ANNA’S POV
I woke to an empty bed. I woke alone. His side of the sheets was still warm.
A sound reached me from the kitchen before I made the corridor. Not the servants. A pan settling on the stove. A plate set down. The low hiss of something cooking.
The smell reached me first. Coffee. Bread warming in the oven.
I stopped in the doorway.
Luca stood at the stove.
His shirt was untucked, loose over his trousers. His hair had fallen across his forehead. A towel hung off one shoulder, his sleeves shoved back to his elbows.
Eggs in the pan, the edges just starting to brown. Coffee already made, steam curling off the spout.
He turned when he heard me.
"You're up early," he said.
"I woke up alone."
He didn't answer. He slid the eggs onto two plates, set the toast beside them, carried
