Page 110

Chapter One Hundred

LUNA

Orlando is standing in the elevator like a man stuck in a refrigerator box. He’s wearing his green jacket and blue scarf, but he takes off his hat, letting his red hair fall to his shoulders.

Nunzio leans against a sideboard, next to a bowl of nuts. He plucks out one.

Serafina has her fingertips on the wall. “Can’t he come in?”

Sam flexes his fists. “He can try.”

Nunzio cracks the nut with his bare hands.

“I’m good.” Orlando holds up his palms, then turns to me with a little nod of deference. “Mrs. Montefiore, nice to see you.”

The way he speaks and holds himself is oddly formal compared to the man I saw at the meeting. His emotions jangle. He’s nervous.

“Same.” I bow a little. I’m unsure what to do. Formal graces weren’t my mother’s thing, and in the life I’d led between childhood and this moment, they haven’t been required.

Carmine squawks and rustles his wings. His feathers brush my ear.

Even though he’s supposedly here to see Serafina, Orlando addresses me. “It’s been my pleasure to work with your husband.”

“Oh my God,” Serafina says with a bowling ball-sized eyeroll. “Why are you being so weird?”

“I’m trying not to spook you.”

“You’re spooking me fine.”

Orlando takes a deep breath. “Fine. Can I come in?”

“No,” Sam replies.

“The Lugano pack did everything we agreed to do. The plans and the invitation were delivered on time.”

“Because this contract is on a clock, the only way to close the deal is for both parties to fulfill their obligations or for the clock to run out. The Montefiores can nullify by not entering the labyrinth by the appointed time. Since the Luganos have met their deliverables, they can nullify any time and relinquish their right to the collateral. Otherwise, we wait for the knife to be retrieved or for a Montefiore to die trying to get it.”

Orlando quickly comes to terms with the rejection and drops the formality to address Serafina. “Our Alpha told me that as soon as you’re out the door, I have to come get you and I don’t want to do that unless you want to get got.”

“What if I don’t want to get got?”

“Then I’m here to give you a head start.”

They regard each other for a minute. My arms tingle, and when I quiet my mind, I can discern the faintest disturbance in the air between them. Serafina glances at me, tightens her mouth, and turns back to him.

“So,” she says, crossing her arms even tighter, “you’re going against your pack?”

“That’s not undertaken lightly.”

“So why are you doing it?”

“My uncle already thinks the deal is illegal because you belong to the pack. He’s old school. Me, I believe the pack should be your choice.”

There’s a swirl in the emotions around her.

I know this pattern. She’s considering options, weighing them, discarding some, coming up with new ones.

There’s love in them. Deep love for her family in a color I haven’t seen before.

Which family though? The family that gave her the Orolio name? Or the pack she’s never met?

A shell cracks in Nunzio’s hands.

“What if I already have a pack?” Serafina asks.

His eyes narrow as if he’s trying to see through her. “Where?”

“Right here.” She points at me, then Nunzio, who’s chewing on a nut while he cracks another. “Even the stupid strigoi bird. Sometimes.”

That explains the new color. It’s me. Us. It’s our found family.

“You belong to us, Sorenda,” he says in with a low, matter-of-fact surety. “Or no one.”

“If you want my consent, you will renegotiate with Luna.”

“Wait,” I say, but I’m ignored.

“How?” Orlando asks.

“You take Luna to the labyrinth door…”

“Serafina!” I cry.

“… and you have consent.”

“Absolutely not,” I say.

“This is a much better plan than the stupid shit that came out of your mouth five minutes ago.”

“Luna will need to trade something of her own,” Sam says as if this rule will kibosh the entire renegotiation.

Carmine launches off my shoulder and goes for Orlando, who puts his arm up to deflect an attack that never comes. The raven passes the invisible curtain, folds into nowhere and—in the elevator next to Orlando—emerges as a man.

“No.” Carmine straightens his collar and tugs on his cuffs.

“Jesus Christ.” Orlando is shocked to suddenly be sharing the elevator.

“There are no new deals,” Carmine says. “I will retrieve the knife tonight, as planned. My wife has no reason to cross into the labyrinth.” Carmine lays his gaze on me with an intensity takes my breath away. “You aren’t going anywhere near that club.”

I find enough breath to deny him. “I’ll do what I want.”

“As will I.”

In the blink of an eye, he’s a majestic black bird again, flying out of the elevator and into the apartment. He whips past me and out the open terrace door.

“Shit,” I murmur when he’s a dark streak on a charcoal sky.

Everyone takes a moment to breathe, then Orlando breaks the silence.

“You said the Luganos can nullify?” he asks Sam.

“You’ve met your obligations, so yes. You can release Carmine of his.”

“Thank you.” He turns to Serafina. “Do you still want to deal?”

“I said what I said.”

“Null it,” Orlando says to Sam.

“The contract is null.” Sam crosses his forearms in front of him, with his fingers spread open, and in one motion, uncrosses them, wiping the contract off the map.

Serafina and I blink at each other. Everything feels the same, except she’s not collateral anymore. She’s free and completely unprotected.

Orlando pauses and steps into the apartment. “Let’s deal.”