Chapter 66
EMBERLINE
The room we’d been given at the Draconi fortress was barely one step above the barracks’ primitive starkness—three narrow, serviceable beds we’d pushed together, a long waist-high dresser to pile weapons, and a door that locked.
But it was the fifty-foot stone walls around the cramped room and the impenetrable wards beyond those that made this place home.
For the next few weeks, at least.
A deep, far-off boom echoed through the torch-lit halls of the ancient fortress, followed by the gritty grind of stone on stone, a faint haze of dust filtering from the ceiling. I looked up from where I sat cross-legged on the bed, smiling as I turned my attention back to the book on my lap.
The Emissary was getting better at wielding his magic in our realm.
So much better that for the past two days, Emilia hadn’t repaired so much as a wall or window. Gabriel and Dante were doing their own training in one of the yards, burning off some of their frustration, and I was researching.
Hunting for a means to free my brother from Blackwood’s poisoned grasp.
I didn’t possess magic of any kind.
Didn’t know much about the arcane.
But ever since I could walk, I’d been trained by Enzo in the ways of business. I had spent my life learning everything there was to know about legal contracts, and what was a magical bargain but a contract?
If the bargain could be made, then it could be broken.
I just had to figure out how and save Luca in the process.
“Hey.” Valeria leaned in the doorway, one hand nervously plucking at the bottom of her shirt, though her face was impressively serene. “Are we still on for our lesson?”
I looked her over, then nodded. She’d forgone her usual makeup and fancy clothes, dressed instead in simple black pants, a dark shirt, and sensible rubber-soled boots.
“Give me a minute to finish this up.” I turned the last page, running my index finger along the lines of text, already knowing I wouldn’t find what I was looking for, but unwilling to skip a single step when it came to Luca.
No, I was saving my brother.
Whether it was through intelligence or violence… or both.
“Now that Blackwood and Luca are back in Rome, we need to move faster,” Valeria urged, stepping into the room when she saw I wasn’t budging. She dropped onto the bed beside me. “Every day he’s there means Blackwood can…” She gulped loudly, then sighed.
I closed the book.
From the look on her face, there was no way she was going to let me finish.
“Romulus is watching over him,” I soothed, even though my own nerves were raw and fraying. “Emilia got word that Rom will shield Luca from Blackwood. And the fucker has his hands so full right now, hopefully, he’s too busy to even remember Luca’s existence.”
No, Blackwood was currently fighting for his political survival in Rome as the Bellamorte Dynasty council descended into a battle for control. Cesare might be ancient and clever, but the Roman vampires were ruthless, and he didn’t have a monopoly on greed.
“Still…” Valeria bit her bottom lip. “After what you told me, I can’t stop thinking about how he’s suffering.”
I closed my eyes briefly, cursing myself for telling her—for telling everyone—that Luca was still inside somewhere, that I’d seen the signs myself and heard his voice in my head.
“There’s a…” I hesitated, then headed for the door, motioning for her to follow me. We headed down the long hall, dodging knots of Draconi soldiers, who looked at us more as curiosities than anything else.
“Luca and I are twins, but you knew that already. And sometimes, twins share certain bonds. Mental bonds. Ever since we were babies, Luca and I could speak to each other. We know what the other thinks.”
Curiosity sparked in her face, then just as quickly, color flooded her cheeks.
“Just how detailed is this connection?” she demanded, catching up to me in the hallway, and I chuckled at her obvious discomfort.
“We can also shield each other from anything private we don’t want the other to see.” I made a right turn toward the training yards. “Trust me, Luca has no interest in what happens between me and my men. He’d rather gouge his own eyes out. So don’t worry—I only know what I’ve seen firsthand.”
“So… you can talk to him right now?”
I hesitated. Despite my many attempts, what I found on the other end of our bond was chaos. Voices that made no sense, an endless chittering, like the drone of insects. And something else, a pulsing darkness that repelled me on every level.
There was no way for me to explain, other than I knew Luca was alive.
That he wasn’t in pain.
That he was… asleep.
“Not talk, exactly, but I can tell you he’s safe at the moment and sleeping.”
She stopped moving, leaning against the wall, as if her legs stopped working.
“Oh, thank the gods. I’ve been so…” She peered at me through her tears.
“You probably think I’m crazy for feeling like this, but your brother and I…
I always liked him. Luca wasn’t like the others.
He was always so kind to me.” She swallowed.
“Whenever we spoke, I felt like he really saw me, you know? Not as a tool, or a stepping stone, but just… me. We talked about books and painting, and it might have been the only time I didn’t feel like I had to pretend to be somebody else. I could just be myself.”
I laid my hand on her shoulder. “We’ll bring Luca back home, and I’ll figure out how to get Blackwood’s poison out of him.”
“But I thought Nico said…”
Yes, Nico said his father’s magic was irreversible, but he was the Emissary of Death. My husband was a fire demon. I wasn’t willing to doubt my brother’s chances, not when the world didn’t seem to obey the same limitations.
“Nico’s wrong. About this,” I added because he had to be. He had to be wrong because I wasn’t about to give up on my brother and apparently, neither was Valeria.
Valeria nodded, and we pushed through the exit doors, letting in a wash of humid summer air and the sounds of combat—heavy bodies colliding, the clang of steel meeting steel, guttural shouts.
We wove through the fighting, some soldiers in straight lines going through structured exercises, some battling hand-to-hand.
Like Valeria and I were about to.
“We did my uncle a favor getting Blackwood out of Venice. Now, there’s nothing standing in his way, and according to Emilia’s spies, the mage is making progress on the Basin. The real Basin.”
Because my uncle had discovered our ruse, and I only wished I’d been there to see Giovanni’s face when he did. I’d bet my last ducat that incompetent mage got an earful.
“My father talked his way out of trouble, too,” Valeria said bitterly. “I hear he’s back on the council, like nothing changed.”
“Too bad, I’d rather he lost his head than some innocent family.”
Gabriel, Severin, and Emilia’s seats sat empty on the council, every decision coming down to just two votes—Giovanni and Rocco, who ran the council like their own personal fiefdom.
“Severin arranged sanctuary for many of the vampire families, but the ones that remained have become targets.” That’s where Dante, Gabriel, and I would be tonight.
Joining Severin and some Draconi soldiers in a nighttime rescue operation to get as many as possible to safety.
I stopped in the center of an open area where the ground was even and free of rocks. I didn’t want to hurt Valeria, not when we were friends.
A strange thing to say, but there it was.
“So, are you ready for this?” I gathered my hair back and braided it tight against my scalp. “I’m not going easy on you just because you’re out of practice.”
“Who says I’m out of practice?” She grinned, laced her hands together above her head, and leaned to the side, vertebrae popping back into place. “I trained every day with my soldiers. I’m curious to see how I do against you. I heard you’re fast.”
“I guess we’ll see.” I grinned, feeling a lot more hopeful than I had in a long time.