“Does that really sound like something my father would order me to do, Emme?” Val asked quietly.
Her heart jumped. She couldn’t do this with him. She dropped one hand to the comforter on the other side of her body, out of his sight, and fisted the material as tightly as she could. “It doesn’t matter right now anyway. We need to stick to one subject at a time. Please explain what you meant about the story Giuseppi told you.”
Valentino cursed under his breath. He’d always had a foul mouth, much like Stefano. “It was like a stupid myth handed down from father to son, only the way he told it, I knew it was real. He said the story came from the old country. That our ancestors said it was sacred and if we ever found a woman with shadows that our shadows ran to and tried to tie, that we needed to pursue her and hold her to us.”
Emmanuelle lowered her lashes and tried to force her heavy heart not to ache so much that he would feel it. “At the party, you saw my shadow, and your shadow threw out all those ropes. I could tell you were shocked.”
“So were you. You broke the light on purpose.”
She nodded, conceded that she had. “The sexual jolt scared me. I’d never felt anything like that before, and then seeing the strange patterns on the wall was a little over the top. I just wanted to go home.” Until he started talking to her in that voice of his and making her feel safe when she wasn’t. “Don’t stop, Val—explain how it works.”
“Supposedly, each time our shadows came together, my shadow would tie yours closer to me, imprison yours, so to speak, but in some way, connect us on a molecular level. The more we were bound together, the closer that level became, until it was difficult for us to be apart.”
She tried not to view what he was telling her as more of a betrayal. Certainly, it was the truth. She could barely breathe without him. She had no idea if he felt the same. He certainly had no problem inviting another woman to his bedroom. Letting her touch his body. She shifted, thinking to slide from the bed, needing to pace, but his hand snaked out, shackling her wrist.
“You promised me this time you’d listen, Emme. All the way through the entire explanation. I told you some of it would be difficult to hear, that it would hurt, but you asked, and I’m giving you the truth. I need you to hear me all the way through. I didn’t play you.”
She pressed her lips together to force back any words of condemnation. She had agreed to hear him, and she needed to hear everything he said. She had to know how Saldis could tie Ferraros’ shadows to them so she could undo whatever had been done between them with the least amount of damage to both parties.
“Yes, you’re right. Go on. It was a silly reaction. Explain how your shadow ties mine. I don’t understand that part.”
“I’m not altogether certain I do, either,” Valentino admitted.
He didn’t loosen his fingers, keeping that cuff around her wrist. Emmanuelle knew it was absolute lunacy to allow his skin to remain against hers. She was aware of each of his fingers pressed tightly to her wrist, her bare skin, and now his thumb slid back and forth in a mesmerizing caress that threatened to tear her heart right out of her chest.
“Those early years, when I would see you, you would purposely distract me so I would forget to protect my shadow, didn’t you?”
“Yes. It gave me the opportunity to bind your shadow tighter to me.”
“Why? What happens if you do that?” Emmanuelle asked, turning to look at him. Needing to see his eyes. “Tell me what you do know, Val, because you must know something or you wouldn’t have done that.”
“I know that each wrap binds you closer to me, and I can feel that. The more the binding, the more I want. The more I need. I find I send for you, call you to me, just to secure more ties to your shadow so I know you’re mine and no one else can ever claim you.” Stark possession was in his voice. Raw need. “Do I know that’s wrong? Hell yes, Emmanuelle. It’s like some terrible, brutal obsession I can’t control, and it gets worse every time I’m near you. That need to own you. To put my ring on you so everyone knows you’re mine. So no one dares to hurt you. Or tries to take you away from me.”
Valentino shook his head, his breathing labored enough that Emmanuelle had to look at him, suddenly alarmed. She reached out, running her fingers down his neck to find his pulse.