“You have the wrong idea, Isabella,” he warned softly with a hint of menace. “I am very much spoken for, and no offense, but…” His eyes narrowed on my face, as if he was trying to figure out the answer to a puzzle. “There is not a single female in this room who could hold a candle to her beauty. Tell Emilia whatever games she’s playing, I am off the board for seduction. Anything else is fair game.”
I blinked up at him, completely speechless as he released me and stepped away.
“You should be more careful than to participate in her games. Venice is not Florence, and these,”—he swept his hand across the glittering crowd—“these creatures do not play nice. They will eat youalive.”
“Who is she?” I asked, the question tumbling out before I had the sense to stop myself. And surely this little stabbing sensation in my stomach wasn’t…jealousy?
“No one you would know,” he answered, but his eyes went to the enormous painting, and everything about him softened, his mouth curving up into a small, secret smile.
My heart caught in my throat. This was like watching him actually fall in love in real time. Those cold, dark eyes turned to liquid black, his handsome face became more animated, and those full lips curved up until the dimple in his chin grew more pronounced.
My heart lurched, lungs collapsing as a reckless kind of hope crested through me in a wave that felt like realization and horror both at once.
Oh gods, was he…
“Dominico.” Luca’s voice snapped out from my left, cold and harsh and reminding me of my father, on the rare moments he’d lost his temper. “Come to pay your respects to my sister?” Luca stopped in front of us, completely ignoring me, entirely focused on Gabriel. “I know your family had something to do with her death, and I will use all my power to bury you fuckers. You have my word on that.”
“That’s quite a warning, pup,” Gabriel said lazily, the flow of guests adjusting around us, as if we were three rocks in a river. “Careful, I bite back.”
“My uncle has proof,” Luca said softly, throwing back his drink, that throng of female admirers circling like a committee of vultures. “And we will use our power to bury your entire family, though the Don looks as if he already has one foot in the grave.”
Shock rippled through me at his cruelty. Not because our kind wasn’t capable of such a thing, but because Lucawasn’t. One month. One month I’d been “gone,” and already, my uncle was twisting my brother into something he wasn’t.
One of them.
I gripped my glass of wine so tight, the glass squeaked. Both of them turned to me.
“This is Isabella, from Florence, a distant relation of Emilia’s,” Gabriel said, “who is finishing up with your uncle, so if you will both excuse me…” With that, Gabriel was gone, striding through the party, the crowd parting before him as he willed them to.
I offered my hand. “Hello. It’s nice to…”
“Don’t bother,” my brother snapped, then he was gone, too, the flock of females trailing in his wake completely unnoticed.
9
EMBERLINE
My brother hadn’t recognized me, and I was entertaining some confusing suspicions about Gabriel’s intentions toward me. So far, the party was off to a rocky start, but my uncle hadn’t noticed me at all, so I’d take my wins where I could.
Draconi soldiers lined the grand ballroom and were posted in every hall, flanking the curving staircase leading to the private chambers upstairs. An impenetrable wall of keen-eyed brute strength you’d have to be a fool to challenge.
I was eying the narrow corridor leading to the rear stairs when an argument broke out between Rocco and Emilia, Rocco wildly waving around his cane and shouting expletives. Emilia finally cast a spell that sent him sprawling to the floor, where he landed flat on his back, glaring up at her.
Three soldiers peeled away from the end of the hallway and headed their way.
I moved, hugging the edge of the enormous room, completely forgotten as the drama-hungry crowd jockeyed for position, and Emilia took one precious second to peer at me over her shoulder.
Go,she seemed to say.
I darted down the side hallway. I hadn’t expected Emilia’s help, but she did enjoy getting over on my uncle. Ofcourse, I expected that little favor would be another red mark in my ledger of growing debt.
The study was unguarded, and my pulse picked up as I touched the doorknob, then murmured the deactivation spell I’d memorized since childhood. Layers of magic unraveled, and best of all, my uncle wouldn’t get any warning his wards were broken because this wasfamilymagic.
My father’s magic.
Minemore than it was ever Giovanni’s.
“Now, what do we have here?” a low voice drawled from the shadows. “A little lost dove, looking for a place to nest. Or a viper in sheep’s clothing, more likely.”
