Taviano smiled down at Nicoletta. He couldn’t help the surge of pride in her. Faint color swept up her neck to stain her cheeks. She didn’t look at any of his brothers or cousins. He tightened his grip on her hand and glanced at his mother to see how she was taking the news. The look on her face was priceless. She’d gone very still. Almost frozen. She stared at Stefano as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“We asked Elie to train with her because he’s incredibly fast, and she actually kept up with him when they were kickboxing. We filmed her so we could send the live feeds to the head of the Archambault family. We know that her father was a member of the family, but not a rider. Nicoletta had never trained as a child, yet she not only didn’t lose the ability to ride the shadows, but the compulsion, the need, grew in her to the point that she was doing it on her own.” Stefano gestured to Taviano to take up the narrative.
Taviano pressed Nicoletta’s palm into his thigh. “When she was attacked at the concert, she texted me immediately as she fought off her attacker and got her three friends to run. Her friends scattered, but she did exactly what I said and met me where I told her to. Unfortunately, I was shot.”
He heard Eloisa gasp and realized she hadn’t been told. Before, when they came off missions, they always reported injuries to her, but since her ugliness to Francesca, none of them did. He hadn’t realized that until just that moment.
“I had Nicoletta strip and put my shirt on. She did so without hesitation, and she went with me, taking the shadows to the first aid station. She did get sick that first time, but she helped me with my wound, and she stayed alert and ready for action. From there, we took the shadow to the hotel. It was a long and very fast ride, with sharp turns and curves.”
“Dangerous,” Severino murmured. “So dangerous for anyone new to riding, let alone untrained. It was a terrible risk.”
Taviano nodded. “We had to get there before the Demons did. She was very sick, and this time I could see there was bleeding. It alarmed me, but I consoled myself with the fact that all of us had some bleeding from the nose when we first rode the shadows as kids.”
That was true enough, but he saw Stefano and Severino exchange a worried look, and there was no doubt in Taviano’s mind that that exchange was one of concern. He found himself pressing Nicoletta’s hand deeper into his thigh, more for his own reassurance than hers.
“The cousins took her two friends to a safe house, but Nicoletta was worried that Clariss, her friend still unaccounted for, had been taken by the Demons. When we discovered that was so, she didn’t want to return to the plane. She knew what they did to women, and she wanted to be there for Clariss in case the men had raped her. She felt it was necessary to be there for her friend under those circumstances.”
“That would be three jumps on an unskilled rider. Her body …” Severino trailed off. He looked at Nicoletta with respect. “That’s unheard-of. We work up to that. We train from the time we’re children. Shadows can tear apart a body.”
“The third time was actually better in terms of her controlling the ride,” Taviano explained. “She began to anticipate the curves and turns. She kept her head down, and her arms around me tight, but her body moved with mine, and she relaxed into the ride rather than fought it.” Which was one of the hardest things to do. He knew that, as did every rider in the room.
“From the warehouse, we went to the plane, so all in all, Nicoletta rode the shadows four times in one day. She had the headache from hell and was exhausted, but there didn’t seem to be any repercussions on her body, such as soreness with aches and pains, and she didn’t get sick after riding to the plane. I watched her carefully. She didn’t limp. She wasn’t wincing. I had her meditating and doing breathing exercises, sitting with me on the floor, and we trained in my gym for a short period of time. She didn’t so much as grimace. She never once has protested when asked to work out. All of us have had to stop her from pushing too hard.”
“What does Marcellus Archambault say about her?” Severino asked.
“He says she’s extraordinary and definitely indicative of their family, but one trained from childhood. Her body has to be made up of the muscle and cells theirs are made up of. He’d like to have their doctor examine her. He’s extremely interested in her abilities, as no one has ever exhibited her talents before,” Stefano said. “Not just coming in cold like this.”