She paused as all around us, the ancient walls trembled, the smell of smoke and burned flesh hitting me a second before Dante materialized, flames rising from his broad shoulders, reflected in every single soldier’s wraparound sunglasses.
In this closed space, he was overwhelming, sucking—literally—all the air out of the room, soot building on the ceiling over his head as that fire danced all over him in blue and gold waves.
I had to give her credit, Valeria didn’t flinch, but her guards full on panicked, gunfire erupting… bullets melting before they got anywhere close to him.Or to us.
“Well. Now that everyone is here...” Like I wasn’t even worth the time, Valeria’s gaze completely passed over me and landed fully on Gabriel, her mouth tightening.
“I heard you spared my traitorous father’s life, despite the fact he sold out our Dynasty,” she said smoothly. “Which means I owe you a boon. Unless you want to die at the hands of Blackwood’s thugs, I suggest you come with me.”
70
EMBERLINE
One moment I stood in the Arsenale, my eyes locked on Valeria, and the next…
Sands crunched beneath my feet. Salt filled my lungs.
Not the ripe, canal-soaked pungency of ancient Venice, but something cleaner.
The ocean.
I lifted my head, the horizon a straight line of black, moonlight glittering like silver stars as waves shifted. Behind us, tucked into a jagged crescent of dark cypress trees, stood a villa that looked as if it had been carved straight out of the rough coral rock—low, rustic, and utterly invisible to the outside world.
No lights. No boats. No signs of life.
“Where are we?” Luca asked, his voice quieter than usual. His hand tightened over my shoulder, his other holding a knife, as if he was thinking about plunging it into Valeria’s exposed back.
I don’t like this, Em, he said, mind to mind.
Well, I like it even less, trust me on that. Stay sharp, be ready for anything.
Dante was with us, but he was still… burning.
Smoldering, more like, embers glowing through his old scars, throwing off enough heat, I knew better than to touchhim, but so far, he—like us—seemed willing to give Valeria a chance to explain why she’d saved us.
She stepped past us like a queen, her gown whispering over the sand, the hem wet from the waves.
Gods, I despised her.
For how poised and perfect she looked while I was a sweaty, sodden wreck. For the past she and Dante shared, for the way she used this situation to her advantage, even though that was simply vampire nature.
For whatever she wanted from us and would probably get, given our options were nonexistent.
Jealousy writhed in my gut like a living thing, and I was helpless to do a damn thing about it.
“You are safe here,” she said slowly. “This place has remained a secret for hundreds of years; no one knows it exists, outside of our bloodline. In fact, you are the first outsiders to ever set foot on this ground.”
“No one knows, not even Giovanni?” Gabriel was doubled over now, blood spilling freely from his wound over his hand like a red waterfall. “You’re certain?”
“I’ll find you my best healer,” she deflected coolly, “before you bleed out. Once you’ve recovered and cleaned yourselves up, we’ll talk.” Her eyes paused on Dante, her expression flickering before she headed for the house. Her guards surrounded us, intent on herding us behind her.
Dante was working to bring himself back under control, head hung low, hands clenched, chest rising and falling as if he was in negotiations with whatever was inside him. An errant wave raced up the beach, washed around his knees in a froth of white.
The last of the flames instantly vanished, then he scooped up a handful of seawater and splashed it on his face, slicked back his hair and gave me a fierce nod. His eyeswere still glowing. So brightly they looked like aquamarines, but there wasn’t a hint of gold.
I let out a shaky breath.
Nico and my brother slid their arms under Gabriel’s shoulders and hauled him to his feet, then began a slow, painful slog uphill. Dante was still staring out over the water, as if he could see the future.
