“That’s a big assumption.” I was already shaking my head. “Giovanni will…”
What? Put on diving gear and do a search and rescue mission of the entire lagoon?
Highly doubtful.
“Okay.” I was nodding. “Okay, maybe thiscouldpotentially work.”Except for the part about me hiding away, which didn’t fit at all into my plans.“How can we use tonight to our advantage?”
“Advantage?” Dante’s entire body shuddered, like he’d been hit by lightning. “Youweredead,” he snarled, the words tearing out of his mouth like he couldn’t stop them. “You fuckingdiedin my arms, Emberline. I thought…” He swallowed, throat bobbing. “I thought I lost you. I used my magic, I tried to drag you back to the world, but Icouldn’t.” Fear thrashed in his wild eyes, like he was fighting to master himself and failing.
I covered his hand with mine. “You’re wrong. You did drag me back.”
I’d stood in front of that wide-open veil, the darkness beyond beckoning me to cross over, and I couldn’t. Not without Dante.
I didn’t know if that made me a coward or the most selfish female ever born, but there it was. The sad and rather pitiful truth. I was wholly, completely, tragically in love with Dante Dominico. He was the real reason I’d come back from the dead—well, outside of the magic and the blood and the forbidden ritual.
Him.
“I’m sorry.” I touched his face. “I’ll limit my resurrections in the future. Emilia was right, they seem… to leave me feeling a bit messy.”
“So, we have a plan.” Nico was studying me with entirely too much intensity. “Emberline goes into hiding, and Giovanni will waste time and energy wondering where her body went and will scramble to cover up his sins. Let’s figure out how to keep the pressure on.”
Giovanni believed his secrets were safe.
He was wrong.
56
EMBERLINE
The house smelled like dust and old plaster, and I’d never been so relieved to come home in my life. Dante kept an arm around my waist as the wards fell into place with a reassuring hum. Nico slipped in behind us, inky black shadows curling around his boots before sinking into the faded floorboards.
I gave in to my overwhelming urge and threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you,” I sniffed, blinking back tears as I hugged him. “Thank you for saving me.”
“He only helped,” Dante grumbled. “I did the actual saving.”
“It was a team effort.” Nico chuckled, patting me on the back, making no move to end our embrace until I stepped away. Then he adjusted the blanket, something tender in his expression. “Good to have you back, principessa. You do liven things up around here.”
“I get it,liven things up.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Wait. I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
“Now you’re catching on.” He tweaked my nose, and Dante growled, a low, aggravated sound that had Nico rolling his eyes and me searching for something clever to say and coming up empty.
“Upstairs,” Dante ordered, not waiting for an argument. One arm slid under my knees, the other around my back,and suddenly I was off my feet, cradled against his strong chest, biting back a sigh.
I was safe.
Safe because Dante would never let anything happen to me.
Relief and exhaustion turned my bones to lead, dragging my eyelids closed, turning my thoughts to soup…
So heavy. Can’t breathe. Can’t think.
I shivered at the too-vivid flash of memory—smothering dark water, the moment I’d released that last breath of air from my burning lungs and knew it was over.
For a heartbeat, the house vanished, and everything rushed back in—the crushing weight, the cold, the certainty this was the end, that there would be no second chances.
My fingers tightened reflexively on his arm, and Dante readjusted his grip, pulling me closer until all I heard were his heartbeats, hard and steady.
“I’ve got you, and I’m not letting you go,” he promised. “You’re safe with me. You will always be safe with me. Breathe,tesoro, just breathe.”
