Chapter 8
Cosimo was helping Bas clean up in the kitchen when he turned and realized Marcella was no longer in the room.
"She slipped outside about a minute ago when she thought no one was watching," Charlotte said, cleaning her glasses. "I think we might have broken her brain."
"Entirely possible," Cosimo replied and dried off his hands with a kitchen towel.
After revealing their dragon nature, they ended up telling Marcella a summary about the return of magic and their involvement in it.
They may have left out crucial details because there was only so far Cosimo could trust her.
Valentine's theory that Maria was also fighting her dragon side in her trapped state was another argument they had for finding her as soon as possible.
The last thing the family needed was an international incident with Italy because a dragon had suddenly appeared in their countryside, confused and afraid.
The lectures the Italian government would dish out would be nothing compared to the ass kicking Kian would give them.
Cosimo also felt like a bit of a bastard for threatening Marcella the way he had.
He was so shocked that she had figured out they were shifters that he hadn't had time to rally himself.
The overprotective beast inside of him had reared up before he could stop it.
The dragon had spoken through him, and he still wasn't sure what he had said.
He came back to himself when he smelled her fear mixed in with that damn alluring perfume, and he hated it. It wasn't like him to go around scaring women, and it didn't sit well with him.
"Do you think I should go and talk to her? Or let her process?" Cosimo asked, needing advice.
"You know, I'm really starting to see where you Greatdrakes get your awkward dating skills from," Lachlan teased. Apollo pinched him, making him squeak, and then he pulled Apollo into his lap to tickle in retaliation.
"You definitely should go and talk to her," Bridget weighed in. "I mean, you went all dragon on her and called her tesoro mio in your scary voice. She probably doesn't know what the fuck is going on."
"I what? I didn't call her that, did I?" Cosimo stammered.
Valentine's grin was almost evil in its delight. "You most certainly did."
"What does it mean?" Yelena asked.
"My treasure."
Her blue eyes lit up with glee. "Ohhhh, I see. How interesting."
"It's not. If anything, it's my dragon being a dick because it likes the way she smells," Cosimo grumbled, which set them off giggling. "You are all ridiculous, and if you don't stop, I'll disown the lot of you."
Reeve rolled his eyes. "You're so full of shit. You love us too much. It's okay that you're attracted to her, you know."
"Anything with a heartbeat would be attracted to her, so it hardly matters, does it?" Cosimo said stubbornly.
"Whatever you say, Dad. Go talk to her and bring her back in. Tiramisu waits for no one." Bas gently pushed him out of the kitchen and towards the French doors. "Go on. You have ten minutes."
Cosimo ran a hand through his hair and stepped out into the cool night. There was still a damp chill, being early spring, but it was nice to get away from the heat of the kitchen for a minute.
Cosimo followed the scent of Marcella's perfume down a stone path covered with a trellis laden with green vines.
She stood in the moonlight, gazing up at the stars.
Cosimo could see Bas and the others through the glass windows of the kitchen and couldn't help but smile with love for them and their constant nonsense.
"I wanted to see that we hadn't scared you away yet," Cosimo said softly, trying not to startle the witch in his garden.
Marcella turned to face him. "You haven't. I just wanted to get my thoughts together. Your children..."
Cosimo's eyes drifted back to where said children were watching them through the glass. Marcella had her back to them, so she missed Apollo breathing on the glass and writing, KISS HER, and making smoochy faces. Reeve did the same but decided to just draw a dick on the misted glass.
"My children are loud? Interfering? Pushy?" Cosimo said to Marcella. "Immature despite all of them being grown bloody adults?"
Marcella shook her head. "I was going to say lovely, actually. Your children are lovely."
"Huh. One I haven't heard before," he admitted. "How much wine did you drink?"
Marcella smiled. "They are good people, Cosimo. I haven't been around a big family like this in a long time."
She sounded so sad, Cosimo couldn't mind his own business.
"Can I ask why? Italians all seem to have big families. Do you have no one still in Forli?"
Marcella laughed bitterly. "No. I can't even go back to my family's villa in the country there."
"Let me guess, it has something to do with the stronzo ex-husband?"
"Correct. His family..." She hesitated and then shook herself. "Fuck it. You told me about yourselves tonight. I can do the same."
Cosimo waited patiently, not wanting to pressure her any more than he already had.
"I am an only child, and my parents have both died. I had already married Carlo when they passed, despite their numerous warnings that he wasn't a good match for me," Marcella began and looked back up at the stars.
"His family is the head of the congrega, the coven, between Ravenna and Forli.
They wanted to have a Sforza's power pulled into their bloodline, and for the first few years, our marriage was okay.
His mother had always been controlling, especially over Carlo, and she began interfering.
She kept pushing me to have a child. The sooner the better.
Oh, she did it kindly at first. She was getting old and wanted grandkids, that kind of thing. "
Marcella's hand fluttered to her stomach before she realized what she was doing and let it fall, bunched tight into a fist.
"And you didn't want children?" Cosimo asked, wanting to take her hand and smooth out her fingers.
"Oh, I wanted children. Desperately," Marcella said and swallowed hard.
"After years of trying, I found out that I'm incapable of having them.
You can probably guess what happened next.
Carlo and his mother felt that they had been taken advantage of.
There was no way to get the Sforza magic in the family now except to use and abuse me.
To cut a long, horrible story short, he got physical more than once, and so did she.
I couldn't take it anymore. Nothing was worth the life I was living. "
Cosimo swallowed back all the vengeful thoughts he suddenly had. "What did you do?"
"I laced their food with a sleeping potion one night, and I left," Marcella replied and hugged herself.
"Carlo tried to get me to come back, made a lot of promises, and then a lot of threats.
Divorce is still seen as a shameful thing in that community.
Eventually, I sent them official papers, and my lawyer acted as a mediator.
I could keep the apartment here in Florence, but they would keep my family's villa.
I was exiled from Forli. My ancestral soil. My parents' graves. Everything."
Cosimo's stomach hollowed out. She had fought to escape, and here he was asking her to go back.
"No," he whispered.
"Cosa?" Marcella's brows went up.
"I didn't realize what I was asking of you. I will find someone else to deal with them, or I will throw propriety aside and go to them on my own," he said, anger on her behalf rearing its ugly head.
Marcella rested a hand on his arm, and the restless dragon in him settled.
"I wouldn't have said I would think about it unless I thought I could handle it, Cosimo.
Your family is something special, as I said, and it won't be complete until you have your sister.
I want to help you, but I'll need your help in return. "
"Tell me," he said, shocked that she would still want to help at all.
Marcella chewed her bottom lip, and long-dead parts of Cosimo woke up. Dark gods, he couldn't go down this road again.
"It would be better if you came to my apartment tomorrow, and I can show you. For now, I think I want to go and eat some more of your son's delicious cooking."
Cosimo caught her hand as she began to loosen her grip on his arm.
"If we have to deal with your ex-husband's family and their congrega in person, I promise I won't let them harm you.
You're under my family's protection now, and it carries a lot more weight than whatever magical clout they think they have. "
Marcella's expression softened. "It's cute that you think I'm the one going to be in danger if we have to go to Forli."
Cosimo lifted her chin with a gentle touch. Her eyes were so big and dark that he felt like they could swallow him whole.
"I'm serious, Marcella. There are many ways to wound someone without laying a finger on them. I won't let them hurt you any more than they already have. Do you hear me?"
Marcella nodded, and Cosimo ran his thumb over her soft cheek. He saw it on her face the moment surprise turned to desire, and he quickly stepped back. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Bas's tiramisu ought to be dished up by now. Shall we?"
He offered her his arm before he could overthink it. Giving him a curious sideways glance, Marcella looped her arm around his.
"You are nothing like I thought you would be," she admitted in the darkness under the vines.
Cosimo was glad the night hid his burning face. "Same goes for you. It almost makes me sorry that I beat you to so many books."
That made her laugh brightly. "You liar, you would never be sorry about that."
"Don't worry. I can be convinced to share. I am very susceptible to both bribery and flattery," Cosimo replied and opened the door to the house for her.
Marcella's sly smile yanked on the new threads of desire running through him.
"You probably shouldn't have told me that. I'm skilled at getting men to do what I want."
"A good thing I'm a dragon then," he replied, returning the smile. "It would be a bad idea to try to trick me with your magical charms."
Marcella tsked mockingly. "I do so love a bad idea, but just for the record, I don't need any magic at all to charm men into giving me what I want."
Cosimo watched the sway of her hips as she glided back inside. His dragon growled approvingly, and Cosimo wondered what the hell he was doing flirting with a strega. And why couldn't he find the willpower to stop?