“No.” His deep voice reverberated against me.
I hugged him around his waist. “Did you say what you did out of concern for her? Did you want what you thought was best?”
His chest expanded against me. “Yes. But you haven’t heard what happened next.” Luke pulled me in close, and I counted myself lucky that he didn’t try to run or push me away. “I was in the passage underneath the city, heading back home. By the time I emerged, she had already taken her life.”
“How?” I whispered.
Cassio spoke from behind us. “Fire.”
My body stiffened, and I swallowed hard. No wonder Luke’s friend had been afraid when he witnessed my special brand of magic.
Luke leaned his head against the top of mine. “The witnesses at the time said that a fiery angel fell from the sky and disappeared when her feet hit the ground. But that’s how the humans processed what really happened.
“After I left, Isabella was so distraught that she took the oil lamp from her room and broke it over herself. There is very little that can end a vampire’s life, but fire is something we do not recover from very well if at all.”
I tried to disentangle myself from him, but my fiancé held onto me fast. If fire was so detrimental to vampires, then what in blazes was Luke doing with me?
“Knowing my sister, she wanted to end things and yet she sacrificed herself in her last act.” Luke drew in hard breaths to steady himself. “The exterior of the tower was made of thick stones, but the interior, including the many steps from the bottom to the top, was made of wood. Had the fire spread to the timber, it could have ignited the buildings next to it, and the whole city enclosed in the walls would have been consumed by flames.”
I closed my eyes, trying not to imagine the one thing that made me who I was taking away a piece of Luke’s life and heart. “How did she sacrifice herself?”
“Knowing what a fire in the tower might do, I think she jumped out the window. Of course, I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there.” He groaned low in his throat. “By the time her body reached the ground below, the fire spurred on by the oil from the lamp disintegrated her. And my sister was no more.”
Immense sorrow bubbled up inside me, and I couldn’t imagine how Luke suffered for so long on his own. “You did not kill your sister,” I insisted. “It sounds like she made the choice on her own.”
“I did not physically push her out the window, no. But I think my parents wanted someone to blame,” my fiancé said.
“They have never said that,” Cassio countered. “Not once.”
Luke kissed the top of my head and turned us away from the window. “Sometimes words are not needed to know the truth.” He lifted my chin with his fingers. “Isabella was right. I didn’t understand until I met you.”
So, falling for me meant that my boyfriend was reminded at all times of how his sister had felt all those years ago. What a terrible load to force on himself day after day.
Standing on my tippy toes, I brushed my lips against his. “Well, this has to stop. Right now.”
“What?” Luke asked in confusion.
I brushed some hair out of my face and addressed his friend. “Cassio, you’re here because you’ve been sent to bring Luke back home?”
“Sì. That was my purpose for coming,” he admitted.
“Then that’s settled.” I glanced between the two of them. “You are going to go back to Italy and face your parents, and I’m coming with you.”
Luke pulled the shirt I’d folded and placed into my suitcase back out. “You are not coming with me.”
“I hear the words coming out of your mouth, but I also know that you were the one who paid to expedite my shiny new passport.” Smacking his hand in mock scolding, I replaced the shirt back into the luggage. “It must be nice to have the means to grease the right hands to get what you want.”
He shrugged off my comment. “Sometimes my money can be used for good purposes. But I think I prefer my simpler life here.” Backing up, he took a running leap onto my bed, knocking over another stack of clothes ready to be packed. “You’re sure I can’t convince you to stay and elope?”
I stopped stuffing a pair of flats into the side of the suitcase and clapped my hands. “You mean, we can stay here, just the two of us?”
“Yeah.” Ever since Cassio had left, a little of Luke’s habit of assuming a Southern accent had returned. He switched on the charm to tempt me. “If you don’t want to elope, I’ll bet I can get us a marriage certificate in record time, and we can put together something with just you and your friends right here on your property.”
“Mm-hmm.” I crawled onto the bed next to him.
“We can get Ellie and Pops to coordinate with the Tiki crew to cater and have a grand ol’ shindig.” He caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers.
“Sounds just about perfect,” I purred, getting close enough that my face hovered mere centimeters away from his. “Only one problem.”
“What?” He closed his eyes, expecting a kiss from me.
I pushed his shoulders, making him fall back on my pillows. “That’s just a different form of running away from the problem. It’s time you faced things head-on. Learn from your sister and stand up for what you want in life.”
Pursing my lips, I kept the last part of my plan to myself. Yes, I wanted to push my fiancé into facing his parents after so long and to declare his love for me in front of them. Getting their blessing would be great, but I didn’t expect it. However, I did hope to delve deeper into
