A Shadow of Guilt

When they emerged at the bottom of the path the estate was laid out before them. Valentina came to stand beside Gio and saw the vast stables down to their left, surrounded by cypress trees. To the right of that were huge rolling green paddocks, incongruous against the more rocky and bare Siclian landscape and no doubt carefully maintained by Gio’s gardeners.

From what she remembered the gallops where Mario had died were behind the stables but she couldn’t see them from here. Gio turned to face her, his jaw tight. ‘The gallops are gone, Valentina. I got rid of them … after …’ His voice trailed off.

She looked up at him. ‘What’s there now?’

Gio ran a hand through his hair, reluctance oozing from every taut muscle in his body. ‘A garden … I got them to cover it over with a garden.’

Determined now, Valentina crossed her arms. ‘I want to see it.’

‘Why? Valentina—it won’t serve any purpose….’

She touched his arm then and felt him tense to her touch which sent a cold shiver down her spine. ‘Please, Gio … I need to see this.’

After a long tense moment he took his arm from under her hand and turned and stalked onwards. For the first time since they’d met again Valentina had a glimpse of another side of Gio. Cold, inscrutable. She shivered slightly when she imagined the dynamic between them being very different.

They went down past the stables where lots of curious horses’ heads peeped out. Valentina thought she recognised Misfit, who whinnied softly, but she wasn’t sure. A couple of stable hands passed them by but they were obviously put off by Gio’s expression and scurried on. Valentina only realised then that she was still dressed in Gio’s oversize clothes and felt her face flame as she hurried to keep up with him.

He’d stopped before she realised it and she crashed into his back. He put out a hand to steady her but she noticed how quickly he took it away again and felt a dart of hurt. They’d come through an arbour of some sort and were standing in a huge walled garden. Valentina was taking it all in and noticed that Gio was standing on the edge of an elaborate green structure, about a foot high. Valentina came to stand beside him and frowned. ‘It’s a maze.’

Gio’s voice was tight. ‘It’s a labyrinth. The one path which leads in also leads back out.’ She heard him take a breath. ‘Mario told me about them once … he’d always been fascinated by them.’

Valentina had a vague memory of Mario mentioning something about them now too.

Gio said from beside her, ‘I’ll leave you.’

And then he was gone. She could hear him striding away again. It was almost too huge to take in—the fact that there now existed a walled garden where the gallops had been, and then this … labyrinth. Valentina was standing at the entrance and slowly started to walk the path.

It was a curiously meditative experience. Every time she thought she was coming close to the centre of the labyrinth, the path would diverge far away again. She felt exasperated at first until she realised that this was undoubtedly part of the process. She was surprised when she finally found herself stumbling into the centre at last. It was so unexpectedly peaceful that she stood there for long minutes.

She knew her parents would be incredibly emotional to see what Gio had done in Mario’s name. And she? Like a coward, Valentina didn’t want to explore deeper than the peace she felt right then. Her emotions were far too close to the surface as it was, ambiguous and volatile.

Eventually she wound her way back from the centre to the entrance of the labyrinth and reluctantly left the garden behind. She couldn’t shake the feeling that some bruised part of her heart had been healed.

When she got back up to the kitchen door of the castello a grim-faced Gio met her. He’d shaved and changed and was holding car keys, and a bag which she suspected contained her dress. ‘I can take you now if you’re ready to leave?’

Valentina knew that she should be jumping at this opportunity to run as far away as she could, as fast as possible. But in light of Gio’s clear desire to have her gone something inexplicably rebellious rose up within her.

She lifted her chin. ‘What makes you think I’m ready to leave?’

She saw the quickly hidden flare of confusion in his eyes before they narrowed again. Almost as if wanting to goad her now he said, ‘I assumed that seeing where Mario had died would be a passion killer.’

Valentina sucked in a breath at his crude words. But amazingly, hurt didn’t grip her. She couldn’t articulate it to Gio but it felt right to be here with him. Her blood was already flowing thicker in her veins just standing in front of him, his freshly clean scent on the air between them.

‘I was the one who wanted to come here, remember?’

Again that flare of confusion. Valentina focused on Gio and not on the confusing tumult of emotions within her. She walked up to him and took the keys out of his hands and dropped them to the nearby countertop. Then she took the bag out of his other hand and dropped it to the floor.

Gio’s eyes were dark, burning. Almost censorious. ‘Do you know what you’re doing, Valentina?’

Her voice sounded thick to her ears. ‘I want you, Gio, that’s all.’

Gio smiled and it was grim and hard. ‘As long as that’s all. I’d hate for there to be any confusion.’

Valentina’s heart lurched but she forced herself to say, ‘No, there’s no confusion.’

Gio reached out and pulled her into his body and Valentina had to fight not to close her eyes at the way her body sang.

‘You’re right,’ he said harshly. ‘There’s nothing but this.’ And then his mouth was on hers and the confusion in Valentina’s heart faded away to be replaced by heat.