Chapter 23
EMBERLINE
My spine pressed flat against broken stone, every dust-filled breath scraped down my throat like sandpaper.
All around us, chunks of rock—some as big as buildings—crashed down, the floor of the Fossa shuddering beneath every impact.
Nico didn’t even notice. He had me trapped—legs braced wide, his shadow swallowing me whole. That sword was raised over his head in a sure grip, his expression eerily blank as he brought that blade down, down—
Toward my throat.
I whipped up my broken sword, angled it so the crossguard caught, wedging his weapon between the guard and the ricasso. My arms were shaking, and he had all the leverage, forcing that sharpened edge closer and closer to my carotid, until the razor-thin blade sliced through skin.
The draught had taken the Nico I loved and turned him into a mindless killer, but even that didn’t matter now because in two seconds, I was going to be dead.
Or we’d both be crushed by the next chunk of falling rock.
Both of them, a shitty way to go.
My arm was shaking so hard, my bones rattled. The metal screamed under the pressure. This wasn’t even a fight anymore—this was desperation and my refusal to die.
“Please,” I rasped as the pressure cut off my air, “Nico… Stop. It’s me.”
He just shoved harder.
My broken blade shuddered. One more surge and it would snap. Then I’d be— Movement flickered at the edge of my sight.
A figure raced toward me, dodging falling stones.
Gabriel.
He didn’t move like a pampered heir to a dynasty; he moved like he’d been born for this place—fast, efficient, eyes hard as flint. He slid to a stop beside Nico, spraying sand, and for the first time, Nico’s attention wavered.
Gabriel’s bound hands came up, and somehow, impossibly, clasped between them was a small vial, the glass catching the sunlight, illuminating the clear liquid inside.
My heart lurched.
Antitoxin.
The same thing Nico had given him yesterday, a contingency plan we didn’t think we’d need, but now…would that even work on whatever was in that draught?
Gabriel didn’t hesitate.
He jammed the vial into Nico’s neck, forcing the needle through skin and deep into muscle.
Nico roared, the sound of a wounded beast. He ripped his sword away from my throat and whirled toward Gabriel with murder in every line of his powerful body.
My broken sword fell to the ground as I sucked gritty air into my lungs and tried to blink the sand out of my eyes so I could see.
When Nico bore down on Gabriel, I didn’t hesitate, diving forward, reaching for the only thing I could grab—his ankle. My fingers closed around the top of his boot like a vise.
“Nico,” I shouted. “Stop.” I hung on with everything I had, digging my ruined nails into the leather of his boot, feet sunk deep in the sand, using my weight as an anchor.
Gabriel met Nico’s deadly swing with his own shackled wrists, and sparks flashed, metal shrieked, the chain broke. Then Gabriel pinned him down, shoulder to chest, using his weight to keep Nico in place.
“Hold his legs,” Gabriel snapped through clenched teeth. “Gotta give the antitoxin time to work.”
“I’m trying. He’s too godsdamned strong,” I gasped, locking both arms around Nico’s lower leg like I was trying to capture a raging bull.
Gods, Gabriel’s face was a bruised, beaten mess, almost as bad as Dante’s. I lifted my head, peering through the foggy air toward the collapsed platform, where the brutish soldiers were rounding up prisoners.
“Where is Dante?” I asked, panicked. “He was right there before the roof collapsed.”
“I don’t see him. But we have to get clear of this roof collapse, or we’re going to get crushed,” Gabriel hissed as more and more chunks peeled off the roof overhead, pounding into the sand around us, taking out unsuspecting guards and prisoners both.
“Come on, you asshole, get your shit together,” Gabriel hissed, shaking his friend.
Nico just thrashed, sand filled the air as I tried pinning down his powerful legs and his right wrist. The weapon carved a shallow trench as he dragged it closer to us both, our wary gazes split between the falling debris and the threat that could just as easily carve us in half.
“Two minutes, that’s how long it takes to work.” Gabriel shoved his forearm up under Nico’s jaw. “I was lucky they missed it in their search. Too fucking busy beating me to a pulp.”
Those two minutes seemed like forever.
Somewhere beyond the compound walls, another explosion hit—closer this time.
“I told those fuckers to time out the missiles,” Gabriel growled, “No surprise they can’t follow simple fucking orders.”
I didn’t have a chance to answer as the roof above us collapsed with a deafening roar, crushing bodies, pandemonium reigning as prisoners rioted in every direction. Guards kept shouting orders, trying to hold the line against the stampede, unaffected by the danger.
“It’s like they don’t even notice the roof is collapsing,” I groaned as Nico bucked, nearly dislodging us both. “Like they’ve been glamoured or something.”
“Or something. Bella,” Gabriel gritted out, voice low, urgent. “Leave us here and save yourself. This is a deathtrap.”
“If I leave, he’ll carve you apart with that sword,” I argued, completely flattened across Nico’s legs now. My fingers were numb. And I was losing a lot of blood from the cut on my neck.
“Just… just work, damn it.”
Finally, Nico’s snarls turned to ragged breaths. His thrashing began to lessen.
Then his expression… shifted.
His brow furrowed in confusion as he searched my face, then Gabriel’s, the sword falling from his hand. “Princessa, is that you?” he rasped, the sound broken.
My heart nearly burst. “Yes,” I whispered, voice shaking. “Yes. I’m here. We’re both here.”
Nico blinked, his eyes found mine, still glassy, still confused, then his gaze fell to my throat. “You’re bleeding.” His brow wrinkled. “You’re fucking bleeding.”
“Yeah, I know, but…” Another chunk of stone slammed down, close enough to hurl sand over us. “We have to get out of here before we’re crushed. You have to move, Nico. Now.”
The three of us scrambled across the pit in a messy half-crawl as the rock plummeted down, while inmates screamed and impassive guards fought to keep them corralled, while dust choked the air, and the Fossa tried to bury us alive.
I scanned the chaos for Dante, hoping he would magically appear, but there was no sign of him.
No sign of the Overseer, either. I kept my head low until the three of us cleared the danger zone, looking back at the carnage, realizing we’d simply gotten lucky.
The pit was filled with dead guards, crushed prisoners, flattened bodies, and the roof was crashing down, one layer at a time.
Nico’s breathing turned erratic as he studied my neck, the gash on my forehead, awareness returning in pieces, horror dawning on his face. “N-No,” Nico whispered, voice thick. “What… what did I—”
“We’ll deal with all that later,” I gripped his arms. “We have to find Dante and get the fuck out of here.”
Gabriel bent down beside a dead guard and slipped a set of keys off his belt, reaching them out to me. With shaking hands, I unlocked his shackles, swallowing down bile at how they’d rubbed his wrists raw, touching his brutalized face.
He managed a faint smile. “Don’t look at me like that, bella. Like you said, we’ll deal with this later. Let’s find my brother. The last time I saw him was over…”
My stomach dropped as I followed his gaze.
Dante was being led up onto the platform, hands bound behind him, the Overseer beside him, barking orders, guards scrambling like ants around their king. For one fraught second, that bastard’s eyes met mine, then he pointed to a spot.
My pulse pounded as they forced my husband to his knees.
Nico’s gaze was focused on Dante, too, something dark and terrible settling into his expression, replacing the ruined, wounded look from earlier.
“Dante,” he breathed hoarsely. “They… they’re going to execute him.”
“No, they aren’t,” I said, voice steady as purpose snapped back into place. “We’re stopping this.”
“Gather any weapons you can from the dead guards,” Gabriel ordered, looking over at Nico, calculating, assessing. “You with us?” he demanded. “If you’re not, stay here. Keep your head down.”
Nico’s gaze flicked to me. To my bloodied throat. To Dante up on the platform, shoved to his knees, a brutish guard coming into position behind him with an axe in his hand.
“I’m good,” he whispered.
“My brother’s not dying today,” Gabriel breathed, eyes clear as he scanned the chaos like he was mapping a path straight through it. “Let’s go.”
I scrambled behind him, snatching a short knife from a downed guard. Inelegant, heavy, but it would do the trick in close quarters. I reached up and ran my fingers through my tangled hair. I still had my needle. And the blades in my boots.
“There are two more explosions,” Gabriel cautioned as we dodged prisoners and guards and chunks of fallen stone.
“Five minutes until the next one. If the mortals stick to the fucking schedule. It’ll probably bring down the rest of the roof but give us time to escape.
” His blue eyes flashed. “That fucking Overseer is mine if I get the chance.”
Nico stayed with us, deadly sword gripped in his hand, blinking through the draught’s aftereffects, jaw clenched as if he was holding himself together through sheer will. Every glance my way was riddled with guilt.
“Stop,” I chastised. “I’m alive, and no harm was done. Let’s get Dante and get out of here.”
The Overseer was shouting orders above the din. “Secure the prison. Close the gates. Kill anyone who…” His words cut off as a surge of prisoners crashed through the guard line, sending them sprawling. Not an accident… an attack.
The prisoners were revolting.
The three of us smiled. Opportunity.
Anarchy was a weapon if you knew how to use it.
Together, the three of us turned and rushed toward the Overseer, who still thought this place belonged to him.
Not anymore, it doesn’t, I promised silently, racing into the wall of dust and screams.
Not while I still had breath in my lungs.