Epilogue
GAbrIEL
Itouched the tiny shoe in my pocket.
Small enough to fit in my closed fist, the leather stiff with dried blood I’d never quite managed to scrape out of the seams. A reminder of the cruelty our enemies were capable of and the vengeance the innocents were due.
I owed the dead that much, at least.
The Draconi fortress smelled of fresh mortar and male sweat, of oiled steel and healing magic—a far cry from a luxurious castle on a private island or a palazzo standing tall over the glittering golden city.
But as long as these ancient stones kept my family safe, this place was our refuge and tonight, our center of operations.
Five worn chairs ringed a scarred table that had seen its share of pounding fists and coffee stains, the arrangement a mockery of the soaring, gilded council chamber at La Sala.
The council I was born to rule.
Severin sat to my right, brawny arms crossed over his chest, Valeria across from me, her spine straight as a queen’s.
Emilia was, predictably, at Severin’s other side, while Emberline filled the final chair, Nico and my brother positioned behind her like two immovable bookends. Five Pentarchs, one from each family.
I’d made myself a promise.
Giovanni was a dead male.
How I’d make that happen was still unknown, but it was the inevitable outcome of everything—the needless murders, the tortures, the greed, the corruption… all of it culminating in one irrefutable conclusion.
The only way the rest of us survived was for him to die.
Blackwood was gone from Venice, dragged back to Rome by Romulus’ careful maneuvering, now fighting a war against his own council that would keep him occupied for months, if not longer.
Not dead. Not yet.
But I’d stopped believing in easy victories, and much like Giovanni, his day would come. Just not soon enough and not by my hand.
Luca was alive.
That was the word we all carefully chose to use when it came to Emberline’s brother, a hopeful word that left out the darkness behind it—his suffering and his pain, the fact he was now alone in a strange city, trapped inside his own head.
Emilia received intermittent reports from Romulus—over this past week, the corruption had finally stopped spreading after consuming half his body and face.
One eye was now gone. Talons had replaced the fingers of his right hand.
The boy with the golden looks was little more than a monster. Or… half-monster. Emberline had stopped asking for details, so Dante and I asked on her behalf, telling Romulus to do what he could. Keep the kid alive until we found an opportunity to free him.
I looked my allies straight in the face, one by one, meeting their eyes, thinking about my father and all the years he sat at a much grander table with some of these same vampires.
Marcello would see the tiny shoe in my pocket and call me soft for keeping it.
Weak for letting the dead dictate my actions… and especially, my emotions.
But… I had promised myself, standing over Louis and Aurora’s ruined estate, I would bend to the needs of others.
I would protect any vampire who could not protect themselves and be the Don my father was too selfish to be.
I set my hands on the arms of my chair and pushed myself up, every muscle in my body feeling the strain.
“This Dynasty needs to be rebuilt from the foundations up. The only way to do that is to eradicate the rot at the source. Giovanni and Rocco have to die. The vampires who are loyal to them… have to die. I’ve never believed in purges, but this is the only way we will survive. I stand before you all to swear this.”
I reached into my pocket, brushed my finger over the tiny shoe, then pulled out a knife. An old, battered one, my brother instantly straightening at the sight.
“I will spend my blood, my strength, and everything I have to bring this Dynasty back to what it was when it was founded.” I caught Emilia’s eyes, then Severin’s, and finally, Emberline’s, her fingers tightening on the table edge, her bottom lip trembling.
“By blood and by right, I am Don of the D’Immortali Dynasty.” I took my brother’s knife—the one he’d loaned me when I was too young to even have such a thing—and dragged the blade across my palm, then slapped my bleeding palm down onto the table.
“As my council, I swear this oath to each of you. I will not stop until our enemies are dead… or I am. If this victory costs me every piece of myself, then the cost will have been worth it, and if we lose, then I will go to the Underworld knowing I gave everything I had.”
“We accept your pledge, Don Gabriel.” Emilia dipped her head, then Severin and the others followed suit. I swallowed down my fears, my failures, and the fact I didn’t know if this would be enough to save us.
But four hundred miles north, Emberline’s brother would spend another night fighting a war inside his own skull against a foe he would never defeat. In Venice, vampires were being smuggled out under the cover of night, so they didn’t end up as Giovanni’s pawns.
And somewhere in Rome, Cesare Blackwood was already plotting his return.
Then Emberline was in front of me, threading her fingers through my hair, wrapping a cloth around my bleeding hand. Without even trying, I already knew our hearts were beating at the same pace.
“You won’t be doing any of this alone, Gabriel.” She smiled up at me softly. “We’ll be beside you, every minute and every day. No matter where this leads.”
I dipped my head, letting Ember tangle her fingers tighter, drawing her against me until our hearts slowly fell into rhythm.
I would keep my promise and be worthy of this title. I would avenge every vampire Giovanni had carved off the world before I stopped him, and while I didn’t know yet what the cost would be…
However high, I would pay the price.
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