Chapter 15
DANTE
Istood on the terrace overlooking the private beach below the villa, one hand resting on the sun-warmed stone balustrade as I watched Ember and Nico, outlined by a swath of brilliant blue, my wife’s hair glowing in the afternoon sun.
Beneath me, olive trees swayed in the breeze, their silver-green leaves whispering softly.
Every instinct I possessed screamed for me to do something.
Emberline was too close to him, her arms wrapped around his middle while he stared out over the water with that same emptiness in his face that had been there ever since last night.
Two days ago, I would have trusted Nico Draconi with my life.
Hell.
I had trusted him with my life… and with my wife’s.
We’d fought together. Bled together. Nearly died together. While I’d been a disgraced outcast clawing my way back from the dead, Nico stood staunchly beside me, calling me brother.
Now… I wasn’t sure I knew him at all.
My gut tightened at the memory of those… Drax. How my old friend froze up with fear. Nico’s flash of horrified recognition, the second he’d spotted them.
Then there was the list of damning evidence. His silence. The way his shadows were identical to Blackwood’s guards. The same godsdamned dark magic that birthed those soul-sucking monsters.
Yeah, Nico was hiding a secret. A big, fucking dangerous one.
I mean, part of me understood. Spending most of my life hiding my fire demon had acquainted me with how secrets took on a life of their own. But I was also well aware of the consequences of keeping them hidden.
In war, secrets got people killed.
A sudden breeze hit me with the smell of brine and fish, the faintest hint of my wife’s citrusy scent. She was trying to make a point to Nico, hands waving as she leaned closer.
Too close, considering I had no idea who Nico was anymore.
The Drax.
He even had a name for those creepy little fuckers, which meant he had inside knowledge of the things. All of this was leading me to make some pretty fucking big assumptions, and the asshole decided now was the time to keep his mouth shut. Normally, he couldn’t stop flapping his lips.
I gripped the baluster tighter.
No, Nico Draconi was somehow tangled up with Blackwood, and while I would never pry into another male’s business, where my wife was involved… I would rip Nico’s life apart to get to the truth.
A male could only carry so many secrets before they dragged him under.
My gaze drifted back toward Emberline.
The wind caught her dark hair, sending the strands dancing around her shoulders. My chest twisted, as if my heart was wrapped in scar tissue and couldn’t expand properly. Gods, I loved her, enough that I would burn down entire cities to keep her safe.
Enough that I would never ignore my own instincts.
Something was wrong with Nico, more than just Blackwood and his magic and those monsters. Even my demon sensed it. There was something deeper to whatever he was hiding, something that smelled of… death.
I dragged my hand down over my face, convinced I was losing my mind.
But the air around him seemed different today. Heavier. Darker. Like even the sun and the fresh smell of the sea couldn’t dilute the reek of brimstone.
“You’re staring. You should give them some privacy.”
Valeria stood several feet away, and for once, she wasn’t dressed in gold, as though she was about to step onto a ballroom floor. She had on a plain white blouse and black pants, her hair pulled back into a sedate bun. I couldn’t ever remember seeing her look so… natural.
“Am I?”
“Like a jealous husband.” She joined me on the terrace, a smile tugging at her mouth before she sighed. “I owe you an apology. Several of them, actually.”
“You apologizing once is rare enough to qualify as a miracle. I wouldn’t know what to do with several.”
Her laugh carried across the terrace.
“I was awful that night of the ball.” She rolled her eyes.
“Fine. I was humiliatingly crass and intent on winning you back with zero regard to the fact you were married.” She paused.
“And in love.” Her smile grew sad. “Yes, even then, I saw the truth, you big oaf. And that’s when I realized what I was doing was… wrong.”
“I’m sure Rocco didn’t give you a choice. He never did. Your father had a point to make and a crowd to show off for.”
Because that’s what Valeria’s life always came down to.
Her fucking father.
Rocco kept her dependent on his money and leashed to him through small, cruel manipulations she hadn’t seen—or hadn’t wanted to see.
There had always been a goodness to Valeria her father hadn’t managed to strip away, an independence he couldn’t quite crush, and right now, I was seeing that side of her blossom.
“We always have a choice; sometimes they’re just… hard. The truth is, after years of making wrong choices, I’d reached the point where I could barely recognize the difference between wrong and right anymore. But that night, I knew exactly what I wanted.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“I want what you have. What she has. What you all have.”
Right then, there were a lot of things I could have said, but I settled on, “You don’t owe me an apology, Valeria. What happened is in the past, and we both know why you acted that way. Consider yourself forgiven.”
“Moving on then,” she shrugged. “Emberline is good for you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy, and knowing you’re happy… makes me happy. Or at least, it gives me hope that happiness exists in this shit world of ours instead of a made-up thing created by poets and romance writers.”
My chest clenched unexpectedly; hadn’t I once believed the same thing? Hadn’t I been just as jaded and broken and so determined to burn this world to ash, I’d never considered there might be something left here that was good and worth living for?
I’d given up on everything… until Emberline.
“Truth be told, I’m a little afraid of your wife.” Valeria raised a perfect brow. “She’s fierce.”
“That’s one word for it.” My lips curved of their own accord, my chest filling with warmth until I was sure the godsdamned thing might burst.
“Stubborn, then.” Valeria side-eyed me. “Terrifying, most definitely.”
Terrifying.
Yes, Emberline terrified me to the core.
My heart lurched as I remembered how empty life had been before her, how each day was now full of endless possibilities. My wife terrified me more than death itself, and I would not trade a single second of our pretend marriage away.
Nor would I have equated terrifying with love, but here I was.
I laughed. “Gods, don’t tell her that, or she’ll just get more terrifying, and she’s all I can handle, as it is. But thank you,” I added quietly. “Clearing the air between us… helps.”
Her fingers danced along the balustrade, a sure sign of nerves. “I never thanked you.”
“You did, last night, in a grand speech your father ruined by demanding our immediate executions.” What a fucking asshole. If I could relive one thing from the past week, I would have left Rocco rotting in that cell.
“Well, I never would have allowed that. And this is just between you and me. Thank you for rescuing a male you despise, who has done terrible things, and who showed not an ounce of gratitude. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry he’s your father.”
A poor consolation, but words were all I had to offer. This felt good, though, clearing the air between us. I’d always admired Valeria, trapped inside a prison she couldn’t escape, too content with her life to even see the bars around her most of the time.
Well, she saw them now.
Not only did she see them, she’d bent them backward and escaped her cage. I couldn’t wait to see what she did next, now that she was free.
She shrugged. “Well, you got Marcello, I got Rocco, and Emberline got Giovanni, so we all have our handicaps in life. Just makes us play harder. That’s a golf reference, by the way.”
Since I didn’t play stupid games, I didn’t quite understand, but I supposed I got the gist.
“He’s a mean old vulture, but he’s family.
” She blew out a long breath. “If I’m honest, I saved Rocco for my own selfish reasons.
Had I left him to die, guilt would have eaten away at me.
This way he’s free to be a mean, manipulative bastard, but he’s not commanding an entire empire.
The worst he can do is terrify the staff. ”
I slanted her a sideways look. “He’ll be good at that.”
Then another thought struck me. “Have you seen Luca today? Granted, I wasn’t looking for him, but I expected him to make an appearance before nightfall.”
Her smile vanished instantly, her perfect brows coming together in worry.
“No. I can have someone check his room, if you’d like.”
“That won’t be necessary. He’s probably still sleeping off last night. We ran into some… opposition, and he doesn’t have a lot of experience in hand-to-hand fighting. I expect he may be in shock.”
But my stomach tightened. The kid should be up by now.
And the way he kept rubbing his arm, all that dark magic flying around…
I turned, intending to go check on him when a staff messenger in Demente colors emerged from the villa, crossed the terrace, reaching out an envelope sealed with a wax seal the exact color of dried blood.
Without a word, Valeria took the delivery, dismissing the messenger with a nod.
I recognized the red wax and my stomach dropped.
If he’d found us…
Instinct had me turning toward Emberline, fear and readiness crackling in my veins, a plan already forming on how to get my wife off this island in the next twenty seconds.
Valeria broke the seal and began to read, her eyes flying over the paper, mouth forming an ‘o’.
“Blackwood’s inviting me to sit on the council. Said he was… impressed with my rescue mission.”
Bullshit. “Let me see that.”
She handed me the letter, and I scanned the short, to-the-point message quickly. The jagged handwriting was so precise and vicious, I saw his anger etched in every word.
Lady Demente,
Congratulations on your recent success.
I admit, your rescue of Rocco exceeded my expectations. Such daring is rare these days.
Venice requires strong leadership. I would like to formally offer you a position on the new council.
I look forward to working with you.
-Lord Cesare Blackwood
My blood ran cold, the paper crumpling in my fist.
No mention of Giovanni. Maybe the bastard really was dead.
“There is no way this isn’t a trap, Valeria. Blackwood’s trying to draw you out, like he did with us. Go to Venice, and you’ll never set foot on this island again.”
“It’s only a trap if I allow myself to get caught,” Valeria folded her arms. “Think of the upside.”
“There is no fucking upside,” I growled. “Only a downside, dragging you all the way to the grave.”
“You worry too much. The upside is intel. Access. Even if he doesn’t trust me, I’ll be on the council, privy to discussions, gossip, all the whisperings that surround power. Someone will let information slip, parts of plans, names, locations. This is a fucking gift.”
“This is a fucking curse. A death sentence masked as temptation. Blackwood was ready to execute your father; he will not hesitate to execute you in his stead.”
“Or I can sit on the council as a family head. This is politics, Dante. And politics are nothing but a game. Life still goes on. The daily grind of negotiations and tedious business decisions. There is power in predictability. No, Blackwood—or Giovanni—needs things to look normal from the outside. A fully functioning committee is one of those things.”
I paused for a moment to consider.
She might be right. That travesty vote where Gabriel lost was comic theater at best, but why go through the motions when they could have hunted us down in the streets and executed us?
No, they wanted a sitting council, if not a functioning one.
A show of political organization.
If not for us, then for the other two dynasties in Rome and Florence. Chaos caused panic, and panic was bad for business, and Blackwood and Giovanni were both pragmatists. They needed the money to keep flowing their way.
“Life goes on,” I repeated. “But Blackwood is trying to use you.”
“Of course he is.” She grinned, looking more than a little bloodthirsty.
“Which is why I’m going to use him right back.
I’ll accomplish far more in Venice than I can marooned on this island.
No offense.” She motioned to the messenger, sank her fangs into her index finger, and scrawled her initials on the paper.
Elegant, even in blood.
“Make sure this goes through the proper channels.” Valeria folded the paper and shoved it back into the envelope. “I want my response in Lord Blackwood’s hands within the hour.”
The messenger dipped her head and scrambled off the terrace.
Far below us, my gaze returned to the beach. Emberline was stroking Nico’s face, and he was smiling, saying something that had her laughing. The hair on the back of my neck rose.
Secrets had a way of coming back and devouring you whole when you least expected it.
And whatever Nico was hiding had to be the darkest secret of all.