“What do you intend to do,” Enzo asked, “when you find your elderly patron?”

Fiore had never received that sort of enquiry in afterglow before. It felt rather like Enzo had tipped him out of bed and into the canal. Nevertheless he had a ready answer. “Make him happy ‘til the end of his days.”

“And after that?”

Fiore shrugged.

“You must have given some thought to what you would do with your share of the gentleman’s fortune,” Enzo said with a smile. “Would you become a man of leisure? How would you fill your days—drawing? Music?”

“You’re a man of leisure,” Fiore retorted. “How do you fill your days?”

“With you.”

Fiore paused. “I can’t very well follow in your footsteps then, lest I become full of myself.”

Enzo laughed. “Very true. Would you return to your trade? Set up your own house?”

“I like my trade well enough,” Fiore admitted. A thought struck him. “Would you wish for me to return to it?”

Enzo’s smile shifted into something more wistful. “It would rather give me something to look forward to.”

Fiore ignored the pang provoked by that smile. “You’ll have moved on by then.”

Enzo did not look as though he agreed with him but knew better than to argue. “If you don’t return to your trade after your patron’s demise… might I try my suit again regardless?”

“You’ll have moved on by then,” Fiore repeated, though he believed it less with every passing moment. Particularly as Enzo gazed down at him with those fond and gentle eyes.

And as he realized that he might not have moved on by then, either.

~

Fiorenzo is a queer fantasy-of-manners romance featuring secret identities, hurt/comfort, and a happily-ever-after. Coming out September 30th – preorder today!

~

Fiore has a plan. Find a wealthy elderly gentleman, delight him until the end of his days, and retire on the resulting inheritance. It’s the best outcome a low-born courtesan in the city of Halcyon can hope for.

And it seems a perfect scheme… until a mysterious masked man upends it.

Banished from university after a disastrous duel, Enzo wanders the city searching for scraps of the affection he’s lost. His public mask conceals private agonies. A single night in the company of a courtesan, however, balms his wounded heart, and he finds himself returning again and again to Fiore, revealing more of himself than he’s ever dared before.

Furthermore, and more astonishing still, Fiore finds he returns Enzo’s affections.

But while Fiore wears no mask, he nonetheless has secrets of his own. And when the ghosts of their pasts return to haunt them, only the bond of trust between them will carry them through.