Chapter 18
EMBERLINE
Six of us occupied the main sitting room overlooking the sea, doors wide open to the terrace.
Moonlight and salt air spilled through the tall windows, turning the marble floors silver and the atmosphere haunted.
Beyond the glass, the Adriatic stretched out into darkness, turquoise blue swallowed by a starless night.
Normally I loved this room. The view. The simplicity.
Today, everyone looked exhausted.
Not surprising when every conversation found its way back to Blackwood and his monsters and the impossible odds we faced.
Odds that kept building, no matter what we did.
I was haunted by everything—my brother’s absence, Nico’s secrets, my mother’s final, unsettling words I’d been picking apart, arranging into increasingly disturbing meanings.
Wondering if they held any meaning at all.
I lingered beside Nico near the unused fireplace, still half-lost in last night’s dream, fingers wrapped around a mug of tea that had long since gone cold.
“Emilia is our strongest ally. They’ll be expecting a rescue attempt,” I explained again, sounding like a broken record. “Our way is cleaner. And does not risk lives.” I looked sternly around the room, and Nico winked, his smirk edged with an extra dose of male smugness.
I blushed, heat climbing up my neck.
I still couldn’t believe what we’d done.
Couldn’t believe I wanted to do it all over again.
Across from me, Dante’s huge form overflowed one of the armchairs, an ankle resting on his knee in a casual stance. His expression remained carefully neutral, but his attention was fixed on me with predatory focus.
My husband stopped short of telling me what to do—smart male—but every line of his body was rigid with tension, his fingers tapping methodically on the arm of the chair, twin flames flickering in his eyes.
Gabriel was no better, leaning against the wall to my right, arms crossed, mouth pinched against the arguments he’d made over and over, and I’d dismissed just as many times.
I was determined to have my way on this, no matter how long I had to argue.
The dreamworld was—comparatively—safer than this one. And the chances anyone would even know we were there were nil. There was no downside to this. None.
“The first thing we should do is…”
Words failed me as Luca appeared in the doorway, butchered hair mussed, dark circles under his eyes, his skin paler than I’d ever seen it. The room—everything faded away. All I saw was my brother—shuffling toward me like a hundred-year-old male.
“Luca.” I crossed the distance between us before I even realized I’d moved, but Valeria got to him first, looping her arm around his waist, peering up into his eyes.
“Come on,” she murmured. “Sit down before you fall down.”
She settled him onto the couch, and I noted his long-sleeved shirt hid the exact place where that spot of blood had been. Secrets. More godsdamned secrets. We were drowning in them.
“I’m fine.” He dragged his fingers over his scalp, then frowned, remembering half his hair was gone, thanks to Nico. “I’m just…” He waved a hand in the air. “Don’t let me interrupt you. Carry on, sister.”
“We were discussing how to wake up Emilia. So, you came at the right time.” I worked to keep my tone even, pouring Luca some water, trading a long, worried look with Dante as I handed my brother the glass.
A healer. My brother needed a healer, and Valeria had the very best in the Dynasty. Skilled and patient, they could fix any ailments, mend any wounds.
“The dreamworld bypasses most physical limitations of the mortal world,” Nico murmured, distracted by my brother, brow pinched together in concentration.
“Once we can locate Emilia, I’m confident I can undo the spell locking her into stasis.
The wards protecting the temple are formidable, as we all know.
But the dream realm is different. We’ll slip inside her dreams without anyone noticing.
Even if Blackwood was the one to seal her mind… I can unravel his spell.”
My brother lifted the glass to his lips and drank, throat bobbing.
Gabriel frowned. “And if something goes wrong?”
“You wake us up,” Nico said absently, watching Luca with an unsettling stillness, as if he was seeing something the rest of us weren’t.
“You’ll monitor our heart rates and pulses and adrenaline, and if either of us is in distress, you wake us up and pull us out.” Nico shrugged. “There’s virtually no risk, other than the fact it will be difficult to locate Emilia. Once we find her, unraveling the spell shouldn’t take long.”
“This way, we’re not risking lives,” I took the empty glass from my brother. “We don’t set off any alarms, or engage the priests, or tip off my uncle or Blackwood. With luck, they’ll think she broke through the spell herself, which will only cement her fearsome reputation.”
“Fuck knows she’ll enjoy that,” Nico grumbled.
I set the glass down on the table, turned. Froze.
His eyes unfocused, Luca was rubbing his arm. Up and down.
And I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Nico’s shadows poured across the floor in an inky spill of black.
My vision blurred, chest aching. Luca wasn’t fine. Whatever was wrong with my brother was getting worse, and as soon as we were done here, I was marching him to the infirmary myself.
Dante leaned forward. “It seems you’re leaving out one very important detail, tesoro. Other realms can be far more dangerous than this one.”
“This is the most logical way to wake Emilia up,” I said stubbornly.
“Risking everyone’s lives to accomplish the same thing doesn’t make sense.
There is virtually no way to get onto that island without a fight, and even if we did reach the temple, they’ll have guards around Emilia, which means engaging them and endangering her. ”
“Dream walking isn’t harmless, Emberline.” My husband’s searching gaze locked onto mine, and a shiver went down my spine at that accusing glare. “Have you done this before?”
Shit. If I told him the truth, would that increase my chances or doom them?
When I didn’t immediately answer, he rubbed his temples. “Let me rephrase that. How many times have you done this?”
“A… uhm… few.”
That slow, long inhale was Dante, gathering himself together before he exploded, and I could hardly blame him. We’d promised not to keep secrets, and while I’d never meant to hide my forays into the Underworld from him, neither had I considered… dreams counted.
But the worry in his eyes told me differently.
Dreams mattered very much when it came to my husband.
“I’ve… there’s a place where I always seem to end up. I don’t choose to go there,” I admitted softly. “But my parents are there. I… ask them questions, and I get answers.”
Dante blew out an even longer breath. “So, you’ve seen the darkness beyond the tattered veil.”
“I have.” I tipped my head, suddenly curious. “How do you know about the veil?”
“I’ve been there more times than I can count, wife. But I’ve never taken that final step,” he said quietly.
My curiosity was replaced with something closer to fear as I realized he was talking about the Fossa. About the decades he’d suffered there.
“Dante, I…”
“Once you’re inside a dream, none of us can reach you,” he said, jaw working.
“Nico will be with me the whole time, and we won’t get separated.”
Instead of placating Dante and Gabriel, the information only seemed to agitate them. Even Luca shifted position, gnawing on his thumb, a habit I’d never seen him do before.
“We need Emilia to destroy the Basin,” I announced to the room. “None of us can stand against Blackwood and his guards’ creations. Add Giovanni to the equation and every scenario I’ve come up with leaves us… not in a good place. With Emilia, we’re back on equal footing. We have a chance.”
“I’m not disagreeing with your theory. I’m questioning your methods,” Dante said patiently. “There are other ways to wake her up. Ways that don’t risk your life.”
“But they would risk yours,” I countered, just as patiently. “We can argue about this all day,” I continued, “but in the end, we need Emilia. If Nico and I don’t succeed, then we’ll do it your way. Would that be acceptable?”
For a long second we locked eyes, both of us willing to bend… but only so far.
“I expect that’s the best offer we’ll get,” Gabriel interrupted. “But if we sense anything wrong, and I mean anything, we’re pulling you out. Dante has confirmed the Basin is still secure.”
All I knew was the artifact rested somewhere at the bottom of the Venice Lagoon, buried in centuries of muck and darkness. There were no maps, no GPS coordinates. The information was locked away in only one place—my husband’s and brother’s heads.
Again, that niggle of worry nudged at my consciousness.
“For what it’s worth, I’m going on record to say I hate this plan,” Gabriel interrupted. “I agree with Dante. If something happens, we won’t be there to protect you.”
“I don’t need protecting, and your opposition is duly noted.” I pretended to write it down, crumple it up, and toss it into the trash can.
And even Gabriel’s mouth quirked at that.
An hour later, I lay on a bed of lumpy, mismatched pillows in the center of the room, staring up at the ceiling, feeling like a complete fool.
“I’ll never be able to fall asleep with everyone watching,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth to Nico, shoulder pressed against mine, totally relaxed. “This was a stupid idea.”
“Again, I’d like to point out I am merely going along with another of your mad schemes,” he teased. “As per usual, princess.”
“Well, you don’t have to rub it in,” I grumbled.
“I would never.” The cushions vibrated as he chuckled. “Of course, if we’re successful, I’ll let you take all the credit, so keep that in mind.”
“Yeah, well,”—I elbowed him in the side—“that will definitely make this all worthwhile.”
Candles burned on the mantle, their flames flickering across stuccoed walls as I debated my terrible habit of coming up with stupid schemes and Nico’s going along with them. Definitely something to revisit in the morning.
Dante, Gabriel, Luca, and Valeria surrounded us, and having them there should have reassured me. Instead, I was even more nervous.
Luca leaned forward, his expression shadowed. “You know,” he said tightly, “I envy you.”
“Why is that?”
“I’d kill for a decent night’s sleep.” Then he went back to chewing his thumb.
What did that even mean? He’d done nothing but sleep since we’d gotten back. I reached out, testing the twin bond and… hit a wall.
My stomach dropped. Like he’d blocked me, or the bond was simply… gone. But that wasn’t possible. We’d communicated this way since before we’d learned to talk, and there had never been a time when Luca cut me off. Never been a reason for him to.
Luca? Stop messing around and answer me. Nothing.
And while not sleeping would explain why he looked so exhausted, there was more to this. Call it sisterly intuition, but my brother was in trouble, and I didn’t know how to help him.
I struggled into a sitting position, debating calling this off.
“Wait,” I murmured. “Just…give me a minute here.”
“We have a narrow window of time,” Nico urged quietly, mirroring my pose. “No telling how long it will take us to find Emilia, and we have to be in and out as quickly as we can.”
No, he’d explained—quickly and not in great detail—the dangers of us being in there too long, and I, for one, didn’t plan to spend the rest of my days in a coma, trying to navigate my way out of my own mind.
“Luca needs…” Me, I was going to say. He needs me, but… I glanced up at Valeria. “Your healers. Can they take a look at him? Make sure he’s… feeling okay?”
“Of course. Gia is the very best.” She tugged my brother to his feet and linked their arms together. “Come with me, and we’ll get you all sorted out.” I watched them go, guilt and unease tangled together until I couldn’t tell them apart.
Gods, it should be me watching out for him. Me, keeping my promises, but I couldn’t be in two places at once, and nobody but Nico and me could wake up Emilia.
And even that was a long shot.
“Luca will be fine,” Nico reassured me softly, pressing me back down, covering my hand with his. “But I agree, having him looked over is a good call.”
I stared up at Dante and Gabriel, staring back down at us.
“I’ll never be able to fall asleep,” I complained. “It’s like when you have a test in the morning and know you should get your sleep, and your brain won’t turn off and just keeps…”
Nico’s warm palm covered my forehead, and darkness swept in right behind.