" Your wine, Signorina?”
That voice.
Cass spun around and struggled to her feet. Falco stood in the doorway of the study, dressed in a green and gold servant’s uniform. Cass took in the lopsided smile, the hair that curled slightly away from his face. Tears pricked up in her eyes, and Falco began to blur. But he didn’t disappear.
She had to restrain herself from running into his arms. Instead, she stood pressed against the window. “How--how did you get in?”
Falco crossed the room to her, pausing just long enough to set a glass of wine down on the desk. “Doors are quite useful, I’ve found,” he said, his eyes sparkling. Then his expression softened into one of concern. When he reached her, his hands skimmed her neck softly. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes,” Cass said. “Now.”
“When I heard someone had been attacked, I didn’t want to believe it was you.” He pushed her tangled hair back from her face. “Then I heard she had fought the attacker off and sent the poor bastard fleeing into the streets.” Falco cracked a smile. “I knew it was my starling. "

― Fiona Paul , Venom (Secrets of the Eternal Rose, #1)