Page 122 of Be Still My Unbeating Heart

“Like Emilio?” Bastian demanded, and his fangs hummed again. “Like Luna and Salvador and Mayor Moretti?”

Bastian had been sentenced to death forher crimes. Anger throbbed in his throat, right where the bandage was fastened. Anger at being branded a monster because of this woman and the terrible things she had done.

“You don’t know what it’s like!” Arianna pleaded. “I love him! It’s why it had to bethem. They knew true love, too.”

Bastian frowned, still pinning her down.

“The victims were all in love?” he said, his mind reeling.

Luna and Emilio were a couple.

The mayor loved her husband so much that she covered for him when it seemed he was feeding on townspeople.

Salvador still loved the man from his youth, going by the photo that he kept by his bed.

And Matteo must still love Luna, in his own jealous, tormented way.

They all had this in common. Arianna had exploited that for her own dark ritual—to play God and save the mansheloved.

“I won’t let you take him from me,” Arianna spat as she reached up and dug her fingers into the wound on Bastian’s throat. Pain erupted in a bright starburst that momentarily blinded him.

Bastian scrabbled away from the woman, clutching his neck, anger and agony wrestling through him. He wanted to bury his fangs in her neck. Replace his lost blood with hers. Make her feel the pain she had inflicted on her victims.

But no. He wouldn’t stoop to her level of selfish violence. He knew how to harness his rage, now.

As he refitted the makeshift bandage, he was vaguely aware of Arianna finding her feet. The scrape of the mezzaluna being picked up. Her footsteps as she approached him. He turned just in time to see her raise the mezzaluna, aiming for his neck once more.

Deliriously, Bastian wondered if she meant to decapitate him.

Before she could swing, though, Whitby pounced at Arianna’s hand. The woman sensed the attack and swung her arm, making contact with Whitby. The blade missed, but Whitby was still sent tumbling through the air.

She was going to crash against the rock of the cave wall. The impact would surely kill her.

“Whitby!” Bastian cried. Then—

Pop.

A bubble formed around the cat a moment before she struck the rock face. The bubble bounced against the wall, then floated up into the air. Whitby rolled over and over, a look of surprise and joy on her face.

She had saved herself. Using magic.Bizarremagic but magic nonetheless.

Bastian straightened up, the pain in his throat lessening. He saw that Arianna had used the distraction to wade into the water. She had swum to one of the boats—the one containing De Luca and Enzo—and was attempting to clamber in. Somehow, Matteo had got himself into the other vessel and was struggling to row himself out of the cave. He was making surprisingly good headway, considering one arm was in a plaster cast.

“De Luca,” Bastian murmured, seeing the inspector shielding Enzo from Arianna.

Bastian dove into the water, then began to swim. Above him, Whitby was still spinning through the air, confined inside the bubble, muttering angrily. It appeared she was trapped.

Bastian quickly reached De Luca’s boat and hauled himself up and over the side, flopping down onto his back. He pushed to his knees just in time to see Arianna swing the mezzaluna, this time aiming for De Luca. De Luca dodged out of the way, then knocked Arianna onto her back. He fell on top of her.

“Arianna,stop!” the inspector yelled as the boat spun, the ceiling of the cave bobbing closer and closer.

“You don’t care about him,” Arianna shouted, struggling to get him off her. She was weak now, soaked through, the effort of her attacks catching up to her. De Luca could easily overpower her. “All you care about is yourself!”

She tried to get back up, but De Luca fought her, pushing her down again.

“Arianna—”

“You’re so selfish!” she yelled. “All you care about isyourjob,yourlove affairs,yourhappiness. Doesn’t Enzo deserve to be happy, too?! Doesn’t he deserve to be saved?!”