I swallowed. I had seen Zo in many different situations and with many different emotions. I had been threatened by him more than once. But I had never seen such raw violence in his eyes. I saw it in his face: not only the promise of pain, but an eagerness to inflict it.
He was clearly a man on the edge, desperate, and that made him even more dangerous than usual. I stopped struggling. Fighting with him would only make things worse. Maybe if I remained calm and at least a little cooperative, he would relax his guard and I could get away.
Or at least survive until Dante arrived.
“Who was she?” I asked, my voice cracking on the last word. I wrapped my arm around my chest, trying to hold on to whatever warmth I could. I could feel the tops of my ears and the tip of my nose tingling with the cold.
Zo touched the curve of the angel’s wing. “She was mine, once. She promised she would make me happy and give me sons and do whatever I asked.” He tightened his grip on me again, and I hissed in suppressed pain. “When she refused to marry me, I knew that all her promises were lies. She pretended to be an innocent flower, but she was poison.”
“Is that why you killed her? Valerie told us the story of how the Flower Girl refused the Pirate King and how she was broken, body and soul,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. I winced. What had happened to trying to be cooperative? I braced myself for his reaction.
But Zo didn’t lash out at me. Instead his face tightened. The rattle in his chest grew deeper until it sounded like a growl. “She betrayed my trust. She humiliated me. She made me look like a fool.”
“And that was the worst part, wasn’t it?” I said, with dawning realization. “It wasn’t that she broke your heart. You probably didn’t even love her—not really. It’s that she refused you. She was no longer something you could own. It’s never about love with you, is it, Zo? It’s about possession. That’s why you want me to help you. Why you want me at all. Because you know you can’t have me.”
Zo clenched his jaw, anger flashing in his eyes. “Let’s make this simple, shall we? I blinded Dante, and he should have stayed blind. I broke his locket, and he should have stayed broken. But instead, you healed him. You defied the wishes of a Master of Time. It’s only fair that you even the scales by restoring to me what belongs to me.” He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me close to him again. “You owe me. After everything we’ve been through. Everything you’ve done. You owe me this.”
“I don’t owe you anything,” I said. “And you won’t get what you want. Not from me.”
Zo shook his head and smiled, the predator back on the prowl. “Oh, but sweet Abby, you should know by now that I always get what I want.”
Before I could react, Zo’s mouth came down hard on mine.
I tried to recoil, shoving hard against his chest with both hands, my fingers automatically turning into claws. He may have been bleeding out time from an unseen wound, but he was still physically stronger than I was. I aimed a kick at his leg, hoping to connect with a knee or an ankle, but with my brain screaming and my body struggling, I missed. I would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding me so tightly.
His mouth moved on mine in a smile. I could almost taste his amusement. It made me want to throw up.
He advanced, keeping me off balance and forcing me to take a step back. I felt the rough stone of the cathedral wall behind me. A small part of me was grateful for the support, but the rest of me hated the feeling of pressure all around me, of being trapped without being able to move, without a way out. His body was so close to mine.
Panic rose up in my throat. I didn’t dare close my eyes. I didn’t dare breathe. My vision started to turn black around the edges. I tried to twist out of his grip, but he seemed to anticipate my every move, countering me and keeping me pinned.
Was this how it was going to end, then?
Or was this just the beginning of something worse?
And then he was gone, his body ripped away from mine in one violent movement. I caught a glimpse of his eyes, a lightning flash of surprise in their dark depths, before he crashed to the ground a few feet away from me. I gasped out loud with sudden freedom, gulping down the cold air until the inside of my throat felt coated with ice. I scrubbed at my mouth with both hands, frantic to erase Zo’s touch.
A dark shadow rose up in front of me, and I shied away in instinctive fear, my heart beating hard and fast in my chest.
As the light cut through the clouds, I saw who had saved me from Zo’s attack.
Dante stood over Zo, his back to me and his feet spread wide to help him keep his balance. His hands clenched into fists. A halo of stillness settled over him, tightening his muscles. His body hummed with tension, focused and sharp. This wasn’t the stillness he summoned when he was thinking or planning; this was a profound absence of thought. And, in the void, there was only action.
Zo scrambled back, attempting to leverage himself up to his feet, but Dante was quicker. He moved forward, bringing his boot down hard on Zo’s hand.
I heard the sickening snap of bone, but Zo didn’t scream in pain. Instead, he smiled up at Dante as though he had run into an old friend on the street.
“It’s good to see you again, Dante. Frankly, I was beginning to wonder when you were going to show up. I was starting to think you didn’t care—”
Dante leaned his weight forward, and another snap cracked through Zo’s words.
His grin faltered for a moment, but then he drew in a shuddering breath and fixed it back in place. “I see you’ve decided not to play nice anymore.”
“Shut up,” Dante said, his voice the cold rumble of an avalanche. “Are you safe, Abby?” He threw the words over his shoulder without moving.
I nodded. Then, realizing he couldn’t see me standing behind him, I said, “Yes.” Then again, louder, “Yes, I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me.”
I felt more than saw a little of the tension leave his body. “Good,” he said in a tone that was reassuring to me but that made Zo’s eyes flick to Dante’s face. He must not have liked what he saw because a few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead.
“Abby did a nice job healing your eyes,” Zo said. “Impressive work. Just so you know, Abby,” he called to me over Dante’s shoulder, “I’m expecting the same level of quality when it’s my turn.”
“I doubt that will be happening anytime soon,” Dante said.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Zo said with a grin. “Stranger things have happened.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know,” Dante said.
“I know you can’t keep me here,” Zo said, but his bravado sounded strangely flat.
“Watch me.”
He shifted his weight, but instead of breaking another of Zo’s fingers, he simply applied direct pressure on the two that had already been wounded.
“Hard to travel when you’re in pain, isn’t it?” Dante commented.
Zo dug his heels into the ground as he attempted to extract himself from under Dante’s foot.
But Dante simply pointed at Zo’s chest. “Stop,” he said, “or I swear I’ll make you wish you had.”
Zo stopped moving, though his breathing quickened. Sweat dribbled down the side of his face. “So this is your big plan, Dante? You’re just going to stand on me?”
“No,” Dante said. “My plan is to do this.”
And he reached down, grabbed Zo by the throat, and swung his fist hard across Zo’s face.
Chapter 23
I wanted to step back from the sudden violence, but my back was already pressed flat against the cathedral wall.
Blood streamed from Zo’s mouth and nose. Even unconscious, his hand curled protectively around his broken fingers. Since Dante had inflicted those wounds, I knew they would be permanent. Still, I had a hard time finding any sympathy for Zo’s pain.
Dante straightened to his full height, shaking out his hand. He stepped over Zo’s body and reached my side in a moment.
“Abby,” he
said, touching my arm. “It’s time.”
I blinked. Things had happened so fast, I felt caught in a whirlwind, my mind still reeling from Zo’s attack and Dante’s rescue.
The pressure of his fingers increased, adding to the urgency of his voice. “You have to get the door—now—before it’s too late.”
“It’s time?” I repeated. Dante had warned me that it would be time for me to go to the dungeon soon. But now?
“When we were on the bank, I saw events start shifting, moving into place. I knew it was time, but when I turned around to tell you, you were gone.” He glared at Zo’s body on the ground. “I came as fast as I could. I’m sorry—”
Suddenly, Dante caught his breath and a grimace twisted his features. He clenched down on his jaw so tightly the skin turned pale.
“Dante?” I reached for his arm, feeling the pull of his muscles as a concentration of pain passed through him. “Is it your eyes, your heart?” We had worried that my healing effects might be only temporary, but I hadn’t imagined they would wear off so soon.
He shook his head and exhaled slowly; I could see the effort it took him to maintain his control. “No. I can feel the river moving into place. Our window of opportunity is closing. The pressure is building. It’s time,” he said again. “I need help too, Abby, and you are the only one who can do it.”
I knew I would have only one chance to save Dante and thereby save the river as well. It was why we had come all this way, endured so much. If I didn’t go, all our sacrifices would be in vain.
I buried my face in Dante’s neck. “I wish you could come with me,” I said.
“So do I,” Dante agreed, gathering me into his arms, his hands locking tight against the small of my back. “But it’s not possible. I can’t risk seeing my other self. And I can’t risk leaving Zo alone—even unconscious. You’ll have to go alone.” He leaned back to look me in the eyes. “It’s like you said: The me inside the dungeon can’t wait to see you for the first time—he just doesn’t know it yet. Go. I’ll be here when you get back.”
I kissed him hard and fast. “I’ll see you soon,” I said with a fierce smile.
I hurried out of the cemetery to the edge of the courtyard outside the cathedral. I looked in the direction of the courthouse as though I could see through the buildings that separated us. A few people milled through the streets. A nearby vendor called out to passing customers, offering to show them his wares. Two children ran in circles, laughing and shrieking in a game of tag. The whole town was filled with people, and not a single one of them understood what was going on, the danger they were in. Their lives were in my hands too.
I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. After all we had been through, all we had seen and done, I knew this was the moment that mattered. The fulcrum on which the future balanced. Stay or go, it was time. And time wouldn’t wait for me anymore.
I turned my face toward the courthouse.
And I ran.
• • •
I ran across the plaza without a passing thought as to who was around me or what they might think. The important thing was to get to the dungeon before it was too late. I kept my focus fixed on the courthouse. The sooner I got there, the better. I could feel time slipping away with every breath.
My heart threatened to beat out of my chest, so I counted my steps, pacing myself, forcing myself to find that still space of calm in the heart of the adrenaline storm raging inside me.
I remembered my midnight escape from this very same courthouse with Orlando, though it felt like it had happened to another person. Maybe it had. My trip through time had certainly changed me.
Thinking of that escape, though, made me slow my steps from a run to a dash to a walk. Domenico had said that the guards were not looking for me anymore, but still, I didn’t want to draw too much unnecessary attention to myself. I still had a long way to go to reach the lowest basement of the courthouse, and although part of me wanted to run all the way to the door, through the hallways, and down the stairs to the dungeon, I couldn’t afford to be stopped or caught or delayed by anyone.
Still, when I reached the front door of the courthouse, I walked through without hesitation.
A handful of people were in the hallway, but no one gave me a second glance.
Keeping myself close to the wall, willing myself to be invisible, I counted off more steps, keeping time with my measured breathing.
I turned a corner and was heading toward a staircase that would lead me down when I saw Domenico exit a room a little farther down the hallway.
He looked up and saw me, a smile appearing on his round face. “My lady, I had not expected to see you here today.”
“I had not expected to be here today,” I replied, trying to catch my breath. I brushed my hair out of my eyes, scrubbing off a line of sweat in the process.
His smile faded into concern as he took in my disheveled appearance. “Is everything all right? What’s wrong?”
I didn’t even know how to begin to answer him. “Would you be able to do a favor for me?” I asked instead.
He bowed. “I am at your service.”
I hesitated, then said, “I need to go to the dungeon.”
“The dungeon?” he exclaimed. “Why are you going there?”
“It’s a long story,” I said with a sigh. “But I need to see someone there and I can’t afford to be late.” A pair of guards walked past, their swords gleaming at their sides. “Though I’d rather not be seen along the way if I can help it,” I muttered.
Domenico followed my gaze, his face drawn in thought. “This thing you need to do, it won’t hurt anyone, will it?”
I shook my head.
“It will break no laws?”
I shook my head again. I was tired of things breaking. It was time to start fixing a few things instead.
“Follow me.” He led me back into the main hallway and toward the last door in the row.
“Where—” I started, looking back in the direction of the staircase.
“This is faster.” Domenico opened the door. “You did say it was urgent, didn’t you?”
• • •
“Are you sure about this, my lady?” Domenico asked. “Certainly I could help you with this task so that you wouldn’t need to enter this place.”
“No, it has to be me,” I said. “But thank you for your help.” Domenico’s shortcut had been a single staircase that led from the main floor of the courthouse directly to the back door of the dungeon. It had saved me valuable time, and now I was where I was supposed to be when I supposed to be.
“The guards will not be pleased to see you,” Domenico warned.
“This will only take a moment,” I said. “I promise.”
My heart quickened. Dante was so close. He was right there, on the other side of the door. I felt like if I closed my eyes, I could point directly at him even through all the layers of wood and stone and darkness that separated us. I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the cloth packet that contained the broken locket. It was time.
I opened the door carefully; I didn’t want to alert the guards by accident.
As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I studied the layout of the dungeon. Not that there was much to see. So far beneath the surface, the only available light came from a row of torches on the wall and a few fat candles that did little to mask the scent of old food, dirt, and rot that hung in the air like an invisible cloud. I could hear the sound of dripping water from somewhere in the shadows.
The dungeon was one large room lined on either side by cramped cells, each one blocked with bars across the front. There were two guards standing at the far end of the room where there was another staircase leading up.
I stepped through the door, hesitant to touch the walls. I prayed I wouldn’t slip in something unspeakable.
I shook out my hands, trying to still the trembling in my fingers. I wanted to take a deep breath, but I knew I didn’t want that foul air inside my lungs. I wanted
to be as clean—inside and out—for Dante’s first look as I could be.
Everything hinged on this moment.
I took a step forward.
“Look here!” a guard shouted at me from down the row of cells. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I could feel the river flexing around me as the broken spiral slowly began twisting into a healing circle.