Chapter 37
EMBERLINE
Our fingers stayed linked together as time and space rushed past us in a rush of frozen wind. The next, the world folded back into itself with a soft, breathless whoosh.
Familiar flagstone was firmly under my boots, the low hum of wards settling, and the aged brick walls of the outdoor garden rose around us.
Luca stumbled as he rematerialized. I caught his arm automatically, steadying him before pulling him through the back door, where lamplight pooled across worn rugs, books were stacked in piles on the floor, and the smell of dust and tea filled the air.
We didn’t get three breaths in before Dante’s voice cut through the room like a blade.
“What were you thinking, sneaking around the city, and why the fuck is your brother standing in the living room right now?” He bore down on us, a pissed-off wall of muscle and bad attitude, boots thumping across the stone floor in time with my heart.
“Oh, so you’re alive, too?” Luca glared at me. “Did anyone die in that explosion?”
“Only a few unfortunate pigeons,” Dante growled at my brother, pinning me beneath that glare. “Answer me, Emberline. Why is your brother in our living room?”
“You dematerialized from a public place?” Nico’s gaze swept the room—windows, door, corners—fingers twitching. “Tell me you took precautions.” When I shook my head, his eyes narrowed on Luca, like this was somehow his fault.
“Do you have any idea the trail you two left?”
“Yes,” I said flatly. “I do. My brother was in danger. I had no choice.”
Well, I did, but it wasn’t a choice I was willing to make.
Dante stopped a pace away, fists clenched. “Explain,”—every syllable was dangerous—“why you just compromised every layer of security we have. Why you’ve exposed us, at a time… and I will quote your words back to you, when we are the only ones standing between your uncle and disaster?”
I stepped in front of Luca without thinking. Dante’s nostrils flared, and he lowered his head like a bull about to charge. I wanted to stab my finger in his chest and ask him why he’d been walking this dangerous edge ever since he’d come back, but I didn’t want a repeat of earlier.
I should be careful about what I said next.
Except I’d been crystal clear from the very beginning where my loyalties lay, and those loyalties hadn’t changed. They’d expanded. To my husband. To Gabriel and to Nico. To this small, chosen family I couldn’t lose. But…
“Because my brother’s life is not expendable, and I will not stand by and do nothing while the vultures circle, looking for ways to use him. Even if protecting him exposes us. I made a promise to protect Luca. I mean to keep my word.”
The truth hung there, heavy and unyielding.
My choice, my line in the sand, except… now, I wished the world wasn’t so fucking absolute. In my heart, we were all on the same side of that line now. A family, except none of us fit together in the right way, with our fragile alliance cracking apart.
Part of me wondered if this would be the thing that made it shatter completely.
Even Nico slanted me a pointed glare. Dante’s expression shifted—something else bleeding through his rage. Hurt… or disappointment.
“Well, I hope it was worth the risk,” he started.
“I’ve never kept my loyalties a secret, and I won’t abandon my brother.”
And I was tired of apologizing for doing the right thing.
We’d all been through hell this past month. He could take his shit attitude and shove it.
I turned to face them, heart pounding, the warmth of the safehouse suddenly inadequate against the cold knot in my chest. “Rocco set up a meeting with Luca tonight. Convinced him to spy on Giovanni. I couldn’t let him go back to the palazzo without…
” I shook my head. “If our uncle knew he met Rocco, he would kill him.”
“Uncle Gio’s not going to kill me,” Luca waved a dismissive hand. “He needs me, remember?”
“Not for much longer,” Nico muttered beneath his breath, and my brother gave him a sharp look before whipping his head back to me.
“What is going on here? Why are you pretending to be dead, Emberline? What really happened in that explosion?” Luca swallowed, shoulders drawing in. What the fuck is happening here?
There is so much you don’t know, Luca. But telling you puts you in more danger.
He snorted. I highly doubt that. I was desperate enough to take a meeting with Rocco. Things are dangerous enough.
Dante paced, scrubbed a hand over his face. “Okay, I agree, he’s in danger. But you shouldn’t have brought him back here.”
“Rocco knows Marcello’s been poisoned. Which means he has spies within the household, so Gabriel needs to deal with them. And he all but hinted he knows Giovanni’s plans.” I slanted a sideways look at my brother. “His real plans.”
“Rocco’s never been an idiot,” Nico pointed out neutrally. “But you’re right. Gabriel needs to clean house. Tonight. Lock that island down tight as a drum before Marcello passes.”
“He really is dying, then? Poison?”
I hesitated before I answered my brother, but the truth was already out there, and Marcello would be dead soon enough.
“Uncle hired someone to slip Marcello silver oxide. The poison did its job. Looks like Rocco’s helping him, and you just walked into a clandestine meeting and promised to hand over Uncle’s secrets to him.”
That revelation stopped Luca cold.
“Yes, it’s that bad, Luca. So, before you go home, we need to know you’re not walking into an ambush.”
Nico exhaled slowly and nodded toward one of the chairs near the small kitchen table. “Sit,” he told Luca. “Please. There is a lot you don’t know, and none of this will explain itself.”
Luca obeyed, his eyes flicking around the room—the piles of stacked books, the hearth, the low ceiling—as if he couldn’t quite believe where he was right now.
Dante turned to him, expression grim but temper now under control. “How did Rocco reach out?” he asked. “Because Emberline’s right, if Giovanni thinks you’re about to sell him out, he will not hesitate to end your life.”
“He knows I’m loyal,” Luca said hoarsely. “He would never hurt me. I’m his nephew.”
“He would kill you in a heartbeat.” The words burst out of me, and my brother sucked in a quick breath.
“Everything you know about our uncle is a lie.” I swallowed, looked at Dante, who gave me a nod of encouragement.
“Giovanni killed Enzo. He needed him out of the way because our father knew too much.”
“He killed Father?” Luca shook his head. “No, no, you’re wrong. That was Marcello’s assassin, it was…”
“Okay, I need you to listen to me now. Giovanni killed our father because Enzo had proof that our uncle was planning a coup to take over the Dynasty. And I’m in hiding because Giovanni chained me to a wall beneath the palazzo and drowned me.”
“But he knows you can’t swim…” Luca whispered, rubbing his temples, his lips white. “Gods, Em, that’s… monstrous.”
“I tried to revive her and failed,” Dante hissed through grit teeth. “Used every bit of forbidden magic I knew to bring her back and failed. She’s only alive because of Emilia.”
“The day of the explosion, Gio had Dante captured and sent back to the Fossa. They were planning to execute him, but we managed to get him out in time.”
“That’s what Rocco meant about the rumors.” He caught my eye. “A prison being destroyed. Or him coming back from the dead. Did you really destroy the prison?”
“Blew that fucker right out of the desert,” Nico said with satisfaction. “I doubt even your uncle can resurrect that shithole.”
“So… what does all this mean?” Luca spread his shaking hands. “In my defense, I thought you were both dead. When Rocco reached out, I figured that was my chance to find out what was really going on. If anyone knows the Dynasty’s secrets, it’s that sneaky fucker.”
“How did he reach out?” Dante asked, gentler, this time.
“He slipped me a note a week ago at your mourning ball, with a location, a time, and specific directions on how to get there. Uncle was called to an emergency council meeting about Marcello’s health. I suspect Rocco provided the distraction. But he’ll be home soon.”
Nico leaned back against the counter, the kitchen light catching the hard lines of his face. “Marcello is alive… for now. But he will die.”
Luca’s breath hitched. “You’re certain of this?”
“Yes,” Dante said. “And when he does, Giovanni will remove my brother from the equation and claim the title of Don. But he doesn’t intend to rule. Not in the traditional sense.”
Luca’s eyes drifted to the piles of ancient books, “What’s going on here? None of this makes sense, and you said Giovanni’s staging a coup? For six hundred years, he was content to remain in the background. What do you know that I don’t?”
I perched on the edge of the table. “Let me tell you a story, Luca. About this Dynasty. About who our uncle really is. Then you’ll understand.”
Realization dawned in Luca’s eyes, slow and devastating.
“The Basin,” he whispered. “If he can use that relic like you say…” A full-body shudder shook him, blood draining from his already pale face.
“According to Marcello himself, he can,” I said. “Because of the Blood Compact, he will bind everyone who’s ever bled into it and turn them into thralls. That means everyone in this room. All he needs is someone powerful enough to access the magic.”
At this point, my money was on Emilia.
“I want to do something.” Luca looked between us, shaken. “What do you need from me? He trusts me. I’m with him every single day, by his side at most of his meetings. Now that I know what to look for, I can help.”
Dante’s eyes skated over me, then met my brothers squarely. “You will stay neutral. Publicly loyal to Giovanni. There will be no questions, no sudden interest in affairs that don’t concern you.”
“And privately?” Luca prompted.
“You watch from a safe distance,” Nico said firmly, as my hands clenched in my lap. “You listen, and you do not take any chances. You’re in a unique position to help us. Keeping you alive and in that position could mean the difference between us failing or succeeding.”
Silence stretched, broken only by the soft tick of the kettle cooling on the stove.
“Luca can’t be sneaking around the city at night. Word will get back to Giovanni. And he promised Rocco he’d spy for him. We need a way to spin that to our benefit, while protecting my brother.”
“I’ll have Severin appoint me as an additional guard on the palazzo,” Nico suggested.
“Call it increased Pentarch security or some such shit. You will pass any information directly to me, and I’ll figure out how to get the information to Rocco, vetting everything to make sure he doesn’t learn anything that might compromise us. ”
“You can count on me.” Luca nodded once. “I won’t let any of you down.”
Before anyone could stop me, I crossed the space between us and pulled him into my arms. He clutched at me like he was afraid I’d disappear again, fingers digging into my back.
“I thought you were gone.” His voice broke. “For weeks now, I thought I was the only one left.”
I swallowed hard. “You were never alone. Not really.” I wanted to tell him about my disguise at the party, that moment in father’s office, but that would have to wait until this was over and we had all the time in the world to share war stories.
“Do you remember,” Luca murmured, “when Father used to sneak us onto the roof at dawn? Said the city was pure in spirit before anyone woke up. I loved watching the sun rise over the Basilica.”
A soft laugh escaped me, thick with tears. “I think that’s why I love the rooftops so much. They make me feel like the city’s not a complete cesspool.”
“He would hate this,” Luca said quietly. “He would be offended by everything Uncle is doing.”
“Yes,” I whispered, pulling back before I couldn’t. “He would.”
We said our goodbyes, Nico going with my brother, so they didn’t leave a trail. When Luca was gone—dematerialized back into the night and the danger waiting for him—the safehouse felt emptier.
I hoped we hadn’t just endangered my brother in the same way Rocco had.
Asked him to lie. To spy. And gods help me…
I felt like a traitor for it.