“What the fuck, Dante?” Nico hissed, practically treading on my heels. “What just happened?”
“Something we will deal with later,” Gabriel cut in, ever the picture of control. “This is not the time. Let’s move.”
The abbey wasn’t big, and the two priests guarding the doors went down without a sound. It didn’t take us long to search every crevice, every alcove, behind every red candle.
“The Basin could be up at the temple.” Gabriel finally said, his voice tight. “And we’ll never get close to that place without Emilia knowing.”
“What if she doesn’t have it?” Emberline stared at the block of stone in the center of the room with her hands on her hips, “Maybe you were wrong about the magic at the scene.”
“I’m never wrong,” Nico grumbled. “I know what I saw.”
“And what, pray tell, did you see?” Emilia blocked the only entrance, backed by a host of priests, sigils glowing bright. She’d rushed to get here. Her long red dress was tangled around her legs, and her normally perfect hair was askew.
And her stare promised a slow, painful death.
I moved to my right, blocking her view of Emberline.
“You and I have a special arrangement, Nico Draconi, but I warned you what would happen if you ever stepped foot on my island again uninvited.” That rageful gaze bounced between Nico and me, each word precise, controlled. “Yet this time, you broughteveryone along for the ride,”—her gaze narrowed slightly—“a motley crew, even on your best day.”
No one spoke. Not even Nico, which was a first.
Emberline stepped forward. “Emilia, let me explain…”
“No.”
The single word cracked like a whip.
“I know why you’re here,” Emilia snapped. “You suspectedItook the Basin. You think I would stoop so low to become a thief. To align myself with your uncle, with his mad schemes of power.”
I decided fuck it and stepped between the high priestess and my wife, not caring if it got me killed. “Yes,” I answered, knowing this could very well be the last thing I said.
“And?” she demanded. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
The answer sat heavy on my tongue. “You know we did not.”
She dragged her eyes over me, gaze catching on my now-dormant scars, the heat radiating from my body. Something changed in her face, realization or professional interest, but I wished we had never come.
The last thing I needed was Emilia DiSangecuriousabout me.
“Because you werewrong.” Her chest heaved with one violent breath, such a look of offense crossing her face, that I instantly knew two things. Emilia didn’t have the Basin. And any hope we had of keeping her as our ally evaporated.
“If you’re looking for a traitor,” she said slowly, “you’re looking in the wrong place. Since I’m in a generous mood, I’m giving you two minutes to get off my island. Word of advice. Don’t dally.”
The air around us tightened, a sharp cold pricking at my skin.
I paused, looked around at the priests one last time, wondering if one of them was a traitor, or if we’d truly fucked up.
“We’re leaving,” Gabriel ordered, striding toward the door, priests slowly clearing out of the way. We were almost clear when my wife hesitated.
“Emilia, I am so sorry, I just…” Without stopping, Nico snagged Emberline’s arm and dragged her away, then the four of us were racing for the shoreline, the wards rising like a wall of angry black shadows.
I didn’t delay. Ripping the fiery magic up out of me like a whip of flame, I lashed a line straight down through the protections, leaving them in shreds. We didn’t stop moving until we were knee deep in the water, then dematerialized to the boat.
Looking back, the last thing I saw was Emilia staring after me like she’d seen a godsdamned ghost.
42
EMBERLINE
