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 actuallysawher.
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 onEmberline’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.Wehave 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.”
