Page 57 of Devoted

Emilia stared at her, black eyes full of deadly threat before the corner of her mouth turned up.

“Always finding a way around the rules, aren’t you?”

“More like always wondering why rules exist in the first place.” Emberline managed a shaky smile. “It’s good to see you, Emilia. We need your help.”

“Ah. Now that makes more sense.” She frowned at me, tipping her head to take in the shadows covering the floor. “You need me to rebind the spell, I see. How long was I out?”

“Weeks, as far as we know, but could have been longer. Vincenzo has been keeping you well guarded, but…” I paused, knowing what I was about to say would send her into an absolute rage. “It wasn’t your sons who put you in stasis. It was Blackwood.”

“My sons,” she spat. “They aren’t actually…” She frowned, gaze turning inward, as if searching for the truth. “The last thing I remember was dinner with Paolo and Vincenzo and… the wine was too sweet. Cloying. I should have recognized the signs, but one gets complacent when they trust the wrong vampires. My mistake.”

So her own sons had drugged her, and Blackwood had incapacitated her.

Well, there’d be hell to pay now.

“They can’t know it was us who woke you up,” I explained the obvious. “No one can know about Emberline being inside your dream. Or me. Tell them you broke the spell yourself.”

“Oh, I’ll keep your secrets if you keep mine. If anyone knew I was taken down by too-sweet wine in my own home by my own godsdamned… sons, I’d never hear the end of it. So, Blackwood is still allied with Giovanni?”

Her words dripped with venom, and I almost felt sorry for those two fuckers. Almost.

This time I kept my arm behind Emilia as she sat up slower, bracing her hands on the edge of the altar.

“He is, and things have gotten worse.” I briefly recapped the past month, Emberline chiming in occasionally until we caught her up on current events.

“Everyone’s been busy in my absence, I see. Can’t leave you lot unsupervised for a minute, can I?” Emilia inhaled slowly, like she was trying to get her bearings, then smiled. An all-teeth-and-fangs sort of smile that made me very happy I wasn’t the one who conspired against her.

“Good thing I’m awake to put this Dynasty back in order. Starting with Cesare Blackwood.”

Just the sound of his name sent a shudder spiking into the deepest, darkest part of me, the place where all my secrets were buried.

Secrets that would never see the light of day.

“He nearly executed Gabriel. And Rocco,” I cautioned. “He’s dangerous, Emilia.”

“You don’t say?” Her voice was perfectly calm. “Well, then it’s time he learns he’s not the biggest shark in the sea. Come find me tomorrow morning. I’ll grant you safe passage onto my island, and we’ll have a much-needed chat. And a big breakfast.”

“What are you planning to do in the meantime?” I asked.

Her wolfish smile only widened.

“First? Put my own house to rights.” Then Emilia’s grin faded away into the shadows, leaving behind a wisp of smoke and an empty altar.

“What… where did she go?”

“She woke up. In the real world,” I clarified, Emberline staring at that empty spot, her mouth slightly ajar. “Now we have to wake up, too.”

“How do we do that?”

“Outside this place, for sure. Waking up in a known location from the real world has been known to… cause problems.” I caught her hand in mine and headed across the main floor of the temple, heading for the exit.

Toward the comparative safety of the shifting mists.

I would let Emberline wake first so I knew she was safe, then once I was sure nothing followed us back… I’d leave this place. Let it shrink to a pinprick in my consciousness…until the next time.

I felt lighter, my breaths came easier, and every footstep was strangely silent as we hurried for that exit.

Emilia was back. Finally, something had gone right.