Chapter 3
EMBERLINE
The paper rattled in Valeria’s shaking hands, and for a second, I felt sorry for her.
Then I remembered her rubbing herself against my husband like a cat in heat, and common sense replaced pity.
Unfair, yes, but she was the one who’d started this game, not me. I’d be a fool to ever trust her—she was a Demente, after all.
For a moment, nobody moved. All of us calculating our shrinking timeline while Valeria stood there looking like her world was collapsing around her.
“This could be a trap.” Dante broke the silence first. “Giovanni’s announcement backs us into a corner time-wise. Could be he’s trying to lure us back to Venice.”
“For that to be true,”—I swallowed the bile rising in my throat—“he’d have to know Valeria was the one who saved us from Blackwood. He’d have to know we were here.”
“Nonsense,” Valeria sniffed with enviable superiority. “I’m not a fucking amateur. I know how to hide my tracks.”
“That settles it.” Gabriel’s curt order cut through my rising panic. “Nico and I will get Rocco out; the rest of you stay here. If things go wrong…” His eyes slid to his brother, then to me. “You get her out.”
I bristled at the idea that I needed saving. “You’re the future Don of the entire Dynasty.” I shot Gabriel a pointed look. “You’re not sacrificing yourself to save Rocco Demente.”
“Are you saying my father’s not worth saving?” Valeria challenged, glaring at me across the table.
My lip curled up, another surge of jealousy rising like a poisoned tide. “Well, you said it, not me. Your father chose his path. I fail to see why we should all die saving him from his own bad choices.”
For a long moment, neither of us looked away, and some vicious part of me was tempted to leap over the table, smudge up that perfect fucking makeup and hair.
“I am not your enemy, you know,” she finally said coldly. “I was never your enemy. I was only trying to survive the only way I knew how.”
“Your idea of surviving and mine are very different, then,” I snapped, before Dante’s hand closed around my arm and eased me back. Only then did I realize how hard I was breathing, my fingernails digging grooves into the top of the mahogany table.
Like I wanted to dig them into her face.
The stare Dante leveled at Valeria thawed some of the ice around my heart.
“You might not be her enemy, Valeria, but your father sold Emberline out to Giovanni and Brunor—your own brother—nearly tortured her to death. We’ll keep to your terms, but none of us have to like them. Not when you’ve backed us into a corner.”
His tone turned darker. “And you know what happens when you back vampires into a corner.”
He defended me so quickly, some of the tension in my chest loosened.
“Your father is a monster, but…” Dante’s fingers tenderly caressed my arm before his hand dropped away. “He’s still your father, and Gabriel gave you his word. Nico and I will bring Rocco back. Alive, as requested.”
“I love how cavalierly you always volunteer me for these shit missions, asshole.” Nico grumbled beneath his breath, “Next time, I’d better get a vote.”
“And my wife is right.” I might be petty, but Dante calling me his wife—to Valeria—was a big old checkmark in my win box.
Hah. Take that, with your perfect hair and nails.
“Our timeline has just moved up, and my brother is the future Don. Which means Nico and I will be going on this rescue mission, whether Rocco deserves it or not. But don’t make us regret this, Valeria,” my husband warned in a low tone.
“You might have us boxed in now, but after what your father did to Emberline, I’m inclined to kill him myself, instead of letting the executioner have his day. It’s no more than what he deserves.”
“I know.” Her shoulders sagged. “I know he’s done terrible things, but I just… I can’t sit by and do nothing.”
“You and Nico aren’t enough to handle all potential threats,” I argued. “You need someone to watch your back. We’re doing this together.” I pointed down to the drawings and plans. “Especially if there are as many Ashbound there as there were the last time, and…”
“Wait. What are Ashbound?” Valeria’s eyes went wide.
“Resurrected vampires who died by burning,” Luca cheerfully answered before any of us could stop him. “Their skin is smooth like porcelain and broken with cracks that leak out fire. They’re practically unkillable, except for Dante, who can...”
“That’s enough,” I cut my brother off. “Think of them as an extra layer of supernatural protection, in addition to my uncle’s hired mercenaries and Blackwood’s guards. Which is why it will take all of us to get Rocco out, especially if something goes wrong.”
“When something goes wrong, don’t you mean?” Nico muttered darkly.
“Fine. Why don’t we all walk into a trap, then?” Gabriel muttered, throwing up his hands. “I’m just the future Don. Who am I to be the voice of reason?” He shot his brother a sour look. “Here you go. This is your chance to talk her out of this; let’s see if you have better luck.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gods, the two of you are impossible. Save your breath. We’re all going, as long as Luca stays out of the fighting.”
“Well, that’s bullshit. Your husband was supposed to put in a good word for me.” My brother elbowed Dante in the side, who all of a sudden wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Go on. Tell her how well I did against the Ashbound last time. You said you would.”
“You fought those things before? When the fuck was this?” I looked between them until my husband’s sheepish expression gave him away. “Where did this happen?”
Luca puffed out his chest, looking over at Valeria. “On our island, in front of the mausoleum, when we were retrieving the…”
My gods, he was a loose cannon, and with the interested way Valeria was looking at Luca…
“No need to rehash the past,” Gabriel interrupted, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing we needed was Valeria knowing we possessed the real Basin. Gods knew she’d leverage that nugget of information against us.
“The execution order forces us to move before we’re ready,” Gabriel mused, tapping a finger on the table. “If this is some kind of trap… perhaps we shouldn’t take the bait.”
Valeria crossed her arms over her chest. “Going back on your oath so soon, Gabriel?”
“No, but if he captures us all, where does that leave you exactly? I’m not in the habit of breaking my oaths, but I’m not endangering the people I love any more than necessary. We need time to execute properly. We need a plan.”
“We do have a plan.” I pointed out.
“We have a shit plan. Missions like this take weeks to strategize. We don’t even know what we’re walking into, how many adversaries we’ll be facing, or if your father is even alive. Given Giovanni’s history...”
“This could very well be a trap,” I conceded. “My uncle’s always a step ahead, as we’ve learned.”
I didn’t even want to go down that road, because if my uncle was using Rocco as bait—even a dead Rocco—that meant he knew Valeria saved us. Which meant it was only a matter of time before he found this island, and we were back on the run.
“Then we go tonight,” I said. “We go now. The sooner we strike, the less prepared he’ll be.”
Dante made a sound of disagreement.
“This is almost certainly a trap; we aren’t prepared, our plan is sketchy at best, and Giovanni could be expecting us.
” I held my husband’s gaze. “But we have you,” I said pointedly.
“And better we rescue Rocco under cover of darkness than tomorrow morning in front of the entire Dynasty where innocent people will get hurt.” I paused.
“I say we go in tonight.”
“Me too, as long as I get to fight.” Luca was way too eager for someone about to charge straight into a building full of Ashbound, but I admired his enthusiasm.
“Don’t worry, Em, your husband and I make a good team. You’ll see.” Luca leaned against the window frame, arms crossed, looking at my husband with something close to hero worship. Gods help me.
You and I are going to have a good, long talk, Luca, about charging headfirst into danger.
I can read anyone we encounter. Guards, soldiers, even any of Blackwood’s guards.
I’ll know if they’re expecting us. And if they are, I’ll warn you, and we'll turn around and get the fuck out of there. I’m not dying for fucking Rocco Demente, not after what he did to you. I don’t care what oath Gabriel swore.
Fine. He had a point. I blew out a breath, nervousness sweeping in behind. “So, we go in knowing it’s a trap, which keeps us on our toes. And between Gabriel and Dante, we have better knowledge of the layout than my uncle or Blackwood. That’s our advantage.”
“Of course I’m in,” Gabriel said.
“I’m in, too,” Dante huffed air out of his nose like a bull. “But I want it on the record that I find our objective morally offensive. And I still think the costumes are a stupid idea.”
“I volunteer,”—Nico jumped to his feet, raising his hand—“since one of you assholes will just shanghai me, anyway.”
“So, that’s everyone, then.” I looked at Gabriel, who, in turn, was assessing my brother with a critical eye.
Like me, he wanted to tell Luca no.
We both knew all the ways tonight could—and would—go wrong. Luca’s presence could make the situation worse, but he was right about one thing.
His magical abilities were invaluable. Most vampires had some innate ability to sense other people’s thoughts.
Luca’s magic was rarer. He read everything.
Not just their current thoughts, but memories, too.
But I didn’t want to discuss my brother’s magic in front of Valeria.
The less she knew when it came to Luca, the better.
“Luca’s coming,” I decided. “Like he said, he can handle himself in a fight.” Then I gave him a stern, sisterly glare and dropped my voice. “Stay close. Do what you’re told. If I tell you to run, you run, and you don’t argue. Got it?”
Luca grinned. “Understood.”
“My staff is preparing clothing for you to change into.” Valeria was back to her composed self.
“I have an extensive weapons room where you can arm yourselves. My men will meet you at the rendezvous point with the boat, and once you have my father, we will make sure you get out of the city, no matter the cost.”
Gabriel glanced up at the ceiling, like he was sending up a prayer, then said, “We leave in an hour.”
Valeria intercepted me in the corridor as I walked toward the bedroom we’d been given last night, intending to gather myself in the few moments of quiet before everything went to shit.
Apparently, I was to be cheated even of that.
“Emberline. A word?”
Oh, I had lots of words for this manipulative bitch, but I pinched my lips together instead and nodded.
She looked too shiny, her metallic gold dress unwrinkled, not a hair out of place, her makeup as perfect as it had been this morning.
On the other hand, I was in a days-old shirt, and my hair was a bird’s nest of epic proportions.
The differences between us couldn’t have been starker, and like always, I shrank beneath her golden perfection like a flower melting in the sun.
“I wanted to say thank you,” she said simply.
“It’s a bit soon for gratitude, given we haven’t done anything yet.” I wondered what she was up to. What angle she was working.
“No. Not yet, but I have confidence you will.” She dipped her head. “And for that, I am grateful. So even if tonight’s efforts don’t work… I wanted to say thank you. While I had the chance.”
“We’ll get Rocco out,” I said stiffly, glancing over her shoulder toward the bedroom.
I needed to throw water on my face. Needed to convince myself that walking into a building full of monsters to save a vampire I despised was the right decision when it felt like a mistake.
Despising her for backing us into a corner and not giving us a choice.
Seriously, she was the worst ex-girlfriend ever.
“I meant what I said before. That night at the ball, I never intended to…” Valeria glanced away, her expression shifting to regret.
“Rocco was desperate to bring Dante back into the fold. I went along with his scheme because I wanted to please my father, and…” She squared her shoulders.
“I didn’t think your marriage was real. I didn’t think my actions mattered.
But I hurt you, and for that, I am sorry. ”
I studied her face, using every bit of my training. Nothing in her expression indicated she was lying. Which meant she was either telling the truth, or she was the world’s best actress. Since she was Rocco’s daughter, I settled on the latter.
“Yeah, well, everything about our marriage is real,” I drawled, well aware I was baiting her and not giving a shit. “I am curious about something though.” I tipped my head, cursing myself for having to ask. “Were you two really about to be mated?”
“Mated?” Her eyes widened, then she sighed dramatically.
“Gods, no. Dante and I were… we were complicated. An alliance that made sense politically. For my father, Dante was always a means to an end. For me, he was… better than I deserved, I suppose. Too noble and too honorable to ever believe we’d be together for long.
” She picked at her dress, a rare sign of nerves.
“Dante treated me well. He was never unkind, even when he knew I was only trying to make my father happy. And he never made me feel less for it.”
A burst of warmth filled my chest because I could see my husband doing exactly that.
And… okay, fine.
All of us had shit people in our lives.
Manipulative, ruthless, cruel.
For just a moment, I tried to imagine what it must have been like under Rocco’s thumb, struck again by that sharp stab of pity, especially after meeting her asshole brother, who’d tried to torture me to death. No, the Dementes didn’t have a single redeeming quality.
“So, that’s what you meant when you said you were just trying to survive.”
“Surviving is all I’ve ever done,” she said quietly.
“For once, I’d like to see what it’s like to live.
When you find my father, tell him I said stella marina.
Starfish. It’s our secret codeword for safe.
That way he’ll know I sent you.” She stepped back with a dip of her head, the conversation complete.
I continued toward the bedroom, and didn’t look back because I knew what I’d see.
Her face full of hope that her father was still alive. The hope she could make some fresh attempt at a relationship or a reckoning or whatever the fuck it was we hoped for when we got a second chance.
And now that Enzo was gone, and that chance no longer existed for me, I couldn’t say I didn’t envy her, just a little.