Chapter 25

CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE

Stella spent the morning meeting with artists to approve new journal designs. Despite feeling half in a daze from the previous night’s activities, she also managed to sign off on that month’s book, Herodotus’s Histories, for the various cartolai to sell from their demountable stands, tented gondolas, and brightly painted carts throughout the city.

Luca arrived mid-morning with biscotti and coffee for her.

"What are you sucking up for?" she asked, eyes narrowing.

"I’m not sucking up at all. I know you have been working all day and running about with Dom all night. What’s going on there? Having sleepovers now? I know you didn’t come home last night, and you can’t lie to me and say it was investigating," Luca replied. His eyes narrowed when he saw the painting of the black-and-gold wings and swords. "Have you even found anything yet, or are you using this to indulge your crush?"

"How can you even ask me that?"

"Because you keep making me stay at home and aren’t telling me anything! What am I meant to think?"

"I want to find Claudia as much as you do, and for your information, we met with the King of the Djinn about the disappearances last night," Stella said, fighting down her frustration. "Dom and I are also spending personal time together, yes."

"You two are doing more than that. You’re not even trying to hide that hickey he’s given you."

"None of your business, little brother."

"Come on, distract me from my problems by telling me about your scandalous affair with an Aladoro. If it’s just screwing around, you need to be careful—"

"I’m in love with him," Stella snapped and then put her head in her hands with a groan. "What am I going to do, Luca?"

"Find Claudia so she can give you the love-life advice I can’t. Does he feel the same way?"

"I think so?" Stella didn’t have to think about it too hard. Dom hadn’t said the words, but the way he acted said it loud enough.

Something had happened last night, something she didn’t know how to explain. She had felt connected to him in a way that she had never felt with another person. It was like a part of her soul had tangled up in his, and she had no way of dealing with that feeling.

She had gone to cover up his mark on her neck and had stopped herself. Unable to do it. She didn’t care who saw it. She wanted everyone to know she was his. Which was ridiculous because Stella had never wanted to belong to anyone but herself.

Paulo interrupted them with a knock and passed her the morning mail. Stella snatched up the letter with Dom’s seal on it. She ran her fingers along the outline of the shedu and the filigree around it before breaking it and reading the lines.

Stella,

Zahir has sent us a lead. Something about Isola La Vignole and the Princess of Zadar. I believe he knows of a deal going down tonight, but let’s check it out together. Don’t look into it without me.

I missed seeing you this morning,

Dom

"Oh,he’s sending love letters now, is he?" Luca teased.

"Hardly. He’s got a lead. I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of the Princess of Zadar?" Stella showed him the letter.

"Nope, but my bet is that it’s a ship. I can go over to Isola La Vignole today and see what’s happening over there."

"I don’t know, Luca. Claudia would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

Luca folded his arms. "Well, she’s not here, is she? She kept secrets and ran about and got herself into trouble. Let me do this, Stella. I won’t get caught or even noticed. It will be a good thing if I can get the lay of the land for you and Dom tonight. Unless you are going to let me come with you?"

"Absolutely not. If Zahir wants to see us, I don’t want you anywhere near that meeting." Luca opened his mouth to complain. Stella raised her hand. "But your idea is a good one. Go on, go now, and be back as soon as possible. If you get caught, I won’t come and rescue you."

Luca gave her shoulders a tight squeeze. "Yes, you will, because I’m your baby brother, and you love me."

"Only until Claudia is found, and I can wash my hands of you!" Stella called after him. He drove her crazy, but she still sent up a prayer to San Marco to watch over him.

* * *

That evening Stellawas in the kitchen arguing with Luca when Dom came in, and all the thoughts in her head seemed to go out.

He was wearing his flying gear and smiled at her, but his eyes were worried. He checked her over like he was making sure she was in one piece.

She wanted to climb inside his oversized coat and breathe him in.

Pull yourself together. You resisted him for eight months. You can resist him now.

She wasn’t about to crawl all over Dom in front of Luca, but she wanted to. She hadn’t seen him in ten hours, and she had missed him far more than what she should have.

"Hey, I was wondering when you were going to turn up," she said, finally getting her tongue to work. "Are you hungry? Luca made some truly terrible pizza if you need something to scare your appetite away."

"It’s not terrible! You just don’t like my creativity in the kitchen," Luca argued.

"Anchovies do not belong on pizza, fratellino."

Dom slid onto a stool on the opposite side of the counter. "I’m sorry, Luca, I’m with Stella on this one."

"Unbelievable! This is the thanks I get for spying all day and then coming home and cooking for you."

"Hey! You weren’t meant to tell him," Stella growled.

Dom’s eyes narrowed. "Spying on what?"

"I went to look for the Princess of Zadar."

"Are you crazy? What if someone had grabbed you too?"

Stella folded her arms. "Luca was stubborn and insisted on helping by looking for the ship."

"I found her too. She’s moored in Dock Eight, right near the point of the island. There were a lot of people coming and going. Fancy, like you are," Luca said, nodding at Dom.

"And then, at about five o’clock, they all left. About four guys remained behind: two at the gangplank access onto the ship, and the other two patrolling on deck. I didn’t see them loading anything, but they might have done it before I got there."

"Were you spotted by any of these fancy people?" Dom asked, his frown deepening.

"I wouldn’t be here if I were. They looked serious. I made sure I blended in with the other stevedores on the docks. I actually made some money helping a serpent shifter clean his big daily catch while I watched," Luca said, a bit proudly.

"That was good thinking," Stella replied, wanting to give him credit for a good job. "But you still aren’t coming with us tonight."

"Can’t you convince her, Dom?" Luca pleaded.

Dom only laughed. "Have you met her? I’m flattered you think I could convince Stella to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Besides, she’s the boss."

Stella couldn’t help it. She put her arm around Dom’s big shoulders and kissed his cheek. "And don’t you forget it either, Aladoro."

Luca screwed up his face. "I’m out of here if you two are going to get smoochy with each other."

"Luca, wait, there is something you can do for me," Dom said. He slid off his ring with the Aladoro crest on it and passed it to him. "If we aren’t back by midnight, I need you to take my boat and find the King of the Djinn. Give him the ring and tell him to find us immediately."

Luca took the ring and slid it onto his index finger. "You can count on me."

"What is that all about?" Stella asked after Luca had left the kitchen with the remainder of his pizza.

"It’s Zahir’s lead. If we get into trouble, he can bloody come and rescue us," Dom replied.

"Are you okay? You seem worried." Stella stroked her fingers through his hair, and he leaned into the touch. "What’s wrong? I can feel you are upset."

Dom leaned forward and kissed her gently. "I’m fine, just wondering if I should leave you here with Luca to keep you safe."

"There’s no way you could convince me to stay."

"I know, hence the worry." Dom stroked her face. "I can’t handle the thought of anything happening to you. You are...you are precious to me."

Tell me you love me. Stella wanted him to say it, so she would feel safe to say it back.

"You think I feel any different? We are partners in this, remember? We watch each other’s backs, and we’ll be perfectly fine," Stella said, brushing kisses over his cheeks.

He pulled her in close to him, hands going down her back to her hips. He breathed her in deeply, just as she had longed to do to him when he arrived. Maybe she was picking up bad habits from him.

She pressed her face into the groove of his neck and inhaled the smell of cedar and spice. She nipped his neck, and his hand on her ass tightened.

"Don’t you dare start that. We have things to do tonight, misteriosa," Dom said, his voice a warning growl.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," she replied as she leaned out of his embrace. He looked a little less worried, and a lot more turned on. Good.

"We’ll talk about this naughtiness later, amongst other things," he promised before he gave her a deep, silky kiss. "Grab your warmest jacket. We are going by air."

"Oh, I get to ride you like my own pretty pony again."

Seeing the gleam of warning in his eye, Stella laughed and ran out of the room.

* * *

Stella’s fingersclenched tightly around Dom’s mane as they soared through the air towards the shipyards.

The Navy ships were the only vessels permitted to dock in the Arsenale. Everyone else had to stay at the Lido or the Isola La Vignole.

It was Cups territory, and an additional set of dockyards had been built for the merchants so that they weren’t churning up the seabed in the central lagoon and messing with the natural fish life.

The sea serpent shifter families were the waterways’ caretakers. Anyone caught disobeying the rules or dumping litter into the sea risked a violent, watery death between their sharp teeth.

Dom kept high in the clouds until they were over the jetties docked with merchant galleys. Stella bit back a scream as they dropped fast.

Dom shifted midair and caught her as they hit the dock. He was shaking with laughter as he put her down, dodging the fists she pummeled him with.

"You did that on purpose, you great big prick!" Stella complained.

"Shhh, we are meant to be spies, remember?" Dom said, eyes shining. He was enjoying himself far too much. Still giggling, he kissed her until she melted into him.

"You are lucky I love you. Otherwise, I’d be sticking you with my stiletto right now," Stella threatened and then froze. Oh shit, you did not just say that. "Let’s go."

"Oh no, you don’t." Dom pulled her back. Heart-pounding panic pulsed through her, and she fought not to run. He pinned her arms so she couldn’t move. "Say it again."

Stella tried to get away, but he wouldn’t loosen his grip. "I will not. It was just an expression."

"Stella mia, I can smell when you are lying," he purred, and she stopped wriggling. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Say it again."

"God save me from bossy alphas," Stella huffed. When she finally looked up at him, his face was in shadow, but his eyes glowed. She took a deep breath and said, "I love you, and I want to stab you. Satisfied?"

"No, but by the end of the night, I will be," he said, voice laden with dark promise. "I love you too, in case you wanted to know."

Stella’s relief was so palpable she fought not to sag in his arms.

He feels the same, he feels the same.

Dom kissed her slowly enough to make her toes curl in their boots. Her hands threaded into his hair and she pulled him closer. Mine.

"Say it again," she growled playfully.

"I love you, smartass."

"Glad we got that settled in this inopportune moment. Now let’s go find this ship, shall we?" Stella said, flustered and frustrated and yet utterly pleased with herself.

The Princess of Zadar was a merchant ship, docked exactly where Luca had said she would be.

"They are flying both the Venetian and Croatian flag. Interesting," Dom said, but didn’t say why. "Do you see any more guards?"

"No, only those two," Stella said. At the end of the gangplank, two men sat playing cards and smoking. "I can take them, be ready." She ignored Dom’s hisses of annoyance and stumbled out into the light of the artificer lamps.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me?" she asked, filling her eyes with tears and her voice with feigned helplessness. "I seem to have lost my way back to my tavern." The two men gave each other sly looks.

Fucking scum bags.

"Sure, we can help," one said as they got up. As soon as one laid a hand on her arm, she drove her elbow hard up into his sternum, forcing him to his knees as he gasped in air. She followed it up with another swift elbow to his temple, and he sank to the boardwalk unconscious.

"You bitch," the second guard hissed, and Stella kicked him in the balls as he reached out for her. Dom appeared out of the shadows, striking him in the back of the head and knocking him out.

"Yay for teamwork, now help me get them behind those crates," Stella said.

Once they had hidden the bodies, they crept up the gangplank and crouched behind some water barrels.

"Can you see the other two?" Stella whispered, but Dom was gone. There was a cry of alarm from the front of the boat and then nothing. A large shedu padded towards her and shifted.

"I couldn’t let you have all the fun," Dom said. "Let’s check out the cabin first, and then we’ll go below deck and see what they are hauling."

The captain’s cabin smelled of liquor and saltwater. A large desk in one corner, so Stella pulled out her lock picks and went to work on the drawers.

"I don’t suppose Zahir said anything about what we should be looking for?" she asked as the first lock clicked into place.

"Of course not. We waited until ten-thirty, and nothing happened, so we might as well see what else we can find." Dom slid open the first drawer while Stella got to work on the second. He pulled out a large notebook and opened it.

"Ah, the captain’s logbook," he said, turning pages. "Shit, Stella."

"What?" Dom put the book down in front of her. Every month there had been a delivery from someone labeled ’The Shrike.’

"Do you think it’s Ciro?"

A shadow filled the doorway. "What a good guess."

A tall, slender man appeared, but Stella couldn’t tear her eyes away from the gun in his hand. They were illegal in Venice, and she had never seen one in real life before.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Ciro?" Dom said, putting the book down.

"I could ask the same thing, Signor Aladoro. What are you doing on my ship, breaking into my cabin like a common criminal? Not very smart." Ciro kept the gun trained on Stella.

"Where are the people you’ve taken, and what have you done with them? Confess to me, and the Council might go easy on you." As he spoke, Dom put the book down and slowly pulled Stella behind him.

Ciro only laughed. "I don’t need your help with the Council."

Stella saw a flash of shadow out of the corner of her eye, and the gleam of another gun barrel shone in the moonlight.

Stella tried to shove Dom aside as it exploded. He grunted in pain and surprise, a large silver dart in his chest. Stella caught him as they crashed to the ground.

"S-Stella. Run," Dom gasped as the figure who shot him stepped into the cabin.

"About time you turned up," Ciro snapped.

"I was busy," Rodrigo said and looked down his nose at Dom and Stella. "Now I have to clean up another one of your messes."

Anger and the need to protect Dom turned Stella wild, and she flung her two stilettos at the shifters. One hit Ciro in the gut, but Rodrigo dodged, firing his gun again.

"You bastard," she hissed as her vision blurred. She sagged onto Dom, trying her best to shield him.

Rodrigo stroked her face as darkness overtook her. "So nice to see you again, little lamb."