He snorted. “And this lawman attacked you because . . .”
“Captain Lefevre wanted to give me to the Da Vias for coin, and he wanted Les for his murders. I warned him away, but he didn’t listen. There is no respect for clippers in this city. No respect for Safraella.”
He set his scissors down and I examined my shoulder. It looked much better. Marcello sat in his chair and returned to the liquor in his glass. “Well, what did you expect? That you’d come here and the people would fall to their knees at the sight of you? That they would turn their eyes to Safraella and forsake their own gods? You are a foolish child.”
My cheeks burned. “Foolish I may be, but I am no more a child than Alessio is a boy. I am the head of the Saldana Family, and though I receive no respect from the people of Yvain, I command it from you, Her disciple. And someone who should know better.”
He rolled his eyes and sipped his drink before he motioned for me to continue with the story.
I took a moment to calm myself. I didn’t know this man who shared my blood. I didn’t know if he purposely aimed to anger me or if he truly meant the things he said.
“I tried to keep Les safe. I kept him out of the fight, though I knew he would not thank me for it. But when the giant attacked me, I crashed into Les and he took the brunt of our fall. After that we had to hide from lawmen until I could get him here.”
“What happened to the men you fought?”
“I stopped them.”
“How many were there?”
“Six. Though one fled, injured. And I can’t be sure the ones I dropped were all dead. I didn’t have time to check.”
“Six men. And you were unarmed and trapped in an alley.”
“I had a stiletto.”
He stared at me, then downed his drink in a single gulp. “Who was your teacher?”
“My brother Rafeo. And my father and mother, of course.”
“Your brother.”
I nodded. “Matteo, my other brother, wouldn’t bother. Sometimes I would spar with Jesep, too. Or Val.”
“Val. I do not recognize this name.”
“Valentino Da Via. He’s my suitor.” What I said hit me like a punch to the gut. “Was my suitor.”
His eyes widened and showed a touch of that rage I had witnessed before. “You were fraternizing with the Da Vias? Did your parents know?”
I exhaled, trying to tread carefully. He could explode again. Throw his glass into the fire and scream his rage once more.
“No. I hid it from them. There was no love between us and the Da Vias. I think my father had tried to buy peace between us when I was younger, but it didn’t work.”
He took a breath. “Dante was always something of a fool, though maybe he’ll have more wisdom in his new life.”
I bristled. “Don’t speak of my father that way.”
Marcello smirked. He opened his mouth to counter but then seemed to deflate. “I suppose you are right. It does me no good to speak ill of the dead, even if they brought about their own demise.”
“My father didn’t bring about his death. The Da Vias did.” And me. My fault.
He rubbed his forehead, smoothing out the lines, before he ran his fingers through his hair. “What do you know about me, Lea? How did your father speak of me?”
This was an odd turn of conversation. “He didn’t speak of you. Only my mother did, and that was to tell us to never bring you up.”
He nodded slowly. “Your father was a great many things. He was my brother and I loved him, but sometimes he believed in peace too much, saw the good in people even when it was nothing more than a mirage. It was your father’s misplaced belief that the Da Vias could be reasoned with that led to the death of your Family.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t believe you. What could you know of it anyway?”
“What could I know of it? Everything.” He settled in his chair, his hair resting against his shoulders. “The Da Vias killed the Saldanas because of me.”
twenty-seven
HIS WORDS WERE A SLAP TO THE FACE. HE WAS RESPONSIBLE for the Da Vias’ attack on us? That couldn’t be true. “I don’t . . . I don’t understand.”
“When I was younger, much younger, I was married to Estella Da Via, as you know. It was not a marriage of love. It could not be, from me, but the heads of our Families wanted a child from our union, of Saldana and Da Via lineage, and peace between us, if only for a time, and I was nothing if not obedient.”
He shifted in his seat. “No child came, even though the years passed as they do. And any ease between us rotted away until the core was nothing but resentment and blackness. And so I found someone else.
“He was a Maietta, and he was beautiful and full of grace and wit, and never before had I loved someone so well.”