Chapter 26
Marcella wasn't sure how she would feel or react after spending the night with Cosimo.
She had expected some anxiety and worry about how his family would respond, and if he would act differently toward her, but so far, nothing had changed.
If anything, Cosimo had been sweeter and more attentive than before.
The rest of the Greatdrakes were already out in the city by the time Marcella and Cosimo left the hotel.
They had a nice late lunch at a bistro she had always loved.
They hadn't seen any of Renata's streghe stalking them, and it had been a relaxing afternoon.
Despite all of that, a part of her was still waiting for Cosimo to turn around and crush her in some way.
Now, Marcella was sitting beside Cosimo, holding a bunch of flowers and driving toward her family's old property.
It was just outside of San Tomè, a short drive from the city.
While she couldn't go to the house itself, the small graveyard was at the back of the property, and she wasn't going to leave without seeing her parents, no matter what Renata said.
"Are you feeling okay?" Cosimo asked, not taking his eyes off the road. "You've been giving me a strange look all day when you think I won't notice."
"It's hard to explain without sounding ridiculous," she said, fiddling with a rose petal.
Cosimo took her hand and kissed it. It was such a simple gesture, and it made her heart turn over every time he did it.
"Tell me, Marcella. All your emotions are valid, especially the ones you dismiss as ridiculous. I won't laugh or be mad, whatever it is."
"It's exactly that!" she said, gesturing at him. "Normal men don't say things like that. I keep waiting for something bad to happen because you're being so..."
"Considerate of you when no one else has been?
For treating you like a woman whom I respect?
" Cosimo replied, frowning behind his glasses.
"Perhaps it's the quality of the men you have let yourself settle for in the past that is the real problem here.
I'm not trying to play you, if that's what you are thinking.
I'm trying to court you, because you're warm and funny and so brilliant that you have had me chasing my tail for over a year. "
Marcella was speechless again, and he took it as a sign to continue.
"As for something bad going to happen, don't you think having to deal with Carlo and Renata is bad enough?
I doubt she will forgive me for refusing to hand you over.
Not to mention damaged Carlo. She's too used to getting her own way.
That is where we will face our challenges, tesoro mio. We don't need them between us."
Marcella let her head drop back against the headrest and sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry for waiting for you to turn around and treat me badly. That's on my past, not on you. It's just strange for me to feel this interested in another person and not be a little scared of it."
She didn't mention the earth-shattering, pussy-destroying sex that was also a part of the bargain. Her body was telling her in a hundred small, delicious aches that she'd had the best sex of her life the night before, and she wanted to do it again.
"It's strange for me too. I haven't been interested in anyone like this since my wife died, so I understand your trepidation.
I'm nervous that I'm going to scare you away with what I am, how my kids are, and that's not even mentioning the extended family," Cosimo said and laced his fingers between hers.
"I'm a very large package deal, and that would send anyone running fast in the other direction.
Mio Dio, that's not even mentioning my crazy sister who will no doubt be even more of a handful when we find her. "
Marcella laughed softly. "Cosimo, my ex-husband and his mother want to kill us. You cut off his finger last night. I think I have plenty of baggage no one would want to deal with either."
"Quite the pair, aren't we?" he said, laughing with her.
"I'm not bothered by your past, Marcella.
It would take more than the likes of Carlo to do that.
And just because you are about to ask what will scare me off, it's nothing.
Nothing about you is going to scare me off.
The only thing that will be able to stop me is you deciding that you don't want me. "
Marcella had just been about to ask him that. Damn, he was good. "Okay, but I am going to hold you to that."
"You can hold anything against me you like," he said with a small grin.
She shook her head at him even as her whole body clenched with desire. "Don't get me aroused before going to a graveyard."
"Why? Graveyards don't turn you on?" There was something very knowing in the smile he gave her.
This man. Marcella put a hand over her face. "That's not the point. These are my family's graves. There will be no fooling around."
"Maybe not in this graveyard then," he whispered, making her laugh harder.
The teasing eased Marcella's anxious anticipation, and soon, she was leading him down a narrow road between two lavender fields.
Most of the land around them was stripped of trees for farming, but her family's property had always kept a small wood on it, in addition to the large garden around the actual house.
They pulled up under the trees, and Marcella tried to steady her heart rate. She knew Renata and Carlo wouldn't care for the graveyard, but it still hurt to see how overgrown it was. She picked up a tote bag that had the things she needed and got out of the car.
Marcella swayed as the power in the land vibrated under her feet. She slipped off her wedge sandals and wriggled her toes in the grass. Cosimo leaned against the car, patiently waiting and not hurrying her along.
The afternoon sun was warm through the trees, and Marcella tilted her head back and just breathed in the earthy smell of her land and the lavender fields.
"I hate them so much for taking this from me," she admitted to Cosimo, swallowing back tears.
"Can I ask how they did it? It was your land."
Marcella sniffed and tried to pull herself together.
"They wanted it as a part of the divorce.
As compensation. I had a family trust that they would never be able to take, but the house was something that they could bargain for.
I knew I would never be welcome back in Forli, so I agreed to it.
I was so broken, I didn't think I would care, as long as I never had to see them again.
Most of the Sforzas came from Milano. Forli was only ever really Caterina's place.
A few generations ago, a branch of the family wanted to come back here and set up this place.
When I go to Milano, I can feel my people too, but not as strongly as here. This is my direct blood in the earth."
Cosimo nodded, understanding in a way no one else could. "The Greatdrakes house in Ireland is the same. I couldn't imagine leaving it or giving it up. You were incredibly brave to do it, Marcella."
"I was a coward," she whispered. "I couldn't stand up to them. I was taught to hide my abilities, and in doing so, I was always so scared to fight back."
"Do you want to tell me why you needed to hide them? I'm not going to run from you, whatever they are," Cosimo said and held out a hand to her.
Marcella took it and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'll show you, and then you can decide."
Marcella pushed open the rusted iron gate into the small graveyard and walked among the stones. The paths were overgrown, but her feet remembered where they were. They stopped in front of two marble headstones, the newest in the plot. They belonged to her parents, Amalia and Matteo Sforza.
Marcella saw freshly turned earth on her father's grave and frowned. Animals rarely disturbed the yard in the past, but with it being such a mess, she wouldn't be surprised that they had moved in.
"Would you like me to help clear them?" Cosimo asked kindly.
Marcella nodded, and together they cleared the last weeds that had overrun the marble headstones and the plots bordered with white stones. The earth tingled against her fingers, and she longed to lie back in it and soak up the feeling.
Once the graves were cleaned, Marcella took out candles from her bag and arranged them with the flowers, fruit, and wine she had brought with her. She set out a packet of cigarettes that were her father's favorite and a tube of fuchsia pink lipstick that was the only shade her mother had ever worn.
Cosimo gave her space and didn't interrupt. It was an easy silence that didn't need to be filled until she was ready to.
Taking her father's silver cigarette lighter from her pocket, Marcella lit the candles and whispered a prayer to Santa Maria for them. Finally, she brushed the dirt off her jeans and stood up.
"When I was a girl, my mother discovered I inherited some interesting blessings from her family's patron goddess," she began, turning to Cosimo.
She told him the same story that she had shared with his daughters, how the patron of the Sforza had been Hermes-Mercury, and her Sicilian mother had brought in her Black Madonna-Persephone worship.
She toyed with the charms on her bracelet, letting them sing as she spoke. Was she really about to do this? Everything was going so well with him, and she didn't want to ruin it.
No. She couldn't be a coward, not now that she had finally found someone that she could connect with.
"You need to see it, to understand, I...
Fuck it," Marcella said and unclipped the bracelet.
Instant dark power flowed up through her and into her aura.
She took in a shaky breath, unused to the feel of her magic not being smothered.
The gifts from Mercury were there too, all swimming about her, unchecked for once.
"Marcella," Cosimo whispered reverently. "You have necromancy magic. I've never seen someone with such a natural ability before."
Marcella nodded, and then, because she was already all in, she knelt and knocked on the earth three times.
The shade of her mother appeared almost instantly, sitting perched on her headstone in a bright pink dress and with perfectly winged eyeliner.
"About time you came back to see me, daughter. Who is the man, and why is he smiling at me like that?" Amalia asked.