Chapter 25
EMBERLINE
Outside our little circle of whatever the fuck this was, time started moving again.
Soldiers shook their heads, bedraggled vampires picked themselves up off the floor.
Veins throbbed at Marcello’s silvered temples. “What have you done?” he screamed, sending an impotent blast of dark power slamming against the shield. “This is my island, my castle. Mine. You are no longer a Dominico; you have no power here.”
“Your guests would beg to differ,” Dante said simply. “And as your eldest son, this land, this island, and the title are rightfully mine, Padre.” His gaze drifted to his brother, and his expression shifted into regret before that contemptuous mask locked back in place.
“Break through,” Marcello barked at Gabriel. “Now.”
Gabriel’s jaw clenched. He closed his eyes, a haze of magic gathering around him like a penumbral aura. All around us, the dome vibrated, like it was being rocked by an invisible onslaught, but… the barrier held.
Sweat beaded on Gabriel’s brow. “The magic is keyed,” he hissed. “Not to our blood, but to… his.”
Nico slammed both palms against the invisible wall, right where the aisle met our little circle. His expression was a mix of fury and something like heartbreak. “Dante,” he snapped. “Drop the shield. Now.”
“I cannot do that, migliore amico,” Dante apologized, and this time, his remorse was plain. “What I have begun cannot be stopped. Which brings us to the actual reason I’m here.” His gaze swung back to me, those blue eyes burning with enough heated interest, I took a healthy step back.
“You must be the bride,” he dipped his shaggy head in some semblance of a bow. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dante Dominico, eldest son of Don Marcello, and I am your betrothed. Me. Not my brother.”
The entire room went silent.
Even the storm outside seemed to pause as my heart thumped erratically against my ribs. Aside from the Dominico soldiers and Gabriel, Nico, and Don Marcello on the other side of the barrier, the room was almost empty now.
A wide-eyed Luca was trapped in a back corner with Giovanni, blockaded by a retinue of armed guards, as if they—not this looming, unhinged lunatic—were the enemy. My brother’s gaze frantically sought mine, but Dante’s magic had severed our mental connection.
My uncle looked serene, like he was at the opera.
“That old vow is null and void,” Marcello hissed. “Your claim on that girl was broken the day you were cast out.”
What claim?
What the fuck were they talking about?
“That’s not how blood vows work,” Dante explained patiently.
“You and Enzo swore in front of the Blood Council that when the time came, your eldest son would wed the eldest DiRavello daughter, sealing our Houses together. Your words, not mine. I did not forge this unholy deal, Father; you did. But you used my blood. You traded away my life for more power.”
My mouth went dry.
“When?” I whispered. “When did this happen?” This had to be a lie. My father would never sell me off, never give me away to someone like… this monster.
“A hundred years ago,” Dante murmured, no warmth in his rasping voice. “Long before you were ever born, a promise for the future, when the future was nothing but a dream, tesoro. But tonight, that future has arrived, I’m afraid.”
A stricken Gabriel swore under his breath. “Tell me you didn’t,” he hissed to Marcello.
“That agreement happened long ago,” Marcello snapped. “We needed the alliance for new shipping routes and Enzo’s financing. The girl hadn’t even been born. And I did not expect my heir to turn his back on honor and duty.”
“Turn my back on honor and duty?” Dante repeated, his Adam’s apple bobbing beneath his wet skin. There was a crackling intensity to him now, dangerous and reckless, and I realized… this was really happening.
I was trapped in a magic circle with a madman.
“Oh, you mean when you threw me into the pits because I wouldn’t slaughter civilians on your command?” Dante’s voice cracked sharp as a whip. “Yes, how very disloyal of me not to kill innocent males and their families. Their fucking children.”
Another ripple of whispers, this time from the guards.
Dante ignored them. His sharpened gaze pinned his father down like knives. “You don’t get to rewrite the past because it is an inconvenient truth now. The original vow, sworn in my godsdamned blood, still stands. And the vow says she’s mine.”
His gaze fell on me like a sword, and I clenched my hands. “You stop this right the fuck now. I’m not some…”
“You can’t claim her like property,” Gabriel’s snarl cut me off.
“Funny.” Dante’s mouth flattened out. “When that’s exactly what you were about to do when I walked in. Brother.”
Gabriel rammed his shoulder into the barrier, the collision sending a shockwave through the room and knocking me back a step.
A cut opened up on his forehead, blood trickling down the side of his face.
He pulled back and rammed the wall again, dust falling from the ceiling overhead, and this time, blood bloomed through his white shirt in big, blousy spots.
“Stop this,” I shouted, my voice ringing off the walls. “This is…” I stumbled over my words, caught between a storm of emotions I didn’t fully understand. “Just… stop before you get hurt,” I implored, looking straight at Gabriel. The son I was supposed to seduce, betray, and kill.
But now… my feelings for Gabriel were conflicted.
Maybe I even liked him. A little.
Dante, on the other hand…
I could stick a knife in his black heart and not lose a moment of sleep. If betrayal was my only avenue, I might as well pick the brother I despised and keep my personal regrets to a minimum.
“What do you want from me?” This time, my voice came out steadier, which was impressive, considering my entire world was crumbling to dust. “Why are you doing this now?” I demanded, storming toward him.
“Unless you have another wedding planned tonight, I think this is my best opportunity, don’t you, tesoro?” His grin creased his face, rainwater still dripping down his carved cheeks, those wild eyes glowing like a churned-up sea.
Up close, his damage was even more obvious—a faint scar across his right cheekbone, a jagged white line at the base of his throat that disappeared under his shirt, perhaps the cause of his rasping voice—the callouses on his fingers.
“As for what I want from you…” His gaze trailed slowly down my body, taking in the way my breasts pushed up over the top of the ridiculously tight bodice, how goosebumps stood up over every inch of exposed skin.
Looks were a weapon I was used to wielding, yet somehow, his assessing gaze didn’t feel lecherous. No, he looked at me like he might evaluate a worthy opponent, sussing out my weaknesses.
Suss all you want, stronzo. I’m more than your match.
“I want the blood vow honored so I can be free of the burden,” he explained. Which made sense. Blood vows were binding to death, and an unfulfilled one wore on you. Like a disease eating away your health, an unmet oath devoured your very soul.
“What else?” I met that blue-eyed stare with one that was equally determined. “Because I’m sure there’s something.” There always fucking is with vampires.
“Maybe it’s not what I want, but what I can offer you, tesoro.
” He drifted a step closer, the circle of magic tightening around us, the priest whimpering beneath his breath.
“What if I told you I’ll deliver your father’s killer to you, tied up with a pretty bow?
Would that sweeten the deal enough for you to say yes? ”
My heart raced at his offer, just like the asshole knew it would.
Outside the circle, Gabriel and Nico were arguing, Marcello still shouting, his face an unhealthy shade of red. I couldn’t hear them, but sooner or later, reinforcements would arrive, and while Dante was unbelievably powerful… he must have his limits.
“Think about this,” he showed me the flat of his palm, marked by a series of thin, pale scars. “I am the male your father promised you to, like it or not. We both want the same thing. Revenge.”
My heart stuttered. “My father would never give me away.”
“And yet, he did.” Dante smiled, a bitter humor curling his mouth.
“Because that’s what powerful males do. They sacrifice us on the altars of their power and call it duty.
Now you must decide.” He lifted his head as something slammed against the wards.
“Play my brother’s meek, loyal wife and search for ways to undermine my family from within.
Or join me and have your vengeance. Your choice. ”
How did he know about my plan? How did I end up in this mess?
“This is madness,” I muttered, watching Gabriel pace around the circle, blood coating the side of his face, Nico staring daggers at me, arms crossed over his chest, like this was somehow my doing. “There is no way I’m marrying you. At least Gabriel is…” I stopped right there, head spinning.
What if the gods had thrown me a bone—not likely, but possible—and all I had to do was agree?
Agree and get everything I wanted?
The name of my father’s assassin. A chance to even the score.
“Civilized?” Dante nodded as he finished my sentence for me.
“Yes, my brother is everything a princess like you would ever want in a husband, but he can’t give you what you really need, can he?
I’ll make you a promise. I’ll bring Enzo’s killer to you and let you end him.
Won’t that feel good, taking the life of the person who killed your father? ”
Yes, that would feel good.
But all these promises felt dipped in honey, too sweet to be real.
“I’m not marrying you. Ever.”
“Well, too fucking bad because I’m breaking the blood vow tonight.” Dante lifted his hand, and the magic in the air tightened, candles shivering back to life.