Masters and Domains

PROLOGUE

Cesare Pierre De Luca

Year 1998

Rome, Italy.

I pulled open the glass doors and stepped out into the balcony, inhaling the fresh scent of rain. The night view was breathtaking. Despite how late it was, there was still a number of people on the streets, some huddled under umbrellas. I could hear laughing, snippets of conversations, loud music and dancing from far away and one boy under a tree bragging to his friends about his new girlfriend Adriana. I smiled at that. The kid couldn’t be older than 15 years of age. But then, I understood. I remembered how I felt when I first laid eyes on my Alina. 

It was still drizzling a bit and I stepped out from under the shade, letting a few drops fall onto my cropped dark hair. I lifted my fingers and wriggled them, smiling as a few raindrops separated from the drizzle and followed the direction of my fingers. I moved my fingers systematically and the raindrops followed, spelling out my name. The perks of being a Gifted.

I lifted my head and closed my eyes, breathing in deeply and for just a second, all was well in my world.

Yet I still couldn’t shake this feeling of impending doom. Something was wrong. I could feel it.  My sister, Emilia, had been avoiding me all week. My mother hadn’t been home the whole week, which was weird because my mother never left my father’s side for more than a day at a time. My twin, Angelo ,was barely around these past few days, always out and about on my father’s business. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were all going out of their way to make sure I was alone at home with my father.

I was practically under house arrest since he seized my amulet four days ago and now I can’t be out in daylight and the few friends I could hang out with have been ordered by my father to stay away from me on pain of death. Everyone knew that there was no love lost between Tonio and I and sometimes, my sister feared he would kill me if I even as much as looked at him the wrong way.

Emilia had never gone so long without speaking to me and all of a sudden, Angelo is playing Father’s Most Trusted Assistant. Something was definitely wro-

A sharp knock on the glass jolted me out of my thoughts and I turned around to see my sister standing in my bedroom, dressed in her usual ripped jeans and crop sweater. I walked back in and shut the doors behind me, frowning when I took in her features. Her eyes were red and puffy like she’d been crying and she looked so frail and white, like she hadn’t fed in a long time. I had never seen her like this. She looked so broken, so…dead.

I took a step towards her and she took one back. My frown deepened. “Cosa c'e che non va, Emilia? What is wrong?”

She hugged herself and refused to meet my eyes. “I….” Her voice broke and she tried again, clearing her throat. “Sto bene, Cesare. I’m fine. Antonio wants to see you in his office.”

I huffed. “Well, I have no desire to see him.” I sat down on my bed and patted the space beside me in invitation. “What I want to know is why you have been avoiding me all week and what’s with all the secret meetings you’ve been having with Antonio and that witch in his office? Also, where the hell is Mariana and why is Angelo almost never around? Something is going on and I feel like I am the only one who knows nothing about it.”

She smiled and took a seat next to me, smoothing her hands over the black satin sheets. “You’ve always been very observant, fratello.” She shook her head and finally met my gaze. “I cannot tell you about the meetings. They’re secret for a reason. Mother is visiting some friends in New York and Marco Angelo is uh-mm…he’s doing some work for Father.”