Luca entered the conference room silently, his concentration firmly on Alicia. It was like every time she was near, she was all that he could focus on. It was better when he was away; his head was clearer, and he wasn't in nearly as much pain.
Watching Alicia sitting down at the head of the table, Luca's eyes narrowed to see that Réne had sat down first. It had been a Cardinal rule back when they all shared a house that if Alicia stepped into a room, everyone had to stand up…
And heaven help anyone who had sat down before Alicia was completely comfortable. Réne would take his displeasure out on the next training day.
But now, Réne seemed to be completely different. Was Alicia right? Did he really want to kill her?
And why didn't that seem to bother Luca all that much?
"What do you want?" sighed an older man across from Luca. "And what's he doing here?"
"Yeah," continued a woman Luca couldn't recognize. "Didn't we try—"
