Chapter 76
LUCA
While Alex was busy painting in my mother’s studio, I assembled the Knights so we could complete the final ritual for Aiden Wellington. He’d spent the past nine months working to become a Knight. Despite his protests, we owned his ass now.
Aiden kneeled on the stone floor in front of me, out of breath and covered in blood. Marred and dirty, his skin dripped with sweat and stunk of the sea and dirt. With his head lowered to the ground, he released a groan. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, his limbs hanging limp at his sides.
Defeated and beyond salvation.
Corrupted by the Devil.
We had put him through hell for his Initiation. Each man in this room had endured grueling challenges and taken enormous risks to join the ranks of The Devil’s Knights. After Aiden screwed up his first task with The Serpents, he almost got himself killed. I saved his sorry ass—because of her.
And he would get to see his sister again.
The Devil’s Knights formed a circle around us, their faces obscured by the hoods of their cloaks. Aiden completed his initiation, no matter the cost. He was not the man his sister knew. No one could return from what he had done in the Knighthood’s name.
“From Apprentice to Master,” I said to Aiden.
He looked up at me with tired eyes ringed with dark circles.
“From Squire to Knight,” the rest of the Knights echoed in unison.
With those words, Aiden became one of us.