Chapter 56
DANTE
My back remained to the doors leading to the basement.
I was the wall our enemies would never get through.
None of these fuckers would ever touch my wife.
“Emberline.” Her name tore out of me, raw and broken as the smell of her blood filled my nose, all of my senses. So much blood.
She couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t.
Another brace of guards rushed me, and I ashed them where they stood, the entire upstairs of the fortress clogged with choking black smoke.
Not that I cared. Fire consumed me, tore through every vein, erased every thought, until there was nothing left but heat and hunger and ruin.
My grief had opened the door and let the demon take me over completely.
I dissolved beneath the storm of its wrath, the primal fury at being condemned to an existence spent bound inside my mortal body.
I tried to regain control, but how could I, knowing my wife was dead?
Emberline had been imprinted on my soul, but the demon had been imprinted on my bones, the witch’s runes carved into my marrow, and no matter how hard I pushed, the demon didn’t budge.
Somewhere outside my circle of awareness, Gabriel was shouting.
Flames were devouring everything around me, and I did not care. Furniture curled, burst into flames, fabric vaporized. Stone blackened and cracked until the fortress didn’t feel solid anymore, ready to collapse beneath my feet.
The scent of her blood was so strong. Our bond flickered like a dying star. Here, then gone, then back again, each pulse weaker than the last.
The ifrit howled inside me, feeding on the destruction, the violence, the rage, flames growing wilder with every passing second. Soon, there would be nothing left of me, just like the Druid had warned.
Nico and Gabriel would get Emberline out. They would protect her. A calmness washed through me, a sense of rightness.
They loved Emberline. She loved them. This was right.
As soon as they were free of this place, I would bring it all down. Bury myself and the demon in the darkness beneath a million tons of rock where nobody would ever be able to dig us out, and this would be over.
Finally, over.
Calmness turned to peace as I imagined Emberline happy and safe, our enemies gone, her life stretching out ahead of her. For me, this was the only logical conclusion. I wasn’t made for drawing rooms and balls.
I was too damaged, too ruined, and now, I wasn’t even vampire.
“Pull your head out of your godsdamned ass and get your fucking shit together.” Gabriel’s shout came from somewhere behind me. The stairs.
I cannot. The words were a thought, outlined in flame.
“Godsdamn it, Dante,” Gabriel’s voice echoed somewhere beyond the chaos inside my head. “She’s here. She’s alive. And if you don’t take back control, you will be the one who kills her.”
I turned in a sea of flame, fire licking up the walls around me, tracking the scent of her blood in the air. Blood and lemons. Lemons and lavender. Like sunshine.
She was alive.
“That’s right.” My brother stood so close, his face glowed from the heat. “Emberline is alive, but she doesn’t need to see you like this, so fucking rein it in, and I’ll take you to her. I know she’ll want to see you when she wakes up.”
She was alive.
Little by little, I shoved the demon down, back into his box, back into the darkness, muscles straining, chest heaving until he was a simmering beast in my belly.
Not quite contained, but not a threat, either.
Finally… finally, only the vaguest flicker of flames brushed over my skin, my brother’s face coming into sharp focus.
“Follow me.” Gabriel turned and took the steps two at a time, and I followed, bare feet gripping the cold metal, the stale air of the basement thick with limestone, then we rounded the corner, and…
A shuddering breath spilled between my lips, and an exquisitely tender feeling threaded through my chest when the demon glimpsed her battered body, dark eyes half closed, a small smile on her lips as Nico held her hand.
Like the demon actually saw her.
The last vestiges of fire flickered out, and everything inside me went quiet.
I didn’t remember moving, only cradling my wife’s bruised face in my palms, the way her eyes were the color of espresso, and her smile was like the sun. Clear. Everything was suddenly so… clear. As if I was seeing the world for the first time.
“Hello, tesoro. You forgot to leave me a note.”
That clarity allowed me to realize two things at once. The ifirit was no longer controlling me, and I wasn’t fighting to make him obey. Perhaps we’d reached some sort of tentative stalemate.
“Dante…” Her eyes fluttered as if she was too tired to keep them open.
“You’re on fire again. And you’re naked.
You really need to do something about that.
” The bond flared back to life, emotion flooding into my chest, filling me up with a warmth that wasn’t consuming; it was nourishing, as though I’d been starving for so long, and now I was feasting.
I touched her beautiful face, cold rage building as I catalogued the bruises, the cuts, the swollen ankle. I traded a long look with Nico, who jerked his head toward the door. To Bruno, lying in a pool of blood.
“I’m sorry I ever left you,” was the only thing I could think to say.
“I never got my glass of water,” she replied, her bottom lip trembling, and I pressed our foreheads together.
“Get her back to the island. Get her a healer. The best you can find,” I told them, lifting her gently in my arms and passing her over to Gabriel, blood streaking her skin, her hands clutching that knife so tightly, her knuckles had gone white.
When I did one last pass for injuries, my eyes locked on Emberline’s ravaged back, and for one fractured second, the demon surged. Famished for punishment.
No. Not with her close. Wait.
The thing settled back into place, simmering with impatience.
“Get her home, get her healed,” I managed to say through numb lips. “I’ll stay and ask this fucker a few questions.”
Inside me, the ifrit purred his agreement. We have some unfinished business with this piece of shit.
“He’s been with Rocco for decades,” Gabriel reminded me quietly, staring at the bodyguard with the same amount of venom I was currently feeling. Nico already had his knife out, finger pressed to the edge.
“I expect he’s a wealth of information,” my brother finished. “You two find out everything you can. I’ll stay with her until you get back. Don’t drag this out. We still have Rocco to deal with.”
Didn’t I fucking know it?
Bruno picked the perfect moment to come alive, clawing at the hook in his neck—perfectly positioned for what I had in mind—frantically scanning the room before landing on Gabriel, Nico… then me. His bleary eyes instantly cleared.
He pushed unsteadily to his feet, and I let him. Let him fumble around on the metal tray for a weapon. Let him get himself situated while Nico carefully draped his coat around my wife. Grit my teeth every time she winced in pain.
“Take good care of her.” I dragged my knuckles gently down her cheek. “I’ll be with you soon, tesoro. I expect to find you fast asleep and following Gabriel’s orders to the letter.”
“Speaking of letters…” She sucked in a breath when Gabriel adjusted her weight in his arms, “We need the ones that prove Rocco’s involvement with Blackwood.”
Across the room, Bruno’s movements turned frantic as he palmed a gun, a lot of fucking good that would do him, but I stepped between him and my wife, just in case he decided to do something stupid.
“You’re heading straight back to the island. You need to see a healer and go to bed,” I told her sternly.
“Nico,” she urged, “Tell them.”
“Ember’s right. Rocco has a treasure trove of incriminating evidence down here, proving his and Giovanni’s involvement with Lord Blackwood.”
Bruno was limping his way toward us, a determined look on his face, and I lifted my hand. Sent a stream of fire spurting from my palm. He reeled out of the way, arms wheeling comically.
Emberline’s eyebrows dropped as she studied my hand, the trail of smoke coming out of it. “If I show the letters to Emilia, maybe she’ll forgive us for trespassing.”
Highly doubtful, but I didn’t want to rain on my wife’s parade, not when she looked so hopeful.
“Get your letters, then straight back to the island, see the healers, and straight to bed.” Giving her orders made me feel like I was doing something constructive.
I kissed her temple, careful not to press too hard.
“Letters, healers, sleep,” I repeated.
“Yes, bossy husband. I heard you the first time. Be careful.” She gave both Nico and me a stern look before her hand closed around mine, that chain rattling before I snapped the link and let it fall to the floor.
“Come back to me,” she whispered. “Whatever it is you are thinking, whatever this is…” She pressed her palm to my chest. “Come back to me, Dante.”
Inside of me, the demon purred like a kitten, and a broken laugh escaped me, half surprise, half disbelief.
Gods, it was true. Everyone did fall in love with my wife.
“That proof will get Emilia to listen to us,” she added, her voice steadier now, despite everything she’d been through. “It has to.”