The room looked a lot different without Antonio in it.

She’d only just gotten the door closed after him, when she already wished she hadn’t. Antonio had brought her to the room that they’d slept in that one fateful night, when she’d found herself in the arms of a dragon of a man. Of course she hadn’t known it then.

Maybe I should have guessed. No ‘mere mortal’ could live in this kind of obvious wealth.

Julie was still reeling from the kiss, and what Antonio had told her after, and she didn’t know what to start unraveling first. This was the first moment she’d been allowed to take a breath for herself, without a Capirelli right there to count her heartbeats, and she was as disoriented as she was perplexed.

“Come on, honey. You must be exhausted,” Julie said, cradling Tony in her arms.

Antonio had been reluctant to leave them, but she’d argued that after a transcontinental flight and seeing his father and extended family for the first time, Tony needed a nap. And he wasn’t the only one. The fact that he’d brought them to this room, that he had to unlock it unlike the rest of the many rooms in the ginormous villa, and that it looked like it had not changed at all since she’d been in there last, all stirred up way too many feelings in her.

She walked to the bed and slipped off her shoes, loving the way her toes dug into the soft, fur rug in front of the columned bed. Gently, she maneuvered herself and Tony onto the high mattress, rearranging the pillows slightly to make a makeshift barrier for Tony. The boy barely stirred as she set him down, sleeping soundly.

When her back hit the mattress, a kind of exhaustion washed over her that she could hardly put into words. It was like for the first time in a long time, it felt safe to sleep. Truthfully, she hadn’t had a decent night’s rest in forever. At first, she’d blamed it on being a side-effect of the pregnancy. Later, she thought that it was because she constantly listened in on whether Tony was sleeping soundly.

Now, she got the eerie feeling that it might have just been the fact that Antonio wasn’t close. Knowing that he couldn’t be more than a hundred feet away from her at any time however was oddly comforting.

That’s the spirit. Praise your captor for your brain being clearly screwed up.

She closed her eyes and try as she might, the kiss came back to the forefront of her thoughts. The way his lips pressed against hers – firm, yet gentle, unyielding in their desire, yet so careful to give her the same. The way his hands roamed across her body, making every nerve ending stand on edge.

It was just as good as she’d remembered it. And she sort of wished it wasn’t. At least then, it would have been easier to hate him.

Though angry at him for uprooting her like that, without even the courtesy of asking her to come – though she wasn’t sure if she’d come, really – she felt an odd kind of peace within her. What it was, exactly… well, maybe she could figure it out after she slept a little. Nothing couldn’t be made better by a nap, right?

“””

Apparently, naps couldn’t fix everything.

After sleeping for what felt like ages, Julie was awoken by Tony, tugging on her hair. It took even her sleep-addled brain less than a moment to realize that what was bugging Tony had to be the same thing that was chewing at her – hunger. Scooping up the boy, and yawning as she did, Julie wandered out of the bedroom and closed the door carefully behind her.

“Time for another adventure,” she whispered to Tony.

It was dark outside, but since Giovanni had grabbed her cellphone after they’d landed in Italy, Julie had no idea what time it was. She remembered from her earlier and far more voluntary trip to Italy that night fell quickly there, the time between dusk and darkness was a short one. For all she knew, it could just be early in the evening still.

Wandering around the house, heading toward her faint memory of where the kitchen might have been, she reveled in the way Tony took in the sights. The boy’s head was a swivel, looking from one statue, or painting, or piece of grand antique furniture, to another. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but the flecks of gold in his eyes seemed to be growing, too.

So much I don’t know about dragons… Is this normal? she wondered.

Julie kept a careful ear out for any movement, preferring not to run into any of the other family members before she could fortify herself with some dinner. When she did finally find the kitchen, she breathed a sigh of relief, having managed to pass the gauntlet of possible dragons successfully.

She found the kitchen empty, like she remembered it.

“I would think you’d have endless servants around,” she’d said when Antonio had snuck her in through the back door and led her to the kitchen for a drink of wine and a midnight dinner of bread and cheese.

“I prefer being alone when I can. Taking care of yourself is an art easily lost on a man with… means. I’d rather not become one,” he’d said.

Julie had always thought that he’d meant more than he’d let on by what he said then, but she was relieved that the kitchen staff was missing this time as well. She settled Tony down on the pristinely clean tiled floor, before looking for food that would fill them both.

A quick scan provided her with some apple puree and fixings for a sandwich and a drink of water, which would be more than enough. She settled on a seat with Tony and fed him slowly, the boy losing all of his usual finicky tendencies with food this time. Either he was more famished than he’d let on, or being around fully grown dragons was doing him good.

Julie didn’t question her blessings.

She was just about to bite into her sandwich when a voice behind her made her cringe.

“You’re still here,” Rossella said, an obvious sneer in her tone.

“So it appears,” Julie said, biting into her sandwich after that.

If she was going to be in for another bit of confusing and unnecessary drama, she might as well be well-fed for it.

“I would have thought that he would have sent you back to whatever dusty hole you came out of,” Rossella said lightly, pouring herself a glass of white wine.

“One would imagine, wouldn’t they,” Julie replied cheerfully, shrugging her shoulders between bites.

Tony was busy licking the spoon of the last of the apple puree, and tossing grumpy looks at Rossella. He’d certainly gotten his frowns from his father.

“You’re not going to get away with it, you know,” Rossella said, her voice light and chittery.

“Get away with what, exactly?”

Why am I even bothering to react to her? My problem is with Antonio… Though I guess if it means I could get home faster, it might be worth it, Julie thought, finding herself considering the lithe woman who sidled into a seat across from her with some curiosity.

She was certainly a beauty, and it wasn’t difficult to see why any man would like having Rossella around. Plush lips, hair that seemed to catch the light whenever she moved, and those regal features of hers would speak to any man. Yet there was a kind of bitterness in her that seemed to twist and contort those features immediately.

Then again, Julie wasn’t exactly unbiased in her current opinion.

“You’re not going to take him from me,” Rossella said firmly.

Julie couldn’t help but scoff.

“You say that as if you think I want him. He abducted me, remember? I didn’t exactly go out of my way to find him. In fact, if you could tell him, or his mule of a brother, to shove me on the first flight out of here, I’d be much obliged.”

It should have sounded right, but it didn’t. Not all of it, anyway.

For all intents and purposes, Julie should have been chomping at the bit to get out of here. She had, after all, been taken against her will. Yet, something, and she wasn’t sure what, made her want to stay a little longer. Maybe the kiss? Maybe the way Antonio looked at Tony, and how Tony looked at him?

It’s just because I want Tony to know his father, she decided off the cuff.

It had to be that, right? Why else would she be staring down an obviously pissed off dragon, who would have preferred her head on a platter, and not running in honest, reasonable terror right now?

“He won’t let you go,” Rossella said morosely, slumping in the seat in a particularly un-ladylike fashion.

Julie frowned, scooping at the sides of the apple puree jar and handing the spoon back to Tony.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because you have that,” Rossella said darkly, motioning toward Tony.

“He’s a human being,” Julie bristled. “Not some sort of a thing to point at.”

“He’s not a human being. He’s a dragon. A dragon with Capirelli blood. As long as he lives, he will never again be far from these lands.”

Rossella’s gorgeous gown seemed crumpled suddenly and her eyes flashed full gold, giving her face a sunken look against the colors of the dress. Her expression was grim, making Julie worry despite herself. Generally, the last person she would take seriously was a scorned, peeved woman, but in this case… well, things clearly were a little more complicated than Julie could imagine, right?

She still wasn’t sure what the deal was with Rossella and Antonio. Had the female dragon not been threatening the safety of her child, perhaps Julie would have been more inclined to question her about it.

“I understand that you’re a dragon, but I am more than willing to sock you if you threaten my child,” Julie seethed, slicking her tongue across her lips.

Rossella tossed her head back in mirthless laughter, her long fingers twirling the stem of her wine glass.

“I am not threatening your child. I am simply telling you what it true. He has Antonio’s blood in him, so he will always be tied to these lands, and these dragons. You, however, do not have to. I understand that the firstborn of a dragon will be dear to him, even if he is… illegitimate, but I believe it is something that we could learn to live with. If the circumstances were right.”

“What are you saying?” Julie asked, feeling markedly uncomfortable now.

She didn’t trust Rossella further than she could throw her, and that wasn’t going to be very far.

“I am saying,” Rossella started, leaning in. “That if you only had the good sense to leave now, I could make it worth it for you. I could give you more than your simple, feeble human mind could ever imagine.

“Leave the child. The boy will want for nothing, Antonio will see to it. I will raise him as my own, make a true dragon out of him. You will have your freedom, and the funds to do whatever you please, and I will have the pittance that is Antonio. A fair trade, I think.”

Julie stared at Rossella, absolutely dumbfounded. She’d thought the woman dangerous before, but now she had to wonder if her earlier assumption hadn’t been wrong. Perhaps she was simply criminally insane, and heartless to boot.

“If you think I would ever sell my-”

“I don’t need to hear this,” Rossella said, cutting Julie off as she stood and finished her glass with one deep sip. “The offer stands. If you wish to leave, you must only tell me. I can make it happen. Otherwise… how long do you think Antonio would keep you around?

“You have no value to him when we are wed in two weeks. He will not need you any longer and discarding of you… well, it would not be pleasant for you. It never is, for humans.”

With that, Rossella floated out of the kitchen, making barely a sound. Or maybe Julie just couldn’t hear it because her ears were ringing with how angry she was.