Nico didn’t struggle.
He just stared, eyes seeing my every weakness, breath measured despite the fact that I was bearing down on his windpipe. Trusting me not to cross a line he knew I was staring straight at.
“Do it,” he dared. “Snap my neck if you think it will make you feel better. Trust me, it won’t.”
I shoved him harder, stone biting into his spine. “Say another word and I will.”
“Go ahead,” he shot back without hesitation. “It’s not like I don’t want to do the same to you,stronzo.”
My grip faltered.
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
Nico twisted enough to ease the pressure, voice rough but unwavering. “You made me swear to watch over her. Do you have any fucking idea what those four weeks were like? Watching her fall apart. Trying to coax her to eat so she didn’t pass out. Begging her to sleep. To put on clean clothes? She was a wreck, and I took care of her, Dante.Me.” He chuffed out a bitter laugh.
“Yes,” I snapped. “And?”
“And you seem surprised by the outcome, when you of all people should knowthe truth,” he hissed, his chest heaving, eyes now as wild and unfocused as mine.
“Anyone…” He ground his teeth together, as if he didn’t want to say anything more, and then, “Anyone who gets close to Emberline falls in love with her. They don’t have any other choice, she’s just…” His gaze drifted to the house, and his entire body sagged. “I didn’t have a fucking choice.”
Oh fuck.Blood roared in my ears, the world narrowing down to my forearm, pressed tight against Nico’s throat. I leaned in harder, feeling something inside of myself give way, my control shredding.
“Do you,” I growled dangerously, “love Emberline?”
Nico’s eyes were still turned toward the house, the lines of his face set in agonized misery.
“Yes,” he said clearly. “More than I’ve ever loved anyone.”
The word rolled through me like a wave.Love, love, love.
His claim wasn’t a challenge. It was simple. Honest. Atruth offered without armor or defense. Like a blade sliding cleanly between my ribs, even though his arms hung loose at his sides. We both knew I could crush his throat right now, and he wouldn’t try to stop me.
I roared, staggering back a step, chest heaving, rage collapsing into something darker. A gut-wrenching fear I was afraid to put a name to. Heat crawled over my skin as something terrible rose inside me. A beast with no mercy, only hunger.
I opened my mouth—to threaten Nico, to warn him…
An awareness crawled up my spine. The unmistakable prickle of being watched, and I turned.
Emberline stood in the doorway, one hand braced against the frame, a book clutched to her chest as if she’d forgotten she was holding it. Her face was pale, eyes wide—not frightened but stunned.
Gods help me.
She had heard everything.
35
EMBERLINE
Nico’s confession echoed through me.
Followed by Dante’s wounded roar, full of pain and betrayal, more than rage.
Nico’s eyes were locked with mine when he admitted, “More than I’ve ever loved anyone.” And that admission—the truth I already knew, somewhere deep down inside me—stopped me cold.
And that truth was the reason I could never hurt him, even with his knife pressed to my throat, not even knowing I was about to die by his hand—because I loved him back.
Frozen in the threshold, the book clutched uselessly against my chest, I couldn’t breathe. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. I’d only come to break the tension that had been building every day, the three of us locked in here together with no way out.
