Page 123 of Be Still My Unbeating Heart

“Not like this,” De Luca said.

“You want to kill him,” Arianna spat. “You wish he was dead!”

“STOP IT!” De Luca cried, and his hands went to her throat, wrapping around it.

Arianna’s eyes bulged and her hands went to his, scratching, tearing, trying to pull him off her, but De Luca didn’t let go.

Enzo was at the other end of the boat, shaking as he watched, his eyes glazed, his face twisted with horror.

Bastian put a hand on De Luca’s shoulder.

“De Luca,” he said as calmly as he could. “Let her go.”

But De Luca didn’t hear him.

His face was red with rage. He breathed hard, nostrils flaring, his arms stiff as he squeezed Arianna’s neck.

“You don’t know what it’s like,” he grunted through gritted teeth. “You don’t know how many years I worried about him. How scared I was that he’d die.”

“De Luca,” Bastian said, but De Luca yelled over him.

“Ilove him! I love him, too, and he’s going to die, and ithurts. It hurts, but that’s life! You don’t get to mess with that!”

Arianna’s face was red now, too. Her lips were turning purple.

“Nico,” Bastian said, and he saw that the emotion had taken over. That hot, controlling rage was all De Luca could feel—and Bastian knew what that was like. All those years he had let his anger control him. When he was first turned, his fury at the injustice of it all was like a new organ taking up space in his body. Swelling and growing andhungry.Demanding it be fed.

Bastian knew you couldn’t deny the anger. The only hope was to confront it.

“Anger is good,” he told De Luca, calmly. “It tells you that what she did was wrong. It tells you where the edge is.”

De Luca was crying now, his body shaking, snot bubbling from his nose.

“Feel it, but don’t let it consume you, Nico. If you do, then you’ll be lost, too. Do you hear me?”

De Luca didn’t let go.

But his grip slackened. Bastian was getting through to him.

De Luca blinked away tears, looking at Arianna and then turning back to Bastian. Finally, his hands released from Arianna’s neck. Her skin was white and bloodless where he had gripped it. She was unconscious, her eyes closed, but shallow breaths still came from her throat.

“You’re okay,” Bastian said, pulling De Luca into him, feeling him shudder against him. He was tense and shaking, and Bastian could still feel the anger in him. The pain and hurt.

“I know,” Bastian said, stroking De Luca’s hair. “I know, love. I’m here.”

After a moment, De Luca’s trembles calmed. He drew back and stared into Bastian’s eyes.

“Grazie,” he said.

“Any time, tesoro mio.”

Pop.

Whitby dropped into the boat, the bubble gone. “Finally,” she said, then eyed the rocky cave ceiling, which nearly reached the top of Bastian’s head.

“Shouldn’t we be getting out of here?” the cat asked.

“Sì,” De Luca said. He fumbled with something at his belt, and Bastian realized they were handcuffs. Bastian tugged up Arianna’s wrists and De Luca snapped the cuffs around them. He looked past Bastian to Enzo, who sat on the other side of the boat, shivering as he hugged himself. His head was tucked into his knees, and Bastian was thankful knowing Enzo hadn’t witnessed his brother like that.