Chapter 5: The Reunion
858 Words
The tone that Dante used last night lingered in the air long after he had said it.
Sienna didn’t sit. She didn’t pace. She was so still, hands on sides, fingers curling and curling like she was learning to walk again.
My mother does not do surprises, my mother said. Should she be coming it must be because she has already identified the result she wants.
Dante nodded once. And, indeed, she never forgot to look three steps into the future.
This hurt him deeper than Sienna had hoped.
“So what am I to her?” she asked. “A weakness? A message?”
“A test,” Dante replied.
Footsteps approached. A guard appeared at the door. “Capo. She’s inside the perimeter.”
Sienna’s chest tightened. “Already?”
Dante turned to her. “You don’t have to see her.”
“Yes, I do.”
He searched her face. It is not going to be what you are looking forward to.
“I’m not hoping,” she said. “I’m preparing.”
An Indian soldier was walking silently along the long corridor. The estate was different now, on the alert, tense as though it were keeping still. Guards stood straighter. Doors stayed shut.
They halted in the west sitting room.
Oh, she requested you on her own, Dante answered.
Sienna’s head snapped up. “Absolutely not.”
He was not surprised by that response, he said. That is why she accepted my conditions.
“And those are?”
Poultice, she does not touch thee, Dante said. “And she doesn’t lie.”
Sienna gave a laugh of no humour. “She taught you how.”
A pause.
I shall be out in a moment, Dante, said. A single utterance on thy part, and to this thou hast an end.
She nodded, and then even took the door by herself.
There was a faint odour of jasmine in the room.
The window was standing before her mother with clasped hands. Elegant. Calm. Unarmed.
She turned slowly.
“Sienna,” she said, smiling. “You’ve grown.”
Sienna didn’t move forward. “You died.”
Her mother’s smile softened. “I disappeared.”
Thou didst think to kill me so.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her mother tilted her head. Loving me softened you, and you were open to attack.
“That’s not love,” Sienna said.
“No,” her mother agreed. “It’s protection.”
Sienna’s throat burned. “You sent a video. You called. You didn’t protect anything.”
Her mother stepped closer. “I warned you.”
“About what?”
Marriage is no protection, said she. “It’s a leash.”
Sienna’s hands trembled. “You pushed me into it.”
Her mother put her into position. “There’s a difference.”
Silence fell.
Her mother went on to say that Dante believes he has control of the board. But board is preceded by him.
“And where do I stand?” Sienna asked quietly.
Her mother’s gaze sharpened. “At the center.”
Sienna laughed softly. You brought me up to challenge authority. Now you want me to serve it.”
Her mother said that she raised her to survive. And life must be fervent sacrifice.
“No,” Sienna snapped. “It requires choice.”
Her mother studied her. Really looked this time.
“You sound like him,” she said.
“That’s not a compliment.”
“It is to me.”
A knock sounded once.
Time was up.
Sienna straightened. “Say what you came to say.”
Her mother’s voice dropped. One of Dante inner circle is a traitor.
Sienna’s breath caught.
Some person whom he trusts, her mother went on. Closer than that, someone end him.
Sienna shook her head. “You expect me to believe that?”
Watch, I am expecting you to watch, she answered. Since when it will occur, then you will have to decide.
“Between who?”
Her mother stepped back. “Between blood and vow.”
The door opened.
Dante came in and he was immediately present. His eyes were going jerkingly between Sienna and her mother.
“It’s over,” he said.
Her mother smiled at him. “For now.”
On passing Sienna she stopped. “Remember,” she whispered. The betrayal always within is the initial one.
She left.
The door shut.
Sienna exhaled shakily.
Dante turned to her. “What did she say?”
She looked at him. Really looked.
“There’s a traitor,” she said. And she supposes you will not suspect it.
His jaw tightened. “Do you?”
And, I believe, said Sienna, she meant that I should not believe you.
“And do you?”
Sienna met his gaze.
I believe, she said, somebody is already passionately soliciting me to.
A phone buzzed on the table.
Dante checked it.
His face went still.
“What?” Sienna asked.
He swiveled the screen to face her.
A message. One line.
She’s not the target. You are.
Sienna’s heart dropped.
And at that instant she knew-
The game had just shifted.
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