27

Katherine Harrington I had been inside Luciano’s room for hours before I finally convinced myself to leave it. At first, I told myself I was resting. The flight had been long, the palace overwhelming, and emotionally I still felt like I had been dropped into another universe entirely. But after the second hour of sitting near the giant windows staring at the city below, even I had to admit the truth. I was hiding. Not from Luciano. Never from Luciano. From everything else. From the palace. From the people inside it. From the terrifying realization that Luciano’s world was far larger than anything I had imagined while we were in Blackthorn. Back there, he had felt powerful. Untouchable. Dangerous. Here? Here he felt absolute. Everything in Vagabond revolved around him. The serv