He Didn't Know Whose Ring I Was Wearing

I chose a hospital far from Salvatore territory on purpose, somewhere no soldier would recognize the daughter of a fallen house. But as fate would have it, I ran into Lorenzo and Vittoria.

Vittoria was cradling her hand, the one that hadn't so much as been bruised, and crying out in pain.

Lorenzo, in his usual gentle manner, lifted her onto his lap and sat her down, carefully pressing the doctor for every precaution, as though her scratch were a bullet wound.

When we first came together, back when both our families still had names worth speaking, he had been just as frantic for me.

One night, when a fever took me, he'd been so rattled he didn't stop for shoes. He only noticed later that broken glass had opened his foot, once he'd confirmed I was safe.

"Adriana, you are my precious. I can't bear to see you get hurt."

As I walked out of the exam room, I bumped into him just as he was coming in.

"Adriana, Lorenzo was only bringing me to have my injury looked at. Are you so restless you had to trail us all the way here?"

Lorenzo gave me a contemptuous look. "Weren't you the one going on about how we're finished? What are you doing now? Adriana, you've no shame left! If you dare touch a single hair on Vittoria again, I won't be gentle with you."

I raised my hand, the palm still crusted with dried blood where the shells had ground in. "Look at the injury. Move aside."

Lorenzo froze in place, a flash of guilt passing through his eyes.

"Adriana, is it serious?"

He moved to come inside, and was cut off by Vittoria's shriek.

"Vittoria, my hand hurts so much…"

Lorenzo stopped paying me any mind, turning at once to carry Vittoria away.

The next morning, the moment I woke, a message came from Dante Salvatore, asking me to make time to try on the custom ring. The Don of the Salvatore Family, waiting on my hand. I pressed my thumb against the base of my ring finger before I even understood why.

After I'd washed and dressed, I was surprised to see Lorenzo carrying breakfast into the room.

"You must be starving. Come and eat."

It was a basket of crab-stuffed rolls and a bowl of pumpkin porridge. One brought me out in hives, the other I couldn't stand.

"Take the day for yourself. The season's turning. Let me take you out for something new to wear."

It was the same old routine. A little sweetness after the wound. He'd been feeding it to me for eight years.

Yet when the time came, he slid into the back seat. "You drive today. I didn't sleep well last night."

I looked at my hand, wrapped in bandages, and couldn't help but mock myself in silence.

In the rearview mirror he sat with his phone, a faint smile playing on his lips.

It wasn't until the car stopped and he caught the sign of the jeweler's outside that his expression darkened all at once.

He blocked my way at the door, his face full of displeasure.

"Adriana, I've told you before, let's wait. Why do you have to push me like this? I'm only signing a pact with Vittoria, not holding an alliance-union. No one has to know. Once the noise dies down, we'll quietly break it and be done."

Before he could finish, another voice cut through him. "Lorenzo, don't you think this diamond ring is beautiful?"

Vittoria was wearing a one-carat stone, lifting her hand and playing coy at him.

Lorenzo's smile snapped back into place at once.

"If you like it, it's beautiful. Our union is in five days. Shall I buy this one to seal it?"

I paused in my tracks, just in time to catch Lorenzo turning his head away, uneasy.

Every word he'd said was a lie. But it didn't matter. In five days, it would be my wedding too. It seemed only to confirm the old truth. Men and women marry, and each goes their own separate way.

The attendant carefully brought over the ring Dante had ordered. A pink diamond, the only one of its kind in the world, stunning and dazzling.

Vittoria's eyes filled with greed as she looked at the ring on my hand.

"Adriana, I really do love the ring on your hand. May I try it on?"

The attendant beside her apologized at once.

"I'm sorry. This one has already been reserved. Perhaps I could show you something else?"

Vittoria's eyes reddened in an instant. Her fingers drifted to the diamond already at her own hand, as though checking it hadn't slipped away.

"Adriana, you know we're to be wed in five days, and you're deliberately setting the staff here against me to make trouble. I truly love this ring. I only want to know what it feels like to be a bride. Can't you just let me try it on?"