“That sounds like a challenge. I make no promises.” She arched a dark brow. “Especially if you just leave valuable stuff lying around.”
Despite my best efforts, the corner of my mouth twitched.
“You had a busy night. You look tired… and you need to feed,” I added, heading for the door, my entire body coming alive at the thought of her drinking my blood. “I’ll bring you a glass in a few minutes, then you should get some rest, Emberline,”
I paused at the door. “Oh, by the way, I was kidding about the limited usage on the cipher.” My smile grew wicked. “I just wanted you to know what it’s like, nearly having a heart attack. Just so you know how I feel half the time.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Youliedto me?”
“A white lie.” I tossed the cipher up into the air, snatching it deftly in one hand. “You could use this a thousand times, and the magic will never run out. Which is why I’m hiding it somewhere you’llneverfind it,bella.”
“Good luck,” she shot back, fury brewing in her poisonous glare, “because I know for a fact you’ll never outsmart me. Ten gold ducats says I’ll have that cipher back in my possession by tomorrow.”
“I’ll take that bet.” I threw her a grin over my shoulder. “We’ll see who ends up the winner.”
6
NICO DRACONI
With my back against the wall, I monitored the bustling Tripoli market from my table, toying with my empty coffee cup as I stewed over my failure.
Every lead I chased on the Fossa dissolved like smoke.
Tunisia gave me nothing.
Egypt offered only dead ends.
Yes, I’d spent nearly five years of my life in that hellhole, but I’d been taken there blindfolded. Dragged out of there unconscious. The penal colony was a knot of lies and half-truths, and every Dynasty guarded the secret prison as if it was made of solid gold. Every time I thought I caught a whiff of some familiar scent—violence, blood, some ephemeral relic from that brutal past—it was gone just as quickly, slipping through my fingers like grains of sand.
I could not fail at this.
My shadows wrapped around me like pissed-off ghosts, the mere touch of them against my skin cold and clammy, as though I’d dipped my toe straight into the Underworld. I spooled them back in. No telling who might be watching, and I didn’t need to catch anyone’s interest.
Squinting up at the unforgiving sun, I pushed out of my chair when I spotted my contact. A whip of a human, desiccated by life in the desert, his skin as tanned as leather,every movement watchful. Not a surprise since he hadn’t stepped foot in civilization in ten years.
I wove through the early morning crowd, sending up a prayer to whatever gods might be listening.Please let this lead pan out.
I owed Dante my life ten times over. He was the brother I’d never had, and he would not die there.Not on my watch.
Even worse, I couldn’t stand the thought of disappointing Emberline once again. Every time I came home empty-handed and saw that hopelessness in her eyes… I squared my shoulders.
She deserved answers.
She deserved her husband back, even though some selfish part of me wanted to be the one she greeted with those big, brown eyes when I walked through the door. The one that made her beautiful face light up with a smile.
I couldn’t pinpoint when, exactly, I’d fallen for Emberline, but after three weeks living in the same tiny house, coaxing her out of bed during those dark days after Dante disappeared, trying to get her to eat, to sleep, tolive…I was in over my head.
Which was why these missions were a good thing; it was getting harder and harder to hide my feelings from her.
And from Gabriel, who seemed to notice everything these days.
I pulled down the dusty cloth covering my face and dragged in a breath of hot, arid air. I lifted my hand in greeting as my contact nodded once in recognition, then followed him into a darkened doorway, making myself a promise.
Today was the day I would bring my friend home.
Then I could put this fantasy away—the one where Emberline and I had any kind of future together.
Back in Venice,my luck only got worse.
