She weighed those choices and then shrugged. ‘Surprise me.’
His grin was relaxed. ‘Tóte as páme. Then, let’s go.’
Her heart turned over in her chest as she pushed out of bed. The sun was shining on a brand-new day and Alice was going to Italy. For the first time in a very long time, Alice felt truly, utterly happy.
* * *
In the end, they went to none of the cities of Italy. Alice described Signora Verde’s town Trefiumi Nord to Thanos and, with a little Internet searching on the flight over, they touched down in Florence and slipped into a limousine at the base of the aeroplane. Local time was an hour behind Port D’Angelo.
‘How far away is it?’ she asked, leaning forward and looking out of the window.
‘Not far. Half an hour.’
Alice bit down on her lip, excitement coursing through her veins. She couldn’t believe she was here in Italy—the place she’d wanted to go all her life.
And because of the man beside her.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she murmured to herself as the car sliced through the countryside. Enormous pine trees formed a forest over rolling green hills to the left of the car, and to the right gentle undulations in a patchwork of yellows gave way to a distant view of a stone castle.
As the car drove nearer to the castle, it came alongside a bubbling river, which glistened in the early afternoon sun.
‘Another river.’ She pointed to a fast-flowing body of water, crossing the first at a right angle.
Beside her, Thanos nodded. ‘Trefiumi Nord literally means Three Rivers to the North. I imagine the town is named for this.’
Alice turned to face him, her eyes sparkling, a smile on her lips.
‘I think Signora Verde said something along those lines.’ She sat back in the seat, contenting herself with watching the vista as it scrolled past their windows, with no concept of how Thanos watched her, his dark-rimmed eyes roaming over her face, seeing every flicker of delight, every roll of excitement.
‘Thanos, look!’ she squealed, as the car rounded a bend and a small town appeared almost out of nowhere. Nestled in the base of several rolling hills, it was crammed f
ull of yellow and golden terracotta homes, a castle in the centre with a renaissance church and cupola beside it, pencil pines poking up between some of the homes.
‘Oh, Thanos.’ She spun to face him. Alice was alive—and breathtaking. ‘I had no idea it would be even prettier than I’d imagined.’
The car drew to a stop on a narrow, cobbled street, and Thanos’s chauffeur, Ryan, was there, opening the door. Alice stepped out, emotions flooding her as she breathed in the fragrance and atmosphere of the place—a place which had always lived in her imagination but which was now a part of her reality.
‘Thank you. For bringing me here.’
His eyes were heavy on her face, his expression impossible to interpret. ‘You are very beautiful when you’re excited.’
An instinctive habit of knocking away the compliment filled her but she ignored it. When Thanos looked at her, she felt beautiful, and it had very little to do with looks.
‘Grazie,’ she whispered softly, smiling up at him.
They stood like that for a moment and to all the world, to any outsider, they must have looked like a perfectly normal pair of newly-weds. Completely besotted, in love, enamoured of one another.
Which was just as well, because a flash went off a moment later with an audible ‘click’ sound of a cell-phone camera.
Alice turned in that direction to find a woman holding her phone towards them. At being recognised, the cell-phone photographer quickly spun and walked away.
Alice frowned. ‘Did she just take our photo?’
Thanos’s expression was grim. ‘It happens.’
‘You’re serious? People actually just...take your picture?’
He nodded, putting a hand in the small of Alice’s back and guiding her away from the limousine. ‘Let’s keep moving.’