Chapter 8
EMBERLINE
The door opened into a windowless corridor of plain, unadorned stone walls and utilitarian overhead lights from decades ago, one of the secondary sections of the palazzo I’d never been in before.
“We have to get the fuck out of here. I don’t know what we just saw, but I never want to see one of those things ever again.” I closed the door behind us, sliding the bolt firmly home before I faced the empty hall, relief turning my legs to jelly.
Blood roared in my ears, adrenaline coursing through my veins so fast, I was dizzy from the rush. I doubled over, taking deep breaths, letting my vision clear, telling my knees to stop knocking together.
Blood still dripped from my fingers, the pain turning duller, my entire arm feeling like it was made of lead. The gashes should have been healing… but they weren’t.
“We’ll dematerialize out,” I decided, even though I didn’t know exactly where we were and dematerializing from one unknown point to another was risky. “Just… make sure you don’t reform in the middle of a wall. Then we’ll hopscotch across the city and lose them in the calles.”
“Lead the way. I’ll follow you,” my brother whispered, and I nodded.
Closing my eyes, I forced my breathing to even out, gathered my magic and… nothing.
I cracked open one eye.
Still in the unremarkable corridor.
“Any time, Ember.” Luca’s voice turned thready as he holstered his gun, flexing his shaking hands like they weren’t working right.
“Can’t you see I’m trying?” I pushed harder, but the magic I used to materialize had vanished, not a drop left in my veins. “Could be a security measure. Which means we have to find a different way out. Left or right?” I asked, flexing my hands to get rid of the tremor running through them.
“Like I have any idea?” But then he paused, listening intently. “Actually… I’m picking up some disturbances in that direction, so let’s go right and hope we find a door. Or a window. I don’t even care if we have to fucking jump as long as we get out of here.”
We hugged the walls, feet flying over the bare floors, every step echoing, my brother’s obnoxiously heavy necklaces making an inordinate amount of noise.
“Can you take those dreadful things off and put them in your pocket?”
“They were your idea,” Luca grumbled. “I told you I looked like a gigolo.”
“Gigolo or not, you’re making too much noise.”
“Me?” He glared at me over his shoulder. “I’m not the one talking. Or bleeding all over everything. If we run into more Ashbound or those guards fling another one of those sticky black spider-things at us, I am fucking leaving you behind.”
“Not if I leave you behind first,” I grumbled. Idiot.
I heard that.
When we reached the first intersection, I had no idea which way to go.
Both nondescript corridors looked exactly the same, lit by identical electric lighting, the stone the same shade of pale brown.
There were no paintings or gilt mirrors to use as landmarks, everything blending together in a maze of corporate blandness.
“Now what?”
Luca frowned as he peered straight ahead, brow furrowed in concentration. “I’m getting something, but it’s not exactly… I don’t know what I’m sensing, but we definitely don’t want to go that way.”
“How would you even know?” I muttered crossly. “Everything looks the same, and if we don’t get out of here soon, they’re going to…”
One minute the torches were flickering, casting long shadows up the walls. The next, a ribbon of living shadow peeled free from the stone, then unfolded into eight impossibly jointed legs, each ending in needle-sharp points that scraped across the floor with a metallic hiss.
“Luca,” I breathed.
“I see it.”
Another one sprouted from the ceiling, like they’d been birthed from the pocket of darkness there. These things were evil given shape, stitched together with writhing malice and hideously clicking pincers.
“Run.” I grabbed Luca’s wrist, but he yanked me the opposite direction just as four black-uniformed guards rounded the corner I’d been heading toward.
“Wrong way,” he dragged me back the way we came, then we were running full bore, the clatter of sharpened claws and heavy boots behind us, loud enough to echo off the walls.
“They were waiting for us.” He managed to give me the side-eye. “Those… things. They were waiting for us. Do you think this is a trap?”
I was panting, holding my aching side as we flew past the door leading back to the dock.
Yeah, not going back that way.
“You heard them?” I gasped. “You could hear those things’… thoughts? Do they have thoughts?”
Not thoughts exactly. More like… intentions. Kind of like… a chittering noise.
He shoved my shoulder. Go left… here.
We made the turn without losing our footing, which was the only reason those creatures weren’t already on top of us. Those needle-like claws didn’t provide good traction on the glassy marble, thank the gods.
We flew past tapestries. Then ornate vases perched on pedestals. We’d hit the public section, paintings blurring past I recognized.
Wait. There’s something up ahead, Em. His panic brushed against my mind.
Three guards above us with crossbows on the balcony. Stay to the right, close to the wall so they don’t have a clean shot. Don’t look up.
I obeyed, wincing when a bolt slammed into the marble a few inches to my left. My heartbeat stumbled, then picked up. Luca wasn’t guessing. He was reading their minds, anticipating their actions clearly enough, we just might get out of here alive.
We ran until we reached the main section of La Sala, ducking through an archway lined with ancient portraits when someone behind us shouted, “Drive them toward the council chamber.”
Fuck. I knew I recognized this hallway.
Keep going, I urged. There are a dozen exits on this floor, and all of them lead outside. Once we’re free of the building, we dematerialize to the safehouse and regroup. If we get separated, do you remember how to get there?
I think so.
The beat of bootsteps behind us grew louder. Above us, the shouting turned to orders. Gunshots rang out, bullets ricocheting off stone.
They’re herding us like cattle. Luca’s face had gone pale. They’re trapping us, Ember.
Up ahead. There’s a hallway leading to a garden. We can scale the wall. We hadn’t taken ten steps when another of those horrible spiders skittered out of the shadows, intercepting us.
Go right. Go right, Luca. There’s one more entrance that we can…
We turned to find so many black-uniformed guards blocking our way, I couldn’t count them all. The other end was full of those spiders, more skittering down the hallway towards us. We were trapped between two nightmares, though I’d take the guards over the spiders any day.
We only had one option.
The council chamber was to our left. I recognized those burgundy velvet swags—Dominico colors. Wondering dimly why my uncle hadn’t torn them down, I grabbed Luca’s hand.
Listen. We have to go inside. There’s one last way out. A secret exit, to the right of the council table, behind Severin’s chair. No matter what happens in there, if you have the chance to escape, take it.
He started shaking his head, and I yanked him back to me. Hard.
Someone has to warn the others. It’s me Giovanni wants, not you. I’ll keep him distracted long enough for you to get out. Tell them what’s happening here. Tell them about the… spiders.
Fine. But I don’t have to like it.
I blew out a breath and pushed open the bronze door.
The council chamber stretched higher than a cathedral.
A soaring space to make you feel small.
Five familiar gold chairs ringed a polished table, each of them emblazoned with a family crest—wolf and serpent, swan and dragon, and then there was Rocco’s—the raven, keeper of secrets. I had to admit, right about now I wished we’d never agreed to rescue the lying fucker.
Because in the Don’s chair—the one that rightfully belonged to Gabriel—sat Lord Blackwood.