Epilogue
GAbrIEL
Icouldn’t stop thinking about Zafira.
Her name meant Sea Siren, but Father called her his blue-eyed flame because she burned so bright. She was probably the only living creature he’d ever loved in this world.
That was all I remembered about my mother.
The Adriatic was the same color as my eyes.
As my brother’s eyes.
As her eyes.
Before me, that vivid blue water stretched out like a sheet of glass, unbroken, indifferent. That expanse didn’t care about power struggles or blood oaths or Basins. It didn’t care about the deals we’d just made or the enemies closing in from every side.
I stood barefoot at the edge of the beach, the wind teasing at my loose shirt, carrying salt, heat, and the screaming of gulls. Venice was a world away now.
And while this island should have felt like safety, it didn’t.
Behind me, the villa was quiet. Everyone was still sleeping after last night, bodies collapsing from days of running on nothing but adrenaline. I let them sleep, working out in my head what came next, how I could outsmart Giovanni when he’d already buried me beneath my own arrogance once.
We’d agreed to free Rocco.
Well, I’d agreed.
I’d taken one look at my friends—exhausted, desperate, trapped—and I’d accepted Valeria’s deal. Or we’d still be running, out of magic and out of time, and if Blackwood got his hands on Emberline, the things he could do to her…
I dragged a hand down my still-healing face and exhaled slowly, forcing my thoughts into something resembling clear-headed logic, not blind panic.
Emberline was my only priority now. The game we’d been playing with Giovanni had become something different. Blackwood didn’t just change the pieces on the board; he changed the board itself, and I couldn’t abide having Emberline close to that bastard.
And this wasn’t just about her.
Nico was hiding behind a mask of indifference, but he was wrecked after seeing Blackwood. I didn’t know much of their twisted history, but we all had our Achilles heels, and for my oldest, most loyal friend, Blackwood was his.
My brother… I took a shuddering breath. Dante was our best hope of winning this war and a ticking time bomb, all rolled into one. And while I trusted my brother explicitly, whatever lurked inside him was erratic and dangerous.
Then there was Valeria. The Dementes didn’t help their allies; they leveraged them, and every favor came with a price. But I couldn’t help feeling that Valeria believed what she was saying. At least one thing was true.
She wanted to run Rocco’s empire, and that made her motivated.
And I could work with motivated.
Somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, Venice was crawling with my enemies, and La Sala was under Giovanni’s control. I ground my teeth together. That building was more than a stack of stone. It was a symbol of Dominico principles that had stood the test of time.
And it was fucking mine.
Footsteps padded across the sand, soft enough I knew who they belonged to, even before her citrusy scent wrapped around me, before she came to stand beside me, the breeze blowing her long hair back from her face in a dark tangle.
“We need to wake Emilia up.”
“I know.” I brushed a curl out of her eyes, my heart lurching in my chest as I revealed a small blemish on her cheek from last night. “I’m working it out.”
Emberline leaned into me, and I slipped my arm around her waist, pulling her close.
“You had me worried.” She peered up at me. “At council, I knew you’d been drugged, but I didn’t know if it was to incapacitate you… or if he wanted you dead.” She leaned her head against my chest. “I’m sorry I missed the second assassin. I’ve been sick over my mistake, Gabriel.”
“And here I expected an I told you so lecture.”
“I think we’ve all learned not to gloat when it comes to my uncle.”
“I’m sorry about all of this.” I closed my eyes to better enjoy holding the woman I loved in my arms. “Valeria, this place. My brother. I know it’s not easy. If you… want to talk, I’m a good listener.”
“We’re safe,” she deflected. “That’s all that matters.”
“My mother used to sing me songs about the ocean.” I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “How the Adriatic changed color depending on the light. How nothing could ever tame the waters. She was spawned by the sea, my father always said.”
From somewhere along this very stretch of rocky beaches and turquoise water.
“She died when I was a child. I hardly remember her, but Dante had twelve years with her, and she brought him here once to show him where she was from. He said that the trip changed him. You should ask him about it,” I urged gently. “He hasn’t talked about her since he’s been back.”
A muscle in my jaw ticked as I opened my eyes again, forcing the past back where it belonged.
“I’m sorry. I barely remember my mother, either. She’s nothing but a…” Emberline paused, her body tensing up before she changed the subject completely. “Do you believe in the afterlife, Gabriel? Not as some vague construct, but more like an actual place where we still exist in some other form?”
I hesitated. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Because we have to wake up Emilia. And we’ll never get back onto that island. But I might…” she chewed her bottom lip. “I might know a way to reach her, somewhere Vincenzo and Giovanni would not be able to stop me.”
“I don’t think I like the sound of this.”
“Well, do you?”
The sea stretched out in front of me, and in that endless shifting expanse, I saw my mother’s blue eyes again, reminding myself of how she’d once wrapped her arms around me and taught me what love felt like.
“I believe love is the closest we ever get to knowing someone else’s soul,” I murmured, tucking her closer, resting my chin on the top of her head.
“And whatever waits for us on the other side is some reflection of that bond. Of what we meant to each other.” I pressed my forehead to hers, exhaling slowly.
“Because something this powerful doesn’t just disappear when we are gone. It can’t. A love like ours has to live on forever.”
With that promise, I swore to myself this would not be the end.
Not for me.
And not for Emberline.
Thank you so much for reading Desired!