Blackwood didn’t laugh.
He didn’t say a word; he just watched.
“You and your band of thieves stoleaBasin, I will give you that,” Giovanni crooned, shoulders straightening, once more in total control of the situation. “But nottheBasin.”
I widened my gaze to comical proportions. “What are you saying, Uncle?”
“You stole a decoy,” he was bursting with superiority. “A perfect imitation of the real thing, a rock, lacking any true magic or power. I have the real one under lock and key. Where no one will find it, and so well protected that even if you did, you would never get close enough to touch it.”
His gaze flicked to Blackwood, satisfaction gleaming in his satisfied smile. “I assure you, my lord, I have hidden the Basin in the last place these traitors would ever think to look.”
I threw my head back and laughed, the sound cracking through the study, sharp and bright like a slap in the face.
“Oh, sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Do you mean,”—I shook my head, trying to catch my breath,—“in the DiRavello mausoleum? Isthatwhere you hid the real Basin, Uncle?”
Silence stretched between us, my grin filled with such victorious certainty, his face fell.
“By the way, your protections were pathetic.” I shook my head in mock disappointment. “Twelve hired soldiers and a few Ashbound. Honestly, I expected more, given your entire scheme rests on that artifact.” I turned to our still-silent companion.
“Isn’t that right, Lord Blackwood?” The guards beside me were shaking, the scent of their fear sour. “He promised you the Basin, and now he’s lost it.”
Giovanni hadgone still, something shining in his eyes I couldn’t remember ever seeing before—fear.
Blackwood’s head swiveled slowly toward my uncle, the air in the room tightening like a noose. One of the soldiers actually whimpered.
“Is any of this true?” he asked in a velvet whisper that sent ice down my spine. This was the kind of male that ended dynasties with a click of his fingers, and right now, the brunt of his rage was focused on a male he didn’t like or respect.
It was thrilling, actually.
Except for the part where I could become collateral damage.
I half expected his henchmen—Romulus—to get involved, but he stayed right where he was, watching avidly from the hall.
“She’s bluffing.” Gio’s voice was high. “Trying to sow doubt between us. She can’t be trusted, she would say anything…”
“Oh, please.” I shifted slightly in the soldiers’ grip. “I’m his favorite niece, and he’s tried to kill me twice. My uncle has no loyalty to blood, no loyalty to family. If he would sell me out, what do you think he will do to you? Of course,”—I shrugged—“if you didn’t vet your business partner better than this, then I suppose you get what you deserve.”
The air cracked in half. Darkness surged, violent and suffocating, the narrow space between us shrinking down to nothing as Blackwood lunged, hand outstretched, reaching for my throat.
He was so fast, the soldiers didn’t have time to react.
Neither did I.
But someone else was even faster.
Nico’s shadows exploded through the room,swallowing up the light in a single, heart-stopping second. They curled around me, cold and familiar and safe, slipping between the soldiers and me, ripping me away from Blackwood.
A strong arm locked around my waist, yanked me out of the warm study and into a rush of cold air. Then we were flying over Venice, far away from the palazzo.
“I’ve got you,” Nico murmured, his shaking voice low against my ear. “I’ve got you, Emberline. That bastard willnevertouch you.”
But his whole body was trembling, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close.
68
GABRIEL
The room stank of iron and damp stone.
