“And you,” I said, softer now. “You don’t get to pretend this is harmless. Dropping a bomb like that right now? What were youthinking, Nico?”
“I didn’t say it to provoke him.” Nico’s voice was low. “I said it because he asked, and I’ve been bottling up the truth for too long.”
Dante growled.
“Don’t.” I met Dante’s burning gaze without flinching. “Stop looking at him like you want to pound him into the ground.”
“And I will,” he said flatly. “In fact, go back inside,cara moglie, and let us settle this between ourselves.”
There was such an ugly curl to his lip when he called medear wife, I swallowed, pulse jumping. This was a disaster I didn’t know how to fix, because words… words weren’t enough to heal the betrayal on Dante’s face or take away the misery on Nico’s.
“I’m not goinganywhere.” I looked between them. “You don’t get to hurt Nico because you don’t like what he said or because you’re jealous. That is not the male I married, and it certainly isn’t the male I fell in love with.”
My husband’s eyes flicked away for half a second. Barely noticeable.
I seized the opportunity.
“If it wasn’t for Nico, I would be dead. The day of the explosion, I couldn’t dematerialize; I was too scared. Nico dragged me out of that house. He used his own body to shield me from the blast.”
Dante’s shoulders stiffened.
“And what he said is true. I didn’t want to…” I swallowed. “When they took you, I didn’t want to eat. Didn’t want tolive. He made me do both. So, if I mean anything to you at all, you should be thanking him.”
He had the decency to look ashamed, some of the savage intensity seeping out of his stance as that truth settled heavy between us.
“You don’t get to rewrite the past,” I continued. “Whatever you’re feeling—jealousy, fear, rage—you don’t get to turn that into violence to make yourself feel better. Nico was your friend, long before I came into the picture, and I’ll tell you something else. If this alliance cracks apart because weloveeach other, then wedeserveto be turned into thralls.”
I laughed bitterly. “At least we can stillfeel something.At least we’re capable of something other than hate. We are the only thing standing in my uncle’s way right now. If we fall apart, Giovanni wins, without lifting a finger.”
For a long moment, no one spoke.
I stood there, heart hammering, mind spinning, trying very hard not to think about the fact that one man loved me and the other looked like he might kill him over it.
Trying very hard not to wonder what that meant for me.
Finally, Nico stepped back, creating space. Deliberate. Respectful.
“This isn’t a challenge,” he told Dante. “And it isn’t a betrayal. It was just the truth, and I’m glad it’s out in the open. I’m still on your side, and I’m still your friend, even if you don’t believe that.”
When Dante didn’t respond, I reached for his hand.
His fingers were shaking.
“We will sort this out,” I said quietly. “But not like this. Not with fists and blood and words that can’t be taken back. Not in ways that will hurt us all.”
Slowly—so slowly, it felt like watching a storm retreat—Dante nodded.
But even as the immediate danger passed, I knew the truth.
Everything between us had shifted.
And whatever we were becoming was far more complicated—and far more fragile—than it had been an hour ago.
36
EMBERLINE
For the rest of the day, the world felt wrong.
