And she had to see him for the snake he was, not the trusted uncle who’d raised her.
“Even with Giovanni’s urging,” I went on, “Salvatore still had reservations about Marcello, who couldn’t risk losing the title. So, he went to the one D’Immortali family strong enough to alter minds and futures.”
“The DiSangue Order,” Ember whispered.
Nico grunted. “With the right spell, their priests can twist a man’s thoughts. Strip his will. Control him.”
“How do you even know all this?” Ember demanded.
“I had a source I trusted implicitly,” I said. “He showed me written proof, from how Marcello killed Lorenzo to bribing the priests to how he murdered his own father. Fifty years ago, this source was planning to go public, and I swore to support him. As heir to the Dynasty, my word carried some weight back then.”
“Was that…” She licked her lips. “That was when Marcello made you disappear.”
“I didn’t disappear because I disobeyed my sire. I disappeared because I discovered the truth of who my father really is. You aren’t the only one who wants revenge,tesoro. I am owed fifty years of blood and suffering.”
For a moment, Ember and I stared at each other.
“Wearealigned in our motives. More so than you know. My father has to be stopped.” I paused. “But there is someone even more dangerous who presents a bigger threat.”
“A few days after Marcello’s ascension ceremony,” Nico interrupted, going back to the story, “Salvatore was found dead in his study.”
“And no one investigated?” The mug in her hands trembled, coffee sloshing up and over the rim, dripping onto the table.
“According to my source, a few tried, but in those early days, Marcello consolidated power quickly. With Giovanni acting as his consigliere, Purging became his favorite tool. Anyone who questioned the legitimacy of his succession disappeared, along with their entire line.”
I rubbed my throbbing temples, willing the headache building behind my eyes to stop, not that it would. Because this wasn’t even the worst of the family secrets.
This was only the beginning.
47
DANTE
“And what is…this?” Ember waved her hand between us. “The two of you, plotting together. What’s this all about?”
“Oh, this?” Nico’s lazy smile just grew wickeder. “Just a friendly little revolt, meant to expose centuries of corruption and install a new Don, one who’s not rotten to the core.”
Emberline’s eyes landed on me, her mouth parting slightly.
“Gods, no, not me.” I shook my head. “Gabriel. My brother is the future of this Dynasty. He has the training, the knowledge, and the temperament. You know me.” I shot her a smile to try to ease the tension in the room. “I’d just burn it all down and start over.”
“Or dance in the ashes.” Ember leveled that incendiary glare on Nico, and the hardened soldier actuallyflinched. “So, youandGabrielandmy husband are working together? For how long?”
“For over ten years,” I confessed. “As you know, Draconi soldiers are trained in the pits. Minimum two years before they are seriously considered for the Brotherhood.”
“Five years to become a Vendetarri,” Nico told her with a wink. “I even have a fancy scar to show for my efforts. Do you want to see? I’ll have to take my shirt off, though.”
I leveled my own glare at the asshole, daring him to show my wifeanypart of his body he didn’t want to lose.
“Nico faced me in a fight, recognized me…”
“Barely,” he snorted into his coffee, “you were pretty beat to shit.”
“There is no escaping the pits, and my sire was paying to keep me imprisoned there. After I made contact with Nico, I had a good reason to stay alive. While I was busy surviving, Nico passed messages between Gabriel and me. I told them everything I knew. We started to plan.”
“But planning took time,” Nico admitted. “We had to move slowly because there were spies everywhere. Our… source was growing nervous that he was being watched.”
“I’d been in the pits for almost fifty years when Gabriel bribed one of the guards.” My voice was shaking, just talking about that brutal place, my palms sweaty.
