Off-kilter. As if something inside me had slipped out of alignment, and no matter what I did, it refused to settle back into place. We’d gotten Dante back, destroyed a prison that stood for centuries, yet somehow, the victory rang hollow.
Everything was collapsing, and the longer I remained inside the safehouse, the worse I felt.
We needed Gabriel’s calming presence, but he was with his father.
The air felt sludgy, filled with the echoes of everything unsaid and unsettled. Dante’s barely contained rage, Nico’s careful distance, the fragile truce we all pretended wasn’t cracking. There was more to learn about the Basin, but I couldn’t concentrate.
So, I did what I always did when I couldn’t fix the world.
I slipped out into the night and let Venice swallow me whole.
The rooftops were still warm, the heat of the day clinging to the red clay like a second skin. Summer pressed down over the city, air ripe with salt and stagnant canal water, with summer-blooming jasmine and distant smoke from the mainland. Sweat gathered instantly at my nape as I moved, stiff muscles loosening, breath syncing with every step.
Jump. Leap. Feel free for one singular moment before I landed. Roll.
Chimneys and laundry lines blurred past as the city unfolded beneath me in fractured glimpses—golden windows, dark canals, gondolas sliding like ghosts through the night. Somewhere below, laughter spilled from an open tavern. Somewhere else, soft music played.
Mortal life, indifferent to crumbling dynasties and ancient blood oaths, went on.
For a few precious moments, the noise in my head disappeared.
Then the doubts crept back in.
What difference could you possibly make? You are one woman standing against centuries of power,a treacherous voice whispered inside my head.Against Ancients who have been playing this game longer than you’ve been alive.
I angled instinctively toward my family’s palazzo, knowing it was a mistake. But I hadn’t seen Luca since that night in the study, and we’d never been apart for this long. Given he was wholly under my uncle’s control…
I needed to at least reassure myself he was safe.
The light was on in my brother’s room, and I resisted the urge to slap at a buzzing insect when that light went out. I crept along the roofline opposite our palazzo, knots of tourists clogging the busy street below.
The city was packed for this last month of the summer, every human in Europe streaming into the city to visit overcrowded museums, ride gondolas, and buy masks and cheap trinkets to take home. Hawkers along every street called out, adding to the chaos.
I was just about to give up when one side of the double doors opened.
Relief flickered—then diedinstantly.
A tall, rangy figure slipped out into the street, hood drawn low, posture tight with intent. Luca glanced left. Right. Then moved quickly away from the palazzo, striding with purpose.As if he had somewhere important to be.
Panic rose. “No,” I breathed. “No, no, go back inside. Where are you going?”
Keeping to the rooftops, I tracked my brother across the city as he zigzagged through the crowded streets, took a sudden series of bewildering turns, crossing bridges he didn’t need to cross.As though someone had given him specific instructions so he wouldn’t be followed.
The realization sent a cold thread of fear through me.
Luca wasn’t like the rest of these bloodsuckers, twisted by ambition and greed. He was young, and he was earnest, and earnest males were the easiest to manipulate. Especially when they thought they were doing good.
An oppressive heat pressed down as I moved, skin slick, lungs burning from exertion. Summer was merciless at this height—no breeze, just stone radiating stored warmth up into my bones, as if I was being baked in an oven.
Turn back, Luca,I silently urged, wishing I could speak to my brother mind to mind right now.Turn back and stay in the palazzo where you’re not exposed.
Luca stopped on the southern end of a quiet square, half-swallowed by the shadows of an arch. I scrambled for a better position, finding my best vantage point atop a cornice, instincts screaming as three figures emerged from opposite sides.
An ambush.
I pulled my knife, recognizing the biggest one, Bruno. It was all I could do not to leap down between them as they patted Luca down, then disarmed him. These males wereborn killers. They’d never met an opponent they couldn’t best, and they surrounded my brother.
“Well, I’m here.” Luca folded his arms over his chest. “Where is he, or do you three plan to have a staring contest for the next hour?”
