FEATURED | #1 in whodunnit for over four weeks | #1 in the third chaos award
When you can't trust in angels, you turn to the devil for a pact.
Alessandro Steno is Venice's living legend. Trying to wash old blood off his hands, he hunts the city's...
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"I can't leave," Alessandro shook his head. He cursed himself for having allowed that little spark of hope, when the Greek had taken off the shackles. The weight of the others became all the more crushing now. The invisible chains fastened around his heart.
"Door's right there." Giacinto waved his knife towards the narrow door to their cage.
"It is locked."
Giacinto frowned at him as if he had grown donkey ears. "How stupid are you?" He bent down, examining the lock. "Trying to distract me from asking why you really don't want to leave? Not working. I can pick that thing blindfolded. Behind my back."
"At least you're confident," Alessandro sighed.
"What do you mean 'at least'?" the Greek scoffed. His hands were quick and steady, long fingers twisting the blade up and down, left and right, back and forth. The scraping of steel against iron hovered between them.
Alessandro held his breath, half fascinated, half terrified. His heart hammered so loud, the guards would hear it any second. The whisper of suspicion was back, the clam shadow in his neck hissing in his ear. Those hands were far too quick, too sure. Giacinto had done this before. Not once. Not twice. A hundred times would still not be enough to reach that certainty. "How did you learn this?"
Giacinto shrugged. "Bored. Had nothing better to do." The door swung open. The creak of the rusted hinges seemed as loud as thunder. "I'm so fucking awesome."
Alessandro didn't move an inch. "And your expert knowledge of corpses? Born in a morgue?" He raised a mocking eyebrow. He needed that air of superiority. Needed that aura of confidence. Even if now it was fake.
Giacinto smiled sweetly, but his eyes had turned poisonous again. "Should I ask what keeps you in the city, hm?"
Alessandro clenched his fist.
The Greek nodded. "No questions about my past and I won't ask any about yours." He picked up the shackles only to drop them to again.
The chains rattled, the cuffs clanked, Alessandro flinched.
"What are you doing there?" A voice boomed from the far end of the dark hall. A guard. The sound of shackles falling in a prison — as out of place as laughter on a cemetery.
"Breaking out!" Giacinto hollered back, a mischievous glint sparking to life in his eyes.
Alessandro wanted to strangle him for his laid back humor. This pettiness, this defiance, this terrible ...! Why did he do that? He had just ruined any chance to escape. In a few seconds, the guards would storm their cell and —
A loud laugh answered from somewhere in the dark.
"Have you gone mad?" Alessandro hissed, teeth clenched in suppressed anger. "They'll check --"
