I scratched the spot, and the tips of my fingers came away stained with a spot of blood.
My stomach dropped as instantly weakness flooded through my body. Giovanni didn’t even try to hide his satisfaction, watching me like a spider who’d caught the fly.
My tongue swelled, my throat closed, and darkness clung to the edges of my vision as I pitched forward in my chair, sprawled on the council table, fingers clawing as I fought for air.
“The vote is two to one in Giovanni DiRavello’s favor. Congratulations, my lord, on becoming the new Don of the D’Immortali Dynasty.”
Vincenzo’s voice came from far, far away, the words ringing out like a death sentence.
I was vaguely aware of Severin calling for a healer, pressing me back in the chair as I fought for breath.
“As my first formal act as Don, I accuse you and your accomplices of sedition, treason, and attempting to overthrow this Dynasty.” Giovanni’s smile was cunning as a spider’s. “Take him into custody and send out notice. There is a five-million-dollar reward for his co-conspirators, Emberline Dominico, Dante Dominico, and Nico Draconi. Dead or alive.”
64
EMBERLINE
Nico dragged me from La Sala, kicking butnotscreaming because there were bounties on our heads, and this city was crawling with vampires willing to do anything to collect.
Giovanni had outdone himself this time.
All I’d seen from my vantage point was Gabriel jolting, touching his neck, a small pinprick of blood. A sedative, most likely. If my uncle had wanted Gabriel dead, there would have been poison in that dart, but he wanted him alive.
His prisoner, held under house arrest, like Rocco.
To make examples of them, in the worst possible way.
I’d spent my life observing vampire nature, and after being around my uncle for almost thirty years, I knew what came next.Extermination.
There hadn’t been a true Purge in our Dynasty for two hundred years, but there was no better way to eliminate your enemies—and it was perfectly legal.
“What are you planning to do?” Luca drew back his hand and deftly skipped a stone across the sunlit water, tiny ripples appearing as it bounced off the surface. “Or maybe I should ask… what will our uncle do next?”
I’d been pondering that very question, trying to outthink Giovanni, just this once.
Except for putting Rocco under house arrest, he’d actedpredictably at the meeting. The gun-wielding assassin Dante fried had been an obvious plant, and we’d been searching for the second one when Gabriel had been hit.
We’d seen Giovanni’s scheme; we just hadn’t stopped him in time.
“He’ll send the Draconi Brotherhood in here, round up every single Dominico member, and execute them. Which means we should evacuate the island before that happens.” I frowned. He’d need the Brotherhood to exact a Purge. And he’d never convince Severin—our ally—to go along with exterminating an entire bloodline.
Which meant he had a plan to get Severin out of the way, too.
“I can help, you know.” Luca artfully skipped another rock across the water. “I have skills I can lend to the cause.”
Before he was finished, I was shaking my head. “Your magic is more likely to put you in danger than give us anything useful.”
“Give me a chance, Em,” Luca pleaded. “I’ve gotten stronger these past weeks. I’ve been practicing.”
“Reading minds without detection takes decades of practice, not weeks. And these old vampires, Luca… their mental shields are impenetrable. You’d never get through.”
“Not for me,” he insisted. “And I’ll prove it to you. Right now, you’re thinking about confronting our uncle and using the Basin as leverage.” He paused, tipping his head in confusion. “Why are you thinking about that old thing, Em?”
I threw up my hands. “This is why reading minds is dangerous, Luca. Forget what you just saw and especially forget about the Basin.”
“I was just proving I can get through anyone’s mental shields,” he grumbled.
He’d gotten past mine, but this just proved my point. IfLuca went poking around in the wrong vampire’s head or discovered something incriminating—like we’d stolen the Basin—our enemies would torture him.To death.
