“I accept your offer, Valeria,” Gabriel said, clasping her hand, his palm already coated in blood.
The ocean crashed against the rocks, relentless, unbothered that we were making a deal with a literal devil. “But I’ll warn you, like I did your father. Betray me, and your life is forfeit.”
“I have my best Demente healer waiting at the house.” Her eyes flickered over Gabriel’s bloody clothes, his swolleneyes. “Tonight, you rest. You recover. You regain your strength. Tomorrow, we plan.”
Then she resumed her walk up the sloped beach, leaving me to follow in her wake, stewing in my anger and jealousy and the knowledge Valeria was far more dangerous as our ally than as our enemy.
EPILOGUE
GABRIEL
Icouldn’t stop thinking about Zafira.
Her name meant Sea Siren, but Father called her his blue-eyed flame because she burned so bright. She was probably the only living creature he’d ever loved in this world.
That was all I remembered about my mother.
The Adriatic was the same color as my eyes.
As my brother’s eyes.
As her eyes.
Before me, that vivid blue water stretched out like a sheet of glass, unbroken, indifferent. That expanse didn’t care about power struggles or blood oaths or Basins. It didn’t care about the deals we’d just made or the enemies closing in from every side.
I stood barefoot at the edge of the beach, the wind teasing at my loose shirt, carrying salt, heat, and the screaming of gulls. Venice was a world away now.
And while this island should have felt like safety, it didn’t.
Behind me, the villa was quiet. Everyone was still sleeping after last night, bodies collapsing from days of running on nothing but adrenaline. I let them sleep, working out in my head what came next, how I could outsmart Giovanni when he’d already buried me beneath my own arrogance once.
We’d agreed to free Rocco.
Well, I’d agreed.
I’d taken one look at my friends—exhausted, desperate, trapped—and I’d accepted Valeria’s deal. Or we’d still be running, out of magic and out of time, and if Blackwood got his hands on Emberline, the things he could do to her…
I dragged a hand down my still-healing face and exhaled slowly, forcing my thoughts into something resembling clear-headed logic, not blind panic.
Emberline was my only priority now. The game we’d been playing with Giovanni had become something different. Blackwood didn’t just change the pieces on the board; he changed the board itself, and I couldn’t abide having Emberline close to that bastard.
And this wasn’t just about her.
Nico was hiding behind a mask of indifference, but he was wrecked after seeing Blackwood. I didn’t know much of their twisted history, but we all had our Achilles heels, and for my oldest, most loyal friend, Blackwood was his.
My brother… I took a shuddering breath. Dante was our best hope of winning this war and a ticking time bomb, all rolled into one. And while I trusted my brother explicitly, whatever lurked inside him was erratic and dangerous.
Then there was Valeria. The Dementes didn’thelptheir allies; they leveraged them, and every favor came with a price. But I couldn’t help feeling that Valeria believed what she was saying. At least one thing was true.
She wanted to run Rocco’s empire, and that made her motivated.
And I could work with motivated.
Somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, Venice was crawling with my enemies, and La Sala was under Giovanni’s control. I ground my teeth together.That building was more than a stack of stone. It was a symbol of Dominico principles that had stood the test of time.
And it was fuckingmine.
Footsteps padded across the sand, soft enough I knew who they belonged to, even before her citrusy scent wrapped around me, before she came to stand beside me, the breeze blowing her long hair back from her face in a dark tangle.
