“I don’t believe she set herself on fire. Even though I never knew her, I don’t think that would have been her solution to her problem.” I rubbed the ring on my finger, the slight tingle against my skin giving me more confidence. “I think someone she knew did this to her. And whoever it was, I think he or she visited her in the tower after you did, Luke.”
My fiancé blinked his eyes, putting together the pieces I laid out for him. He crumpled onto the bed next to me. “You mean, you don’t think I had anything to do with her death?”
“No, I truly don’t,” I said, rubbing his back.
“Neither do I,” Damiana agreed. “There may have been a time where I treated you too roughly and placed blame on you. But that was only because I found it hard to accept fault where it belonged. On me and your father.”
I took Luke’s hand in mine. “I’m sorry to disagree with you, Mrs. de Rossi, but if I’m right, then none of you should feel guilty. But how can I know for sure without…” I thought about the letters I’d found in Isabella’s room. “Did anybody find some letters on the desk in your daughter’s room after the fire?”
“No,” Luke confirmed, rubbing his thumb on the back of my hand. “While you did manage to control the fire to keep it from doing any major structural damage, there still was a lot of interior destruction to my sister’s possessions.”
The hope I’d forged when I found the letters disappeared. I’d lost the only sure way to find the name of the person threatening Isabella. But in order to keep Fiametta safe, I couldn’t reveal why losing Isabella’s letters to the fire might have blown my chance to find a possible suspect.
I leaned my head back on the pillows, and Luke cautioned his mother from talking any further. “She needs to eat and then to rest,” he declared.
Damiana cleared her throat and rose. “I came here with the intent to send you home. But you have convinced me that all of my beliefs that you used your magic in order to humiliate my family were wrong.” She strode closer to the bed and reached her hand out, touching my shoulder. “You have proven yourself to be a woman of strength. An equal for my son.”
She walked away, and I struggled to sit up straighter. “Does that mean Luke and I would have your blessing to marry?”
His mother stopped walking but did not turn around. “We shall see,” she said before leaving.
Luke stared at the door. “If I hadn’t heard it with my own ears, I would not believe it.”
“She didn’t totally say yes,” I grunted, throwing my arm over my eyes to ward off more dizziness.
My fiancé stroked one finger across my skin, causing my arm hairs to stand on end. “Ah, but she didn’t say no either. If you think about it, that is more than my sister received.”
He had a point, but I was too tired to celebrate. Before long, one of the staff brought in food, and Luke hovered over me, making sure I replenished myself. But I figured he really wanted me to stay out of trouble if only for one day.
Chapter Seventeen
The next day, Luke took me into Perdaggia to explore. The walled city bustled with preparations for the Festa del Cioccolato coming up the next weekend. Having been consumed by events at the castle, I had missed that Luke’s home city was known for its chocolate!
Several vendors featured their own use of chocolate in their wares, and I stuffed my face with free samples. Luke never said a word, but he snorted when I ate another piece from a different store.
“What?” I groused at him. “I’m still recovering. Consider it my fuel.”
“So, what? Now you run on chocolate?” he teased.
I stood in the middle of the road, making a scene with my hand on my hip. “As old as you are, you’d think you’d have learned a thing or two about women,” I sassed.
A few tourists who understood English razzed Luke, and he escorted me away, digging his fingers into my side to punish me with tickles.
We stopped in a few shops, and I browsed for gifts to bring back for my family. Luke assured me he would ship back a bunch of olive oil and wine, so I stuck to things that would fit in my luggage.
Even though some of it was a little cheesy, Luke helped me pick out some T-shirts and hats, even modeling a few to help me choose the best options. Boxes of assorted chocolates were a must for all my female friends, and I loaded up and purchased as many as I could hold. Luke carried my bags from one place to the next without one word of complaint.
My fiancé’s willingness to indulge me so much didn’t escape my notice. I appreciated his efforts to distract me a little from my ordeals, but he was trying a bit too hard. He had done his best to discover who the driver of the car that ran Fiametta and me off the road was, but without either of us girls able to give better details of the vehicle, he’d come up with a whole lot of nothing. Maybe Luke and I deserved a break from the drama.
We hit up another store, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I searched around us, seeing if I could locate the source of my discomfort. A man with dark hair stared at me for a good second or so. He stopped and went about his business, but I kept
