Once inside the passageway, she cast her own light orb to help us see. “I assume you are Master Luca’s companion? The one who created the commotion in front of his parents?”
I nodded in affirmation even though she couldn’t see me as she led me forward. “I’m Ruby Mae Jewell.”
“And I am Fiametta,” she said, pronouncing her name with a hard T. “You may call me Fia.”
“You’re a witch,” I observed.
“Like you,” she confirmed. “Although I have been successful at hiding my true nature while working here.”
“You were the mouse that approached me in the hall, weren’t you?” I asked, shying away from a filmy spider web hanging from the enclosed ceiling.
“Sì, I was trying to stop you from disturbing the spirit and answering the siren’s call.” The young woman stopped at a fork in the passage to make sure I followed her. “It is this way,” she said, directing me to the right.
“Why?” I asked, hurrying to keep up with her quick pace. “What is wrong with going to Isabella’s room?”
Fiametta stopped abruptly and I almost ran into her. She directed her orb of light to hover above us. “The dead vampire daughter’s ghost has been quiet for a long while. But now with the return of her beloved brother, she is stirred to life again.” She glanced at the metal medallion hanging around my neck. “None of us know what will happen were she to awaken fully.”
“Us?” I asked in utter confusion.
“There is no time for more talk. We must return you to your room.” Fia resumed her rapid strides. “When Master Luca arrived in your chambers and found it empty with the meal untouched, he went a little…what is the word?”
My stomach sank. “He freaked out.”
“Yes, that sounds right. He has tasked many of us to search for you, and I feared for the outcome were you not to be found in perfect condition.” She slowed down, holding her hand over the stone of the wall. “The opening should be here…ah, yes.” Symbols glowed inside the stone. “The door will open if there is nobody on the other side.”
We waited while the spell she cast stayed activated. When the stone gave way, the new witch tugged on my arm. “Come with me.”
The second I passed through the doorway, the stone settled back into place. The red carpet underneath my feet seemed familiar, and I recognized the antique amphora vases resting on a table in the hall near my room.
“Aspetta, Fiametta!” Claudio ran in our direction. He spoke to the young woman with passionate consternation. Unhappy with her responses, he addressed me. “Wherever you have been, you must reassure Master Luca of your well-being. Come.”
“Claudio,” Fiametta protested.
He responded to her in harsh tones. “Wait for me in our usual place.” When he saw how distressed she was, he softened a little and said something else in Italian.
“Thank you, Fia,” I managed before the young woman left. “I would love to talk to you again soon.”
“Watch for me in the morning.” She raised her eyebrows, conveying some hidden message, and I hoped I could decipher it before the next afternoon.
Claudio marched me down the hall and knocked on the door of my quarters. Luke’s gruff voice answered, and the young man let me in.
My fiancé rushed over to me in a vampiric blur, crushing me against his chest. “Where have you been?”
“I wanted to find someone to help me unlace my corset so I could take this blasted dress off.” Sticking as close to the truth as possible would allow me to assess the damage. “I got lost.”
He mumbled words I couldn’t understand and sighed. “I was ready to fight my parents, sure that they had found a way to get rid of you.”
I grimaced. “I take it your talk with them was less than stellar, huh?”
He ran his fingers through his hair, mussing it up. “Their anger runs deep with my perceived abandonment of the family duties.” Luke turned me around to face away from him, and I felt a tug on the laces of the corset.
“Did you manage to say the things you wanted to? Did they listen to you at all?” The bodice of the dress stopped digging into my sides, and I drew in a deep breath of relief.
Luke continued to fuss over the laces while he spoke. “After my father stopped yelling at me, I did manage to get in a few important points. But nobody was ready to apologize yet.”
Holding the loosened dress up with my arm, I faced Luke again. “This isn’t going to be the simple in-and-out trip you wanted it to be, is it?”
“No,” he breathed out. “And now, my mother is insisting if you must stay then she is allowed to spend time with you.”
“That sounds…” Terrifying, I thought to myself. “Promising.”
Luke didn’t add anything other than a noncommittal grunt. “And now that we have accomplished the task that took you out of the room and left you wandering the castle hallways, would you like to tell me what you were up to?”
I gaped at him and batted my eyelashes in mock innocence but groaned in acceptance when he responded with stony silence. “All right, I’ll tell you. Just let me change into something more comfy and eat a little something first.”
Escaping into the closet, I scrambled to find where whoever had unpacked my luggage had stashed the clothes I’d brought. Pulling open the drawers of the large custom-built island in the middle of the space, I found what I wanted. In record time, I changed into something that made me feel a little more like myself.
“That’s better,” I exclaimed with relief, exiting the closet and pulling my hair back into a messy bun. “Sorry if this wasn’t exactly the sexy ensemble you were hoping for.”
Luke grinned at me. “You
