Chapter 2

The chapel was quiet enough to hear the rain running down the stained glass. Nico did not let go of Bianca's hand, as if afraid Elena might lunge over and tear her away.

"People from the old Russo family are hunting Bianca," he said. "I can't hand her over."

Bianca chose that moment to pull off her glove, revealing a ring of faint red scars around her wrist. She took half a step forward and sank to her knees.

"Miss Moretti, I know I shouldn't be here." She looked up, her voice shaking. "But I don't want to be sent back to the docks. If you want me gone, I'll go."

Nico pulled her to her feet at once, his expression darkening. "Nobody is sending you back."

The words went through Elena like a needle of ice. He had said something similar in her last life too, just never to her. She had mistaken it for kindness. Only now did she understand that Nico's kindness always required someone he had chosen to save. He did not care who else had to be trampled into the mud.

"There was no need to kneel," Elena said, her voice steadier than she expected. "I agree to the revocation."

Nico froze. He had clearly come prepared for her tears, for pressure from her parents, even with a line about how he would still take care of her. Instead, she merely lifted a hand toward the chapel steward, Marco Bellini.

"Send for the Council registrar. The blood pact, the convoy permits, the safe house access, the private communication authorizations. Put all of it in the schedule of revocation."

Something finally flickered in Bianca's eyes. Nico frowned too. "Elena, there's no need to make a scene out of this. Blood pact or not, we're still family."

"Family doesn't use my radio channels to protect someone else, and it doesn't assume I'll leave a door open while breaking off an engagement." She looked at him. "If we're only family, then those are the boundaries we'll keep."

Evan arrived quickly. He wore silver-rimmed glasses, opened a heavy register, confirmed that both of them were of age, then asked Elena whether she was acting of her own will.

"Of my own will," she said.

Nico stared at her as though hearing those words from her for the first time. He started to reach for her face, but Elena turned her head aside. The movement was small, yet it left his hand suspended in midair.

"You're upset today," he said, lowering his voice. "In a few days I'll take you back to the Moretti house and we can talk again."

Elena watched Evan put pen to paper.

"No need. When the ninety-day cooling period ends, I'll come and seal it myself."

As she stood, her skirt brushed the pew. Bianca remained behind Nico, still looking shaken, but her wrist slipped into view. A small black mark there resembled the corner of a cargo-container seal.

Elena did not stare. Memories from a past life could warn her, but they could not prove anything. Only records created in this lifetime could bring Bianca before a tribunal.

She pushed open the chapel door. The sound of the rain rushed in. Nico called after her.

"Elena, I'm not going to abandon you."

She did not turn around.

"Then start by not making decisions for me."