Chapter 3

Alessandro Russo’s POV

I hated banquets. Too many people crowded into one room, too many conversations that seemed pointless, and too many fake smiles that disappeared the moment I turned away.

I had decided to leave before the evening banquet had properly started. Then I remembered the woman at the window. She had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. I had seen her for only a few seconds, yet I still found myself thinking about her.

I stepped into the Valentino ballroom. The conversations died down. Vampires moved aside without being asked. A servant approached me with a glass of blood. I took it and kept walking.

Then I stopped.

That scent of rain and sea salt, with something sweet underneath it. It was the same strange scent from the courtyard, the one that belonged to the woman at the window.

I followed the scent across the ballroom and found her among the guests. She was carrying a tray, dressed in a plain green dress with her hair tied back and no jewellery. Her eyes stayed lowered as she placed a glass on a table.

So this was the woman who’d been watching me from the nursery.

She turned, and our eyes met. Her expression changed, and her fingers tightened around the tray. Then she looked away. Her scent grew stronger, carrying that strange sweetness I had noticed before. A scent unlike anything I had encountered from a vampire or werewolf. Then it faded.

She moved toward the servants’ corridor. I watched her go. There was something deliberate about it. She wasn’t simply leaving. She was avoiding me.

I found Lord Valentino near the fireplace. “Who is that servant?”

“The nanny? Giorgia.”

“Giorgia what?”

“Romano.”

Giorgia Romano.

“How long has she been working here?”

“A little over a year, I think.”

“You think?”

“She keeps to herself and Works with the children. I don’t involve myself in the servants’ affairs.”

“Where is she from? Family?”

“Nothing that I remember.”

A woman who appeared in a powerful household, stayed more than a year, and left almost no history behind. Interesting.

I handed my glass to a passing servant and headed for the corridor.

I found her before she reached the next hallway. “Giorgia.”

She stopped, back stiffening, and slowly turned. Up close her eyes were even more striking. Blue. Too bright.

“My lord.”

“You know who I am.”

“Yes.”

She shifted the tray to her other hand. “I have work to finish.” She tried to step past me, but I moved into her path.

“My lord, you’re blocking the way.”

She wasn’t trembling, but I could hear her pulse beating faster. “Where were you going?

“To the kitchen.”

“What do you do here?”

“I am the children's nanny. For over a year.”

My brother had been right. “Where are you from?”

Her eyes lifted to mine, and I saw something sharper under her caution. “I don’t think that matters.”

Interesting. Most servants would have answered immediately.

“Giorgia. Look at me.”

She hesitated, then did. The strange sensation returned, her scent brushing against me. I leaned closer.

It vanished. Completely.

I studied her face. No scent. Nothing. Yet moments ago it had been impossible to ignore.

“ What are you and why can’t I smell you properly?”