Chapter 34
DANTE
Fucking fine.
So, I hit Nico harder than I meant to.
Not enough to break bone—but enough to drive the air from his lungs in a sharp, involuntary grunt as he skidded backward across the flagstones. His boot heel caught on a cracked paver, shoulders rolling as he regained his balance.
The sound of his cursing sent a vicious spike of satisfaction through me.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Nico grunted, rubbing the point of impact. He reset his stance, already assessing payback. He was going to make this hurt. “You’re not fighting for your life. This is just to blow off some steam, stronzo.”
He’d almost killed Emberline.
I couldn’t get the image out of my head—him pressing that blade to her throat, her fighting desperately to stop him.
I bared my teeth, sweat stinging my eyes. “You’re talking too much. As usual.”
“Yeah, well, sue me. Some of us aren’t built to sit around and brood all day.”
The garden was small, high-walled—a narrow street just on the other side, laundry flapping overhead. Gods, I wanted to burn this whole place to the ground.
He’d almost killed Emberline.
I felt like a prisoner here.
At least in my shitty house, it had been me and Emberline, arguing and fighting and making love. That had felt real. That had felt good. Here, we were all bumping elbows, and I already felt caged.
And I still wasn’t back to full strength. I hated how my muscles burned after an hour of this, how my lungs grew too sluggish too quickly. Every strike reminded me that I’d been dragged out of the Fossa like a victim—half-dead, starved, broken—needing help to keep me upright.
Needing saving.
I lunged again, faster this time.
Too fast.
Nico slid aside with infuriating ease, pivoting inside my reach. His forearm snapped up, hooking mine, turning my own momentum against me. The world tilted as he wrenched, and I stumbled forward and slammed into the wall, barely stopping my face from meeting stone.
“See?” he said, calm as ever. “Rage makes you sloppy.”
Rage made me alive.
I tore free with a snarl and backed off, chest heaving, vision tunneling. Sweat dripped down my spine, stinging fresh wounds that had yet to close completely, my bad leg still weaker than it should be.
Gabriel had brought his best healer, and after hours of careful mending, every tendon, bone, and muscle was back in its rightful place, but my balance was still off.
Part of me yearned to be back in the pit, tearing my opponents apart until I collapsed from exhaustion. Because my inner monster was far too close to the surface, and I was far too close to Emberline.
She had no idea the dangerous edge I walked every hour of every day.
Kept insisting I’d never hurt her, that I just needed time, except time was the worst thing for me right now. Time had me cannibalizing my own fucking sanity, and I wanted to rip these brick walls down with my bare hands until the noise in my head finally stopped.
I shouldn’t be hiding like some coward.
That truth gnawed at me with every breath. Giovanni walked freely through the world, spinning his lies, weaving his web tighter and tighter, waiting for Marcello to die. We should be doing something to stop him, not sparring like a couple of out-of-practice teenagers.
At least she was chasing answers that might stop him.
He’d almost killed Emberline.
And she’d forgiven him so easily. I’d spent too much time replaying that scene—Nico, kneeling at her feet, my wife, touching his face. Like I’d been some fucking outsider, looking in.
As if there was something I was missing.
“Dante,” Nico watched me carefully, like I might detonate if he blinked. “You’ve got nothing to prove.”
I let out an ugly laugh. “You’re not the one who got dragged out of the Fossa by his arms like he was half-dead.” Of course, I had something to prove. I had fucking everything to prove.
He snapped his mouth shut and dropped back into a crouch.
I went for him again, vicious this time, no finesse, no patience—just force. My fists drove him back step by step, blows ringing through the garden like a drumbeat. He blocked, parried, absorbed every blow, ancient flagstone cracking under our boots as we circled, breath rasping, sweat flying.
For a moment—just a moment—I almost had him.
Then my body betrayed me.
My bad leg tweaked, my knee bending the wrong way. Nico took advantage instantly, shoulder-checking me aside and knocking me back into that fucking wall. We broke apart, both breathing hard now, the air between us thick with heat.
Nico wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and smirked. “You know,” he said lightly, “for someone pretending to be under control, you look like you’re about to burst into flames.”
I didn’t answer. He didn’t know how close to the truth he was.
Nico tilted his head toward the open doors behind me, “Probably doesn’t help that Emberline’s been sitting inside all morning with her nose in a book.” He waggled his brows. “She looked like a painting, with that light hitting her beautiful… ”
I snapped.
Crossing the distance between us in a blink—nothing but raw instinct and fury. Nico barely got his guard up before I slammed into him, driving him back into the wall hard enough to shake mortar and brick loose from above.
My forearm pressed against his throat.
“Don’t,” I growled, every word vibrating with restraint I was seconds from losing, “talk about my wife like that ever again.”
Nico didn’t struggle.
He just stared, eyes seeing my every weakness, breath measured despite the fact that I was bearing down on his windpipe. Trusting me not to cross a line he knew I was staring straight at.
“Do it,” he dared. “Snap my neck if you think it will make you feel better. Trust me, it won’t.”
I shoved him harder, stone biting into his spine. “Say another word and I will.”
“Go ahead,” he shot back without hesitation. “It’s not like I don’t want to do the same to you, stronzo.”
My grip faltered.
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
Nico twisted enough to ease the pressure, voice rough but unwavering.
“You made me swear to watch over her. Do you have any fucking idea what those four weeks were like? Watching her fall apart. Trying to coax her to eat so she didn’t pass out.
Begging her to sleep. To put on clean clothes?
She was a wreck, and I took care of her, Dante. Me.” He chuffed out a bitter laugh.
“Yes,” I snapped. “And?”
“And you seem surprised by the outcome, when you of all people should know the truth,” he hissed, his chest heaving, eyes now as wild and unfocused as mine.
“Anyone…” He ground his teeth together, as if he didn’t want to say anything more, and then, “Anyone who gets close to Emberline falls in love with her. They don’t have any other choice, she’s just…” His gaze drifted to the house, and his entire body sagged. “I didn’t have a fucking choice.”
Oh fuck. Blood roared in my ears, the world narrowing down to my forearm, pressed tight against Nico’s throat. I leaned in harder, feeling something inside of myself give way, my control shredding.
“Do you,” I growled dangerously, “love Emberline?”
Nico’s eyes were still turned toward the house, the lines of his face set in agonized misery.
“Yes,” he said clearly. “More than I’ve ever loved anyone.”
The word rolled through me like a wave. Love, love, love.
His claim wasn’t a challenge. It was simple. Honest. A truth offered without armor or defense. Like a blade sliding cleanly between my ribs, even though his arms hung loose at his sides. We both knew I could crush his throat right now, and he wouldn’t try to stop me.
I roared, staggering back a step, chest heaving, rage collapsing into something darker. A gut-wrenching fear I was afraid to put a name to. Heat crawled over my skin as something terrible rose inside me. A beast with no mercy, only hunger.
I opened my mouth—to threaten Nico, to warn him…
An awareness crawled up my spine. The unmistakable prickle of being watched, and I turned.
Emberline stood in the doorway, one hand braced against the frame, a book clutched to her chest as if she’d forgotten she was holding it. Her face was pale, eyes wide—not frightened but stunned.
Gods help me.
She had heard everything.