Arcadia Awakens by Kai Meyer Page A

had been distracted just a moment too long, and now he was paying for it. Tano flung him off and jumped to his feet, but didn’t try to attack Alessandro again. Instead he stared at him with hatred in his eyes, then ostentatiously turned his back on him and walked slowly up to Florinda and her men. He knocked the sand off his bare torso, entirely unaffected by the storm of the rotor blades, and planted himself three yards from Florinda.
    “This island is private property. You know that. But you come here anyway, bringing your henchmen with you, waving guns about—which could very quickly lead to a breach of the concordat—without caring at all about giving my guests a hell of a fright.” He had to shout to be heard over the howling of the chopper.
    Alessandro got to his feet. Rosa pressed her lips together and stared him down. She still didn’t understand exactly what had just happened, but whatever it was she could handle it.
    She picked up the bag with her things and set off for the helicopter. It was better this way. For everyone here, probably even for the lonely girl up in the villa. Rosa joined Florinda, who didn’t even deign to glance at her.
    Alessandro walked over to Tano.
    The four of them stood facing one another in the middle of the swirling clouds of sand.
    Florinda was staring at Alessandro as if looks could kill, but her remarks were for Rosa. “You have no idea what you’re getting mixed up with. They could have taken you hostage. It probably wouldn’t even have meant a breach of the concordat.”
    Tano grinned. “We’d have to look that up somewhere, right?”
    “No bloodshed, no kidnapping,” said Alessandro. “That’s the agreement.”
    “Always useful to have a budding lawyer in the family,” remarked Tano derisively.
    To Rosa’s indignation, Florinda’s anger seemed to be aimed solely at Alessandro, not his arrogant cousin. What would happen if she left him alone with the others now? Would Tano really kill him? Not after all this fuss, she hoped. Especially since it wasn’t a secret now that those two girls knew their way around automatic guns a little too well.
    But she couldn’t be sure.
    Come with us, her eyes pleaded with him.
    An imperceptible shake of the head. If he turned his back on his family now and went with the enemy clan, he’d have no one left on his side. He’d lose face. Maybe Tano was speculating about that very possibility. His problem would solve itself if Alessandro showed weakness.
    Florinda gripped Rosa’s upper arm firmly to lead her to the helicopter. Rosa shook her hand off so energetically that the reproach in her aunt’s eyes gave way for a moment to an anger and dislike that almost turned Rosa’s stomach. That only made her even angrier herself.
    “Don’t do that again,” she snapped at her aunt. “Ever.”
    And with that she turned and marched to the sliding door of the helicopter, carrying her bag, with Gaia’s documents in it.
    She glanced at Alessandro once more. She was looking for the darkness in his eyes, the shadows she had just seen. Nothing left of that. The sand pattered against his bronzed skin, but he didn’t move a muscle.
    Florinda got into the seat opposite her, and finally the two gunmen followed. Rosa wedged the bag between her knees and held it tight with both hands.
    The helicopter took off. Its slipstream carved a trail of spray though the surf. Then it gained height again and flew a circuit in the air around the yacht.
    Rosa looked down at Isola Luna one last time through the window. She thought she saw the topsy-turvy white structure of the villa bright among the lava rocks, and thought of Iole, who might be still crouched in that plastic chair, waiting for her to come back.
    She avoided looking at Florinda for the rest of the flight. She had nothing to say to her anyway, so they sat in silence until the olive groves were moving past below them, and the palazzo rose in the golden light of afternoon.
    The next day Zoe took