Page 106 of My Dark Fairy Tale

When I didn’t say anything, gaze fixed to the dark metal of the gun in his other hand, he shook me slightly by the shoulder.

“Guinevere,” he snapped quietly and raised the gun to point the barrel at his eyes as if he wasn’t even aware he had a loaded gun between his fingers. “Eyes here. Do you understand me?”

I nodded, but when he tried to move away, I clutched harder at his hand.

Raffa’s features softened slightly as he looked down at my nails digging into his skin. He pulled me into his arms and pressed a long kiss to my temple.

“You will be safe, little fawn. Do you trust me?”

I was nodding before he had finished asking the question. “I’m not scared for me. I’m scared about you going out there. Please, stay in here with me. Let Ludo and Martina handle it. They were in the army!”

Raffa’s smile was a thin slice of white in the dark. “Do not worry about me, Vera. Whoever has broken into my home should be much more afraid of me than I am of him. Now, do as I say.Hide.”

I rose to my tiptoes to press a hurried kiss to the side of his mouth and then turned to run across the wood floors to Raffa’s walk-in closet, the door closest to the windows overlooking the inner courtyard. There were slats in the wood so I could see out if I pressed my face to the door.

I didn’t hear Raffa leave, but I knew when he did because fear gripped tighter at my throat. My heart raced so hard, I thought it would give out, and I felt dizzy from the strain.

Long minutes passed, and nothing.

I was almost relaxing slightly when I heard the creak of the old wood door opening again to the bedroom.

My heart stopped, slamming into an impenetrable wall of fear.

Because I knew somehow that it was not Raffa.

Or Martina, or Renzo, or Ludo, or Carm.

Somewhere deep in the palace there were a shout and the concussive bang of a gunshot indoors.

Through the slats in the door I saw a shadow detach itself from the wall and freeze in the middle of the room at the sounds from the second floor.

My hand slowly went to my mouth as if I could press my too-loud, panicked breath back into my body.

A second later, the dark form moved again, crossing to the bed. I watched as it seemed to check the sheets and then crossed to the bathroom diagonally across the room from where I hid.

Thumps echoed throughout the palace.

The shape of a man reappeared almost instantly, walking faster now.

Coming straight for me.

I swallowed my scream and threw myself backward, my bare toes silent on the carpet. My back hit the end of the closet, ten feet from the slatted door.

I pressed my spine hard to the wood as if it could absorb me and keep me safe.

But it couldn’t.

A moment later, the door swung out on quiet hinges, and a tall, lean body filled the gap.

I was trapped.

Fear clogged every pore so completely I could not even scream. Every scary movie I had ever seen where the heroine didn’t call for help suddenly made sense.

I was frozen in terror and faced with a man who stepped forward just slightly, so the moonlight fell through the slats onto a face wearing a Venetian mask.

And the dark metal of a gun raised to point at me.

“Mi dispiace, ma tu sei il suo respiro e lui deve morire,” came the muffled words from the man who clearly intended to kill me.