s possible.”

“This is ridiculous!” Serafina exclaims. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

“I’m just asking.” I try to reply with the exact amount of plausible deniability, but it’s obvious Serafina’s too smart to buy it. “Mom, did Laro command you to do anything to my insides?”

“Laro’s fixated on his father’s good grace. You’re not front and center anymore. Believe me, Lunagirl, if there was any way he commanded me to hurt you, I’d hint at it until you figured it out.”

Do I trust her?

I want that knife. I want my husband.

“Sam, if I go get the knife, I’m not trapping her in the Lugano deal? She’ll be free?”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Serafina slams her hands on the table and stands. “You aren’t doing this in my name!”

“Sam, can you confirm?”

“Yes,” she says. “I can conf?—”

“Oh, my literal God !” Serafina slams down a cup and saucer. They bounce but do not break.

Sam collects the plates and cutlery and takes them to the kitchen.

“Can you not?” I say.

“Let. Him. Die!”

“How can you say that?”

“I swear to God motherfucker damnit that if you get killed trying to save his sorry bloodsucking ass, I will skip over to the Luganos and surrender. You’re all I have.

You cannot leave me alone.” Serafina’s hands tremble and her eyes are wide.

“You can’t go get it yourself. You won’t make it.

They’ll scent you. They’ll tear you apart.

Please. Take the time you have and let him go. ”

She’s angry and messy, but she’s being the sensible one. I have a lot to lose, and there are other people in the world who love me. For them, I shouldn’t take this risk.

“You’re right,” I say.

“But you’re still going,” Serafina replies.

“I have to.”

“Fuck you for that, Luna. If something bad happens, fuck you.”