Page 133 of Devoted

“There is nothing more I can do.” Emilia dropped her hands, her complexion pale against her deep red dress, her expression flat as a stone. “I truly wish I could heal him, Emberline, but the infection is too deep, and the damage has been done. You should… consider Severin’s offer. He would be safer in the fortress. And once he’s cut off from Blackwood, this change could slow. Even stop.”

“I agree.” Gabriel kept his arms around her. “Luca needs to be restrained, and nobody—especially you—should be alone with him.”

“You can’t lock him down. Restrain him. He’s my brother.” Emberline’s fingers dug into my arms, and she turned her tear-filled eyes up to mine. For the first time since we’d walked in, I saw her face properly—dark circles, deep lines around her mouth, paper-dry skin.

When had she fed last?

When had she slept?

“Listen to them, Emberline. They’re telling the truth.” Nico appeared in the doorway, and something in his quiet tone had us all going still. “I need you to come outside with me. Please.”

“I’m not leaving my brother. Not when you’re all convinced he’s some kind of threat. Luca needs care, not prison.”

Nico’s shoulders sagged. “Give me five minutes,” he pleaded. “And then, if you don’t believe me, you can come right back, and I won’t say another word. But I need you to hear something first.” He offered her his hand, palm up, waiting.

For a long moment she hesitated. Then finally huffed, taking it with the exhausted surrender of someone who’d run out of the energy to fight. Nico drew her through the doorway and out into the corridor. I followed, leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, waiting.

“Do you remember me telling you about the Summoners? How my father chose his strongest guards and made them his chosen warriors?”

Emberline went still, as if she’d expected this line of questioning, and a creeping dread filled my gut.

“What’s happening to your brother is what happens to them,” he explained, stroking the back of her hand. “When they transform.”

She ripped out of his grasp and backed away, shaking her head. “No. This is something else. It has to be something else.”

“When my father’s dark magic enters a vampire, his power corrupts the body. Turns the flesh black, spreading through healthy tissue like poison. But there is another side effect. If that vampire possesses any form of magic, my father is able to find that gift and harness it to his own use. And your brother possesses a powerful magic, Emberline. A rare magic.”

I pushed off the wall, suddenly alert, my mind spinning in all directions.

“Luca’s ability to read minds would be invaluable to my father. Imagine what he could do with that.” He paused, searching my face long enough for me to fully absorb his meaning. “Imagine what he’s already done.”

Gods. We did have a spy.

All this time, Luca had been feeding everything right back to Blackwood. Not just the conversations he overheard, but every single secret he’d plucked out of our heads without us even knowing.

My mind raced, going back over this past week, every conversation and meeting, every fucking thought that had floated through my head.

“There’s a chance he won’t survive this change, but if he does, if Luca becomes one of my father’s chosen ones, he will…”

“Don’t.” The word ripped out of her lips, her hands held out in front of her as if she could somehow stave off the truth. “Don’t you dare tell me there’s no hope because I won’t give up on him.” She spun wildly between us, tears spilling down her face. “I’ll never give up on my brother.”

She stared at Nico for a long moment. Her jaw worked.

“Now move. I’m going back in there.”

Then she turned and walked back into the infirmary, and I stepped aside to let her.

CHAPTER 51

DANTE

Three Days Later

Emberline stopped eating. Sure, she thought pushing food around her plate would fool me, but I’d learned every trick my wife had up her sleeve.

Because I was a reasonable male, I let it go for one day.

Then two.