“Yeah, well, I don’t want to lose either of you two idiots, either,” I muttered beneath my breath. “But we’re wasting time Dante doesn’t have.”
Gabriel shook his head. “We’re wasting time because you’re being unreasonable. Let Nico gather some soldiers, I’ll arrange transport. You stay in Venice. Keep an eye on your uncle, make sure he stays in the city and doesn’t complicate our mission.”
“I’m not babysitting my fucking uncle. I’m going with you. You forget, I spent years training. I know how to fight.” My tone turned pleading. “Don’t leave me behind. I need to go, Gabriel. I can’t sit here and do nothing.” I swallowed. “Please.”
My gaze clashed with Gabriel’s so violently, we might as well have been wielding knives.
“Fine,” he said smoothly. “But I have one requirement. You’ll feed before you go. Fromme.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. “From my fucking vein. I want you strong, sharp, and at the top of your game. Refuse, and you stay here.”
Gabriel’s unflinching expression invited no other option, so I nodded.
Out of the corner of my eye, Nico stood frozen in place, dark shadows whipping around him in a frantic dance before he slowly relaxed, his shoulders sagging.
“Nico,” Gabriel prodded, his tone almost gentle. “Walk us through the layout. We need to put a plan together by nightfall, with all the players in place.”
“How are we getting there and back?” Nico asked hoarsely, his eyes lifting, and in them, I glimpsed misery. Pure, abject misery, though I had no idea what he had to be miserable about, other than the fact we were charging into a mission we may not return from.
“We still have the cipher, don’t we? There’s a fixed door on the eastern edge of the city.” I paused. “Father showed me, in case we were in trouble and I ever needed to get Luca out of Venice. With the cipher, that doorway will take us anywhere we want to go.” I nodded to Nico. “We won’t have to slog through miles of sand. As long as you picture the destination, and we’re all touching, the magic will take us there.”
“And back?”
“The same rules apply. The cipher should activate the door and bring us back to Venice. Allfourof us.”
Nico stared at me for a long beat. “Any chance of youtelling us where this portal is located?” He asked, deadpan. “Since we’re such old friends?”
I grinned. “Not a chance,stronzo. You’re not leaving me behind.”
Gabriel made a choking sound in his throat. “Gods, you are fucking impossible.”
“I’m not impossible;she’simpossible,” Nico muttered.
“The portal is instantaneous,” I redirected. “Once we’re there, all we have to do is find Dante, get clear of the prison, and get back to the city.”
Gabriel rubbed a hand over his mouth, eyes darkening. “Tazroum is an unknown. We don’t even know for sure if the Fossa is there. This is all just conjecture until we have boots on the ground, and once we’re in the thick of the fighting, it’s too late to turn back.”
“The prison is there,” I insisted with a hint of desperation. “I saw my uncle’s notes, and the amounts of money. Why do you two keep throwing up roadblocks?”
“Because…” Nico’s gaze flicked to the circled name, then to me, mouth pinched in a thin line, as though he was trying to hold his next words back. “What if he’s not alive, Ember? What then?”
I inhaled and turned away.
Dante was bigger-than-life, too big to kill, too strong for even the Fossa to break.
Irejectedthe idea that Dante was dead. Rejected the idea that my husband couldeverdie.
When I spun back around, Nico’s unflinching stare was waiting. “It’s a possibility we should prepare ourselves for. What will you do,princessa, if you get there and there is no one to rescue?”
I forced my seething rage into something colder,something that wasn’t distracting. “We prepare for every possible outcome,” I grit out. “But we’re not talking about this again. He is there. He is alive. We are bringing him home.”
Gabriel nodded once, then pointed at the map, a spot just west of Tazroum. “If the prison is here… then this could be our entry point. Tonight is a new moon, so it’ll be dark.”
“Those guards hear everything.” Nico spun the map around. “North would be better. Once, they marched us all into the desert for training, so I’ve been in this region before.” He tipped his head at me. “There’s a rock formation that was unique. I feed the fixed gate a mental image, and the magic will take us there? It’s really that simple?”
“My father did it all the time,” I said, even though I had no earthly idea how many times Enzo had used the doorway. But he’d trusted the gate’s magic enough to save his two children.
I trusted it enough to save my husband.
“Get us close. Once we locate him, we’ll break him out of his?—”
