“Che ci fai qui?!” Sybella hissed as she stalked up to him. At his welcoming gesture, Sybella wanted to both hurl herself into her twin’s arms and slap him across the face. She scowled at him. Away with his pretty words! She hated when she called her ‘regina’; it was only when he wanted to cajole her into a less violent response that he employed the word.

Instead of slapping him across the face or hugging him, Sybella settled on swatting his hand down, continuing in rapid-fire Italian. “Why haven’t I heard a sound from you in the past few months? Do you know how worried I’ve been Sylvano?”