Chapter 11
The following morning, Cosimo sat at the kitchen counter and tried hard to stop staring at the clock as he waited for Marcella to arrive. He had decided the previous day that he would show Marcella the full picture of what his sister had been working on instead of trying to explain it.
She would probably be able to make more sense of it than he could. She knew the area that Maria was searching, and Cosimo was hoping something would trigger for her.
Get her in our territory, his dragon whispered to him.
Don't start, Cosimo growled back, knowing it was hopeless.
Cosimo had left Marcella's apartment in a hurry the previous day, his mind and body on fire. He was in awe of how much work she had done searching for her ancestor's works, and he itched to go hunting grimoires straight away.
He couldn't help but regret that he hadn't met her sooner. It would have saved them both a lot of hassle and research dead ends, and they could have had the grimoires already.
Marcella had agreed to come to the villa to see Maria's research, and Cosimo had quickly put Valentine, Bridget, and Bas to work.
Lachlan had helped with the heavy lifting with Apollo's supervision, and Reeve had taken Charlotte into the city to play tourist so she wouldn't be tempted to leave their holiday to go check on Ironwood Manor when portals were being calibrated.
Over dinner, Cosimo had told the family about Carlo's phone call, and all of them agreed that he would meet a nasty end if he talked to Marcella like that in front of them. This morning, his gossipy children were still talking about it.
"Marcella really is the coolest witch ever," Apollo stated from where he sat in the sun coming through the windows. "Her ex-husband sounds like he's just pissed that she left him."
"Small dick energy," Bridget added around a mouthful of toast.
They were waiting for the witch in question to arrive, and Cosimo was hoping it would be soon. He didn't like that he had left her the day before to deal with the emotional fallout of talking to Carlo. There was nothing he could have done about it, but the dragon wasn't impressed.
"We have to tolerate dealing with Carlo and his mother for the sake of finding Maria," he said calmly.
Valentine snorted. "Come on, Dad. We can all see our murderous thoughts are nothing compared to yours."
"She's not interested," he said quickly, and all their heads swiveled in his direction.
"Oh? Interested in what?" Lachlan asked innocently.
Charlotte kicked him under the table.
Cosimo had put his foot in it, so he might as well plunge the rest of the way in. Who knows? Maybe they could collectively give him advice so the rejection would stop bothering him.
"She's not interested in me, so you can all stop teasing and swapping covert glances when you think I don't notice." He looked at Apollo. "And no more telling me to kiss her."
"If you did it when I told you, maybe she would be interested," Apollo huffed irritably.
"We are working together and that's all there is to it," Cosimo insisted, his hand clenching under the table. There was no reason for him to still be stinging about it.
He had meant what he had said about not being able to fall in love with anyone. The lust was there, and he could deal with it, but Marcella was right. No good ever came out of having sex with a colleague.
"But you like her," Yelena insisted. "I know you do."
"She has the same area of interest as me. Of course I like her."
Yelena's blue eyes narrowed. "It's not just that. Deny it if you like, but I know what my senses tell me."
"You had all better put a pin in this because she's here," Bas said, getting up and hurrying toward the door before anyone else could.
Marcella's scent hit Cosimo in the chest and guts a second before she entered the room.
She was in a long black dress with a red belt, her hair pinned up to reveal her neck in a way the dragon in him instantly fixated on and made his mouth water.
She wore a silver chain around her neck with a Miraculous medal, a Mano Cornuto, along with the Cornicello.
Cosimo knew they were all protection talismans in addition to the bracelet she wore. Something must have happened.
"Buongiorno, my lovelies," she said, beaming at the children. "And Cosimo."
"I don't count as a lovely? Rude," he replied and gestured at the kitchen. "Would you like an espresso before we start?"
"Oh, no. I've already had three this morning, and I'm eager to see Maria's research," she replied, her dark eyes bright.
Something was up with her, but Cosimo knew to pick a better moment to ask her what it was. "In that case, Valentine? You're up."
"Don't do it in the kitchen, please. I want to put some ragu on to slow cook and don't need magic causing a janky aftertaste," Bas requested.
Marcella looked up at Cosimo. "Do what?"
"You'll see." Cosimo winked at her. "The lounge room might be more appropriate, Val, especially if we need to keep it open."
The others followed them through the villa, eager to see Marcella's reactions. She was like a shiny new thing they all wanted to play with.
They aren't the only ones, his dragon grumbled. Cosimo ignored it.
"Should I be worried?" Marcella asked over her shoulder.
"Not unless portal travel isn't your thing," Valentine said and stepped into the lounge room.
He pulled a silver token out of his pocket with a double dragon design stamped into it.
"After dealing with a murderous fae king who was an expert in portal magic, Yelena and I thought it would be good to take his ideas and make them better. "
"I…don't know what part of that to unpack first," Marcella admitted.
Valentine smiled. "Oh, don't worry. We dealt with the king. He had good ideas but was a bit too crazy. Anyway, Dad thought it would be best to take you home, and this is the quickest way."
Marcella still looked confused, and Cosimo couldn't help but enjoy it. She was always so collected, and he was also filled with fatherly pride for Valentine's abilities.
Valentine's magic hummed as he activated the token and tossed it up in the air. The scarlet and silver threads of his power burst out of the coin and formed a doorway into the Greatdrakes's library back in Dublin.
Marcella's mouth was hanging open. "That…that…"
"Is magic," Cosimo finished for her. He offered her his arm. "Don't worry. I'll be right with you."
"Have fun, you two!" Apollo called cheerily. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
Marcella still looked nervous, but she slipped her arm around Cosimo's. "If I get lost in some void, I'm taking you with me."
"No chance of that," Valentine insisted. He gave Cosimo another token. "That's for when you guys want to come back. Bridget? You want one?"
"No. I'll hitch a ride with them. I want to show Marcella what I've been working on," Bridget replied. She kissed Bas. "I'll see you later."
Cosimo didn't give Marcella a chance to back out. He tightened his hold on her arm and walked through the portal. She gasped and clung to him, and he laughed softly.
"You can open your eyes. It's already over," he said, and she peeked one eye open.
"That's it? A warm tingle of his magic and nothing?" she asked, looking back at Valentine. "You're a clever one, aren't you? There's not even a wormhole."
"Seems like a waste of magic to add that in for ambience," Valentine replied. He moved out of the way for Bridget to come through, and then the portal closed.
"That is incredible," Marcella said and then turned around to see where they were. Her eyes went wide, and she stumbled backward. "Books."
"Yeah, that was my first reaction too," Bridget laughed merrily. "Come and find me when you're done in the tower."
Marcella was staring longingly at all the shelves. "You did say I could use the library as part of our deal?"
"I did," Cosimo said, enjoying her reaction far too much.
"Oh. Good. Good to know," Marcella mumbled. Cosimo patted her arm that was still looped around his. "The library can wait. It's not what I wanted to show you."
"But..." she began and dragged her eyes away. "No, you're right. We need to find your sister, and I feel like if I were left to wander in here for too long, you wouldn't get me out again."
An excellent plan, Cosimo's dragon agreed. Gods help him, his own beast was conspiring against him.
Marcella marveled at the paintings, sculptures, and tapestries as they exited the library and headed towards Maria's tower.
Cosimo, who had lived his entire life in the mansion, had grown sensitive to its moods over the years. It shouldn't have surprised him that it liked Marcella, just as all his children did.
Still, he sensed the house trying to cocoon her in safety, warming the air around her dress and flooding the room with sunshine that Cosimo was sure the rest of Ireland wasn't having.
"This house… It feels..." she whispered and touched a polished oak banister. "Is it alive?"
"In a way. It has its own sentience, definitely.
I've never had to worry about anyone trying to break in here, that's for sure.
If they got past Valentine's wards, then I'm sure the house would deal with trespassers," Cosimo admitted.
He told her about the house's tendency to create and remove rooms and how it was that they knew wherever Maria was, that she was alive.
"It must have been hard to lose your wife's rooms," Marcella said, and Cosimo almost tripped on a step.
"It was. I really lost my mind then, but with the help of my boys, we created a new normal," he admitted. He had never really talked to anyone outside of the family about it, but there was something about Marcella that when he started talking, he didn't want to stop.
"I can't imagine. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I left my partner, and it was the best thing I ever did. I can't imagine losing someone I actually liked," she said and squeezed his arm.
"You never thought about getting remarried?" he asked.
Marcella shook her head. "No. I tried dating, but it was awful."
"I tried too after a few years, and it was so bad that I never tried it again," Cosimo said with a sympathetic laugh.
He thought about Henry's words and what had happened to the men she had dated.
"From the scorn I heard from your ex yesterday, I wouldn't put it past him to try and hex anyone you dated. Henry seems to think so, too."
"Henry has been telling you gossip again, I see," she said with a knowing smile. "Any misfortune those men met after the few dates we had was on them."
"But you are worried about what Carlo can do from afar. It's why you are wearing the extra protection today, yes?" Cosimo pressed.
Marcella's hand reached up to fiddle with the pendants around her neck.
"What makes you think they aren't to protect me from you?" she teased.
"You aren't scared of me, signorina. My dragon side would know."
Marcella relented with a sigh. "Yes, I put it on because talking with Carlo yesterday made me uneasy. I felt his mother's magic prodding at my protections around the apartment last night. She's trying to spy on me again."
"I see. Well, I have a solution for that," Cosimo said. He pulled out his phone and texted Valentine to go with Yelena and set additional wards around the apartment building.
"Do I want to know?" Marcella asked, raising a brow.
"The kids want to help out in the ways they are good at. Renata won't be bothering you again," Cosimo replied and put his phone away.
Marcella was quiet as they walked up the stairs of Maria's tower. "Thank you," she said softly.
"Think nothing of it," Cosimo replied. "It's our fault you have to open that door to them again, so it is the least we can do."
Marcella's grin turned mischievous. "Encountering such strange magic is probably going to give Renata a good rattling too. The old hag has it coming. If nothing else, it might mean she behaves if we have to see her face-to-face."
"For their sakes, I hope we don't have to be in the same room as them," Cosimo said darkly.
If Marcella noticed his tone, she wisely said nothing.
Cosimo opened the chamber door for her. "Welcome to my sister's madness."