Reine doesn’t want to die; once was more than enough. It’s not because she’s afraid of the permanent end to mortal life. After slipping into the frigid waters of the Venetian Lagoon in 1498, that’s no longer a possibility. It’s actually the reason she’s stopped aging and can heal almost instantly. No, Reine’s afraid because her new gifts came at a price: her memories. Forgetting the first twenty-three years of her existence made Reine swear to maintain her safety – and thereby her past – even if it meant living a quiet, solitary, and uneventful life.
She’s successful for five centuries, but when the Georgetown art historian is invited back to the Serene Republic to examine a resurfaced DaVinci, she finds her secret has been compromised. The portrait is of her. More importantly, the painting’s owner was – and still is – Massimo Baldovini, her husband who also should have died long ago. Although Reine has no memory of this pompous, domineering, and utterly irresistible man, Massimo’s desperate to rekindle their relationship. Reine now has the chance to trade her quirky sock collection, musty libraries, and an ordinary life with any mortal she’d surely outlive, for the man who’s apparently loved her for half a millennium. The choice should be easy, until she inexplicably gets sick for the first time in five hundred years and starts to remember things Massimo wishes would remain buried.
With her immortality – and maybe even her life – on the line, Reine must determine if she can trust Massimo to save her, or whether she’s just been a pawn in his self-serving plans from the very beginning.
