Page 89 of Her Wrath

“Come on, it’s time,” says Salvatore.

And before I can blink, the day I have dreamed of comes. I am walking down the very short aisle to the olive tree I once planted with my father in a different life, to which I have now returned to enter a union with the woman who is nothing like what I had imagined my life partner to be. And yet, here I am. Because love cannot be ordered from a wish list. Love happens like the waves of life, unpredictable. Wild. Consuming.

I walk up to Rosalia.

To Kat and Salvatore as our witnesses.

Kat, who has become a friend whom I never thought I missed.

Salvatore, who has become a brother whom I will protect with my life.

Rosalia, who has become the woman I fell in love with. The woman who vexes me every day. The woman I tell:

“Rosalia Vittare. I love you. And when I say I love you, I mean that you never make me guess where we stand or what you feel. Every time I look at you, I know you are mine,” I swallow, because the moment is more emotional than I thought.

“I could be in a room filled with all the women in the world, and none of them would interest me, because I would always choose you. Messy as we are. Messy as our lives are. Messy as our past has been.” A tear hushes over my cheek, and Rosalia brushes it away with her thumb.

“You are mine because you made me become a version of myself I never knew existed. A version I fell in love with. Just like with you and our life here. And every time I look at you, you remind me of the preciousness I had before the world happened to me, the rawness far from perfectionism and worldly standards. With you, I can be me, in all that I am. And therefore, I love you.”

She smiles at me. One of the rare smiles only I get to see—ever once in a while.

“Voglio costituire con te un'unione civile,” I add.

“Voglio costituire con te un'unione civile,” Rosalia says. “Because I do not simply love you, but my body, my soul and my heart ache for you in a way so consuming, so demanding that you are the first thing I think about the moment I open my eyes, and the last before I enter the realm of dreams,” she says, and warmth radiates over me. Her eyes are locked in mine, and I want to become one with her.

“You showed me a world I did not know existed, made me question all of who I am, and therein I found a me I could not be without you,” she continues. “You are mine. You were mine from the moment I knew who you were, but you became mine in a way I never dared to believe in. So when I stand here, I stand here in front of my God, the Lord, knowing that he sent you to me, and therefore I promise to cherish you, love you, vex you, not until death do us part, but as long as our souls walk this path in union.”

My lips part, and I am rendered entirely speechless. Never, in my entire time with her, did I believe it possible to hear such words from the grumpy woman who sends her stings at everyone. But shesaid them. For me. Because she knows how important this day is for me. It is the one thing she gave me. Because I gave her everything else.

The registrar says something, but I don’t hear anything. The only thing I do is kiss her. My lady in black. The one I hate and love every day a little bit more.

Rosalia Vittare.

Sono Capo Antonella Amato.

And together, we will burn down the world.

The one, made by men.