Harbinger Of Glory

By the time Leo got to his apartment, he felt strained to say the least, which made his couch feel way more appealing than it should ever be, but he couldn’t nap now.

He went straight to the kitchen after that, set his duffel on the counter, and opened the fridge to take out a bottle of water.

He stood still and drank almost all of it with the fridge still open.

After coming to his senses a bit, he shut the door.

He’d showered at the complex before leaving, but he still felt icky.

He sighed, picked his duffel back up, and went to the bedroom, turning the bag upside down over the dirty clothes bin so everything inside it fell in at once, then pulled off what he was wearing and dropped that in too.

The shower was hot, and long since Leo only came out when he felt like himself again.

He was towelling off when the doorbell rang.

He stopped.

He wasn’t expecting anyone.

Noah would have called.

Jake would have called and then shown up anyway, but he would have called, same with Ezra and the last person on his mind, Carlo, didn’t do drop-ins.

He pulled on a shirt and made his way to the front door, glancing at the small video screen beside it as he reached it.

He looked at the screen, and when his brain comprehended what was on it a split second later, he opened the door, trying to actually confirm if what he had seen on the screen was truly what it was.

The evening light was behind her, and she had a bag over one shoulder, and her hair was slightly different from what it had been the last time he saw her.

She, on the other hand, looked at him with a smile on her face, seemingly getting the reaction she had wanted.

”Hi,” Vittoria said a moment later while Leo stared on, and it wasn’t until a moment later that Leo found his words.

”What are you—” he started, and then, ”how did you—” and then, ”you said next week,” which came out less like a sentence the more he tried to ask.

Vittoria looked up at him, smiling at the reaction she had gotten, almost as if she had anticipated it, which wasn’t very hard to do considering how Leo was.

”I came ahead of schedule,” she said.

”And,” she continued, ”I didn’t know this address. I asked Gianna to ask for the address of your complex from Carlo, but I was told you’d moved out at the reception. So I called Mia,” she paused, ” and she gave me the address.”

”So,” Vittoria said, tilting her head slightly, looking up at him from the doorstep.

”Here I am.”

He looked at her for a moment longer, and then he came back to himself.

”Sorry,” he said, stepping aside. ”Come in.”

She entered quietly, the bag coming off her shoulder as she crossed the threshold, and Leo closed the door behind her.

Vittoria stood in the middle of the living room and took it in.

The high ceilings, the light coming through from the far window and the furniture that was still finding its place in the new apartment.

She looked around slowly, not saying anything yet, and then she turned to face him.

”Nice place.”

”It’s still modest compared to yours,” Leo replied.

He’d seen her Milan apartment a good number of times whenever video chatted.

Hearing that, Vittoria smiled and didn’t argue.

”Can I get you something?”

She shook her head.

”I’m fine, thank you.”

Then she moved toward the couch, looked at it for a moment, and then looked back at him.

”May I?”

”Really?” Leo said with a sassy expression.

Her eyes squeezed shut from the smile before she dropped onto the couch and set her bag to one side.

Leo also settled into the same couch, leaving a metre between them, and for a moment neither of them said anything.

Then Leo asked, ”When did you land?”

”A couple of hours ago.”

”And where are you staying?”

”Where I always stay when I’m here,” she said.

He nodded, and the quiet came back briefly before he looked at her properly.

”So,” he said. ”What was it you wanted to talk about. That time on the phone.”

Vittoria’s eyes moved to her lap for a moment before she glanced back up.

”Do you remember,” she said, ”when I told you my family saw the photos. And you asked me if it was a big deal.”

”Yeah.”

She shook her head slowly.

”It wasn’t really a problem, but it wasn’t really condoned either.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, opened the browser and typed her own name into the search bar before turning the screen to face him.

Leo looked at it, then at her.

”Are you googling yourself right now?”

”Leo—”

”I didn’t know you were a narcissist, too. On top of everything else.”

She smacked his shoulder.

”Be serious. And what do you mean on top of everything?” she continued, looking at Leo sternly while trying not to smile, but Leo didn’t address her question.

”I’m being very serious. This is a very serious observation,” he said as he took the phone, still smiling, and looked at the results.

Articles, images, her name across various Italian publications and a Wikipedia entry at the top.

After staring for a while, he looked up at her.

”I don’t know what I’m looking at. I’ve done this before, and it just shows me—”

”Exactly,” she said.

”What I want to show you doesn’t show outright.”

As she said that, she reached over and tapped the Wikipedia link.

The page loaded, and at the top, in the clean flat font of an encyclopedia entry, was her full name.

Vittoria Diletta Fiorella D’Averna.

Leo looked at it, trying to read the name in front of him without his brain spasming.

Then he looked at the D’Averna part specifically, which to him sounded more like a title than a name.

After that, he kept reading, scrolling slowly down the page until a particular line stopped him.

Vittoria D’Averna, heiress to the House of D’Averna, one of the European monarchies with historical roots in the Italian peninsula—

At that, he looked up at her.

”So you really are a princess.”