Chapter 82. Only If You Ask

Margherita lay on her side, book open, eyes unfocused. She’d been reading the same paragraph for twenty minutes. Sleep wouldn’t come. Her mind churned beneath the quiet.

A soft, familiar footstep paused outside her door.

Then: a gentle knock.

She tensed, then exhaled.

“Come in,” she said.

The door opened only halfway at first—then Ezio stepped inside. He closed the door behind him with a quiet click.

Her breath caught. “Ezio? What are you doing here?”

He came closer, his eyes soft in the lamplight.

“I told myself I’d stay away tonight,” he murmured, sitting on the edge of the bed. “But I… missed you.”

He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek—feather-light, hesitant.

Margherita put the book aside and sat up, slipping her arms around him. Her face found the curve of his neck, hiding there.

She hoped he couldn’t feel the tremor beneath her ribs.

He held her tightly, pulling her into his chest as if he’d needed