But that was the real world.
In here, I was choking on magic and the reek of coppery blood, trapped in a place where I had no power, no way to break free. All I could manage right now was to try to survive…What had he called this? An invoked circle?
“What are you doing to me? This is gettingworse,” I slurred, my tongue thick.
Heat flared where our palms were pressed together. Dante’s hand closed around mine with unyielding strength, rough and calloused, never letting go.
“Hang on,tesoro mio, it’s only the pagan magic forging our bond. This is nearly over.”
I tried to focus on his words but couldn’t as rough, primitive magic coiled around us like a chain, looping, tightening, knotting itself through muscle and marrow and bone.What the fuck had I agreed to?
“By blood and vow and witness, you are bound. It is done,” the priest intoned mechanically.
The second that last word crossed his lips, I collapsed to the floor, a faint glow of magic prickling my skin.
What had he done to me?
I was bound to a stranger. To some brutal, feral stranger with his fighting scars, pagan magic, and burning, blue eyes full of vengeance. My carefully constructed plan—marry Gabriel, infiltrate the Dominicos, sabotage them from within—lay in ashes.
The barrier shattered like breaking glass.
Voices crashed over us—angry, shouted orders for us to kneel, to put our hands behind our heads…Wait, maybe those were only for Dante, not me… the guards staggering around as if they’d been drugged.
Luca was screaming inside my head,Ember, what should I do? I’m going to get you out of here, I’ll…But my gaze flew to my uncle, to the prim, satisfied smile on his face, like this had been his plan all along.
Marcello surged forward, only to be cut off as Gabriel took one step toward me, face ashen.
Then he stopped, his expression hardening to stone when he saw our bloody hands still somehow pressed together. The priest’s red-stained blade.
The deed done.
My stomach twisted violently as I yanked my hand out of Dante’s, blood splattering across my white dress, the floor, and up the front of Gabriel’s suit.Fucking gods, what a disaster. For a moment, our eyes caught, the cut on my palm throbbing in time with my heart, every panicked beat crashing against my ribs.
“You have no idea what you’ve ruined tonight,” Gabriel whispered, voice shredded.
“On the contrary.” Dante’s voice was rougher now, the edges scraped raw by whatever that ritual had done to him. “For the first time in a century, I know exactly what I’m doing, brother.” He looked down at me in a way that mademe want to sink a blade into his throat, twist, and watch the life drain out of him.
“A word of advice. She belongs to me now,” he snarled, like a dog warning the rest of the pack away from his kill. “Emberline ismine.Anyone who touches her, anyone who so much as looks at her wrong is dead, and that includes every one of you fuckers in this room.”
Then the world turned upside down, the air punching out of my lungs as the bastard tossed me over his shoulder and stalked out of the chapel.
26
EMBERLINE
Dante’s shoulder dug into my stomach as he carried me out of the chapel and into the night.
I thrashed and kicked, fists beating at his back, legs all tangled in the skirt of my ridiculous white dress, the fucking corset crushing my ribs. Marble floors flashed past, wall sconces became streaks of gold, and the muffled roar of shouting swelled behind us—then we were outside with the storm tearing at my hair, rain soaking my back.
“Put me down,” I hissed, hammering my fists into his rock-solid back. “You arrogant, egotistical, fucking…”
His rough hand tightened around the back of my bare thighs, callouses scratching, “Keep fighting, piccola.” He chuckled, like rough silk over broken glass. “Give them a good show.”
I froze.
Because suddenly, I heard the footsteps rushing behind us, the hushed whispers. The discreet click of a cell phone camera. Another click, followed by more frantic whispering. The Dominico family did not air their dirty laundry in public.
Except, apparently, tonight.
