Page 52 of Devoted

18

EMBERLINE

Six of us occupied the main sitting room overlooking the sea, doors wide open to the terrace. Moonlight and salt air spilled through the tall windows, turning the marble floors silver and the atmosphere haunted. Beyond the glass, the Adriatic stretched out into darkness, turquoise blue swallowed by a starless night.

Normally I loved this room. The view. The simplicity.

Today, everyone looked exhausted.

Not surprising when every conversation found its way back to Blackwood and his monsters and the impossible odds we faced.

Odds that kept building, no matter what we did.

I was haunted by everything—my brother’s absence, Nico’s secrets, my mother’s final, unsettling words I’d been picking apart, arranging into increasingly disturbing meanings.

Wondering if they held any meaning at all.

I lingered beside Nico near the unused fireplace, still half-lost in last night’s dream, fingers wrapped around a mug of tea that had long since gone cold.

“Emilia is our strongest ally. They’ll be expecting a rescue attempt,” I explained again, sounding like a broken record. “Our way is cleaner. And does not risk lives.” I looked sternly around the room, and Nico winked, his smirk edged with an extra dose of male smugness.

I blushed, heat climbing up my neck.

I still couldn’t believe what we’d done.

Couldn’t believe I wanted to do it all over again.

Across from me, Dante’s huge form overflowed one of the armchairs, an ankle resting on his knee in a casual stance. His expression remained carefully neutral, but his attention was fixed on me with predatory focus.

My husband stopped short of telling me what to do—smart male—but every line of his body was rigid with tension, his fingers tapping methodically on the arm of the chair, twin flames flickering in his eyes.

Gabriel was no better, leaning against the wall to my right, arms crossed, mouth pinched against the arguments he’d made over and over, and I’d dismissed just as many times.

I was determined to have my way on this, no matter how long I had to argue.

The dreamworld was—comparatively—safer than this one. And the chances anyone would even know we were there were nil. There was no downside to this. None.

“The first thing we should do is…”

Words failed me as Luca appeared in the doorway, butchered hair mussed, dark circles under his eyes, his skin paler than I’d ever seen it. The room—everything faded away. All I saw was my brother—shuffling toward me like a hundred-year-old male.

“Luca.” I crossed the distance between us before I even realized I’d moved, but Valeria got to him first, looping her arm around his waist, peering up into his eyes.

“Come on,” she murmured. “Sit down before you fall down.”

She settled him onto the couch, and I noted his long-sleeved shirt hid the exact place where that spot of blood had been. Secrets. More godsdamned secrets. We were drowning in them.

“I’m fine.” He dragged his fingers over his scalp, then frowned, remembering half his hair was gone, thanks to Nico. “I’m just…” He waved a hand in the air. “Don’t let me interrupt you. Carry on, sister.”

“We were discussing how to wake up Emilia. So, you came at the right time.” I worked to keep my tone even, pouring Luca some water, trading a long, worried look with Dante as I handed my brother the glass.

A healer. My brother needed a healer, and Valeria had the very best in the Dynasty. Skilled and patient, they could fix any ailments, mend any wounds.

“The dreamworld bypasses most physical limitations of the mortal world,” Nico murmured, distracted by my brother, brow pinched together in concentration. “Once we can locate Emilia, I’m confident I can undo the spell locking her into stasis. The wards protecting the temple are formidable, as we all know. But the dream realm is different. We’ll slip inside her dreams without anyone noticing. Even if Blackwood was the one to seal her mind… I can unravel his spell.”

My brother lifted the glass to his lips and drank, throat bobbing.

Gabriel frowned. “And if something goes wrong?”