Graced by the Cat: An MM Fairytale Romance (Once Upon a Time) by Geneva Holt

Author:Geneva Holt [Holt, Geneva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Smart Cookie Books
Published: 2024-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

MAXIMILIAN

“That can’t be it.”

“That has to be it.”

“That looks like a patrizio’s palace, not a shop.”

Jesse had clutched my bag to his chest for miles as he walked up and down what felt like all of Venice’s million bridges. Through the bag’s open top I could see his nod. “It does look like a palace. I could spend an hour or two just looking at it.”

There had been no time or space to discuss anything from the village. Not the horse, or the police, or Jesse’s astonishing question. No time to answer him. Evan would have taken my hand. But now I have no hands.

“You spent an hour staring at the Doge’s Palace.” I’d spent the hour silently questioning whether we were moving too slowly or could afford to indulge him.

Venice is one of those places an art lover should visit before they die, and it was Jesse’s first visit. I’d recognized the city immediately.

“Okay, so, we’re on a quest, sure, but look. Once in a lifetime place,” he’d whispered before joining the line. I hadn’t argued.

Even when I’d been young, seeing Venice for the first time, the basilica had been a marvel of opulent beauty, every inch crammed with treasures. Knowing Jesse’s passion for such things, I couldn’t begrudge him a peek. He’d seen it all in books, from its tiny tiles in golden mosaics to its jewel-encrusted altar, the Pala D’Or itself.

He’d been unable to hold back his excited whispers. “They say Venice is all about the light, and you should see it at different times of day to really get it. But I’d die happy seeing the Pala D’Or for real just once.”

Yet at the front of the line, where the keepers of the door frowned at women and hustled them into rough robes to hide bare arms, the keepers frowned at Jesse too and said of course I could not go in.

He’d just nodded pleasantly and turned aside.

I’d whispered back, guiltily, “I’m sorry.”

Jesse had just brushed it away. “Don’t be. I’ll come again some day. Venice is full of gold things.” He’d clearly trusted the surrounding tourists to take his muttering for usual tourist complaints. “We’ll take a boat ride past the house of gold, forget the golden cloth—” Paused. “Hey Max. Pala D’Or means cloth of gold, you know.”

“Damn.” I was trying to learn how to swear as casually as Jesse.

“Yeah damn. But if that was the thing the EAI buyer wanted, if you—conjured that, manifested that, we’d have stolen it, right? I mean, there’s only one of it.”

“Pay attention to the crowd.” I’d tried to see out through the mesh in the bag’s front as Jesse clutched it to his chest and pushed through the tourists, silent till we passed the worst of the crowd. “Even in my day, one was lucky to leave Venice without falling victim to pickpockets.”

Jesse grunted. “That’s why I’m carrying my valuables in front.”

So sweet, so easily. He must have said the same to others before. Still the words felt so wonderful that I committed them to memory before storing them away.

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