Terror punched through me, cold and sharp. “Dante.” His name scraped out of my burned throat. “Was he?—?”
Nico’s hands around my arms tightened. “He should still be at the palazzo with your uncle.”
“You don’t know that.” I yanked away, but he held on, his gaze slightly wild as he looked me over, breath coming faster, heart racing as fast as mine.
Then his nose flared, eyes narrowing on my sliced-open hand. “Saints, you’re hurt. Fuck, Emberline, you’re burned. And your hand is bleeding. Bad. Here, let me.” He ripped off the bottom of his shirt, dropped to his knees in front of me, and bound up my hand, fingers deft and gentle as a strange numbness took over.
Dante can’t be dead. He can’t be.
Why am I so numb? Shock. I’m going into shock.
“He wasn’t inside, I’m sure of it,” Nico insisted, watching my face as if expecting me to collapse into tears.
There were mortal voices rising from the street as neighbors stumbled out, still in nightclothes, screaming. A few brave humans hurled buckets of water at the edge of the flames, as if something so vicious could be tamed.
“We were attacked,” I realized, my foggy brain like soup. “How did you know I was in trouble?”
“I was close by. Dante asked me to keep an eye on you.” Nico’s gaze never left the blaze. The orange light carved hard angles into his face, bringing out every regal line. He was coated in black soot, the ends of his hair frazzled, his clothing ruined. “Whoever did this invested an obscene amount of power to ensure complete destruction. This wasn’t a message.”
I swallowed. “It was an execution.”
“Yes, it was.” Smoke curled up into the sky, a dark banner everyone in this city would see.
Apublicexecution.
My pulse hammered in my ears. Marcello and Giovanni…they knew.
They knew Dante was a threat. As far as my uncle was concerned, I was already out of the picture, but my husband… he was a loose end to be eliminated. Another surge of blinding fear choked me.
“Don’t look like that. Dante is unkillable.” Nico stated this like an indisputable fact. “He survived the pits for fifty years, Ember. It will take more than a few blocks of C-4 to get rid of him. He’s still at the palazzo, putting on his wronged-husband act for Giovanni.”
I stewed over that for a moment and decided he was probably right.
But I had to see him in the flesh to know for sure.
“What do you mean… keeping an eye on me?”
Nico’s mouth curled. “I was on a nearby roof when the ward fell,principessa. In case you decided to take matters into your own hands again.”
I must have looked offended because he threw his head back and laughed, teeth bright against his filthy face. “Your husband doesn’t trust you as far as he can throw you. Neither do I.AndI watched you snoop through his desk.” He waggled his burned-off eyebrows at me. “Find anything interesting? Love notes from old girlfriends?”
“I almost died in an explosion, and you’re making jokes?”
“Is it too soon?” he asked, perfectly serious.
“Way too soon. I need to find him.” I peered toward the family palazzo. “Make sure he’s okay.” A flicker of fear went through me as I realized this fire was visible from all over the city. Surely, Dante would have seen it by now?
“You’re supposed to be dead, remember?” Nicoreminded me drily. “It might ruin the illusion, having you walk into your palazzo, asking about your dear husband. We could say you were a ghost,” he suggested. “A wraith come back from the Underworld, and we’d only be half lying.”
This time, Ialmostlaughed. The sound came out raw instead.
“What are you looking at?”
Nico was squinting hard at the fire, a strange expression on his face. “I thought I saw…” He shook his head. “Never mind, I’m seeing things. Just the wards finally disintegrating. I’m sure it’s nothing.” But he kept staring, that deep furrow between his brow.
The vise around my chest clenched.Someone tried to kill my husband.
Our enemies wanted to send a message?
