Page 106 of Devoted
Wilder. Salt-drenched, the air hung heavy with the sweetness of purple flowering vines and sea grapes dripping over the smooth edges of the towering walls of the cove, framing the slender waterfall spilling into turquoise-green water.
Like a secret the island had been keeping, just for us.
And maybe it had been.
My old boots dangled from two fingers, hair still damp and curling, smelling of the sea. Dante’s hand was clasped around mine, his thumb tracing absent circles against my palm as he splashed through the frothy waves.
Dark, wild, his hair blew over his face, eyes shining, turned toward the sea.
For once, my husband looked completely unguarded.
Younger. Like he might have looked if he hadn’t been imprisoned half his life.
The afternoon light slanted through the palms, dappling the path in front of us, and ahead of us, Nico said something that made Gabriel laugh—a real laugh—and my heart swelled.
Everything was just… perfect.
It had been months since I felt this free.
Like the Dynasty and the danger and the war were a world away. And maybe these past hours had been stolen, but if I could have stolen more, I would have. We all needed reminding, I told myself, of what it feels like to really live. To love.
“I still say you cheated, you bastard,” Nico announced, glancing back over his shoulder at us, shadows curling lazily around his fingers.
“Say what you will, but I won, fair and square.” Gabriel sounded amused, the tension that usually lined every word gone, a grin deepening that dimple in his chin. “You’re just a sore loser, like always.”
“You absolutely cheated.” Nico drew back. “Nobody gets four kings in one single hand. Nobody.”
I tugged Dante closer. “What are they arguing over?”
“Some ridiculous card game from twenty fucking years ago. Every so often it comes up, and then…”
“Luck favored me that night. Not my fault you got dealt a shitty hand and ended up with empty pockets. And besides, who the fuck even cares?” Gabriel’s eyes were shining when they caught mine. “If you want the hundred ducats, I’ll give them to you. Hell, I’ll give you twenty thousand.”
“It’s the principle of the thing,” Nico insisted. “Because there is no way…”
“Stop,” I called, both of them turning, Gabriel still grinning, despite those shadows curling ominously around Nico. “If either of you ruins a perfectly good day arguing over something that happened years ago, I will shove you off this path.”
“She means it,” Dante confirmed pleasantly.
“She definitely means it,” Nico agreed, throwing an arm over Gabriel’s shoulders. “You still cheated. Asshole.”
I shook my head, the sun beating down on my shoulders, every muscle loose in a way it hadn’t been in longer… than I could remember. The cove had worked miracles for all of us, a respite we’d all needed.
I squeezed Dante’s hand, and he squeezed back without looking at me, as if he already knew what I was thinking.
“I want to go there again,” I murmured. “Tomorrow. Actually, I want us to live there forever.”
“If only we could, tesoro.” He lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to my palm, eyes dancing with emotion. “I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time. It makes my heart hurt and not in a bad way.”
The path turned to rock, curving upward, and we stopped so I could slip on my boots. Above us, the villa’s terracotta rooftop appeared between the trees, and the warm, lazy contentment in my chest shifted into something tighter.
There were decisions to make, decisions we’d been putting off, but I wasn’t alone in feeling we’d run out of time. Blackwood was forcing our hand, and we had to be ready.
The back of the villa was open, every door thrown wide to catch the ocean breeze; that was the only reason I heard the sound in the first place.
Sobbing.
And not the polite, quiet kind. The raw, hopeless kind when someone can’t hold themselves together a moment longer. I stopped walking, Dante’s hand tightening around mine.
