Page 141 of Devoted

“Neither can I… watch out.”

Gabriel leapt inside the room at the same time Nico sent his magic through the door. Black shadows crashed against black-shelled monsters, spidery forms curling in on themselves, shriveling down to husks until they clogged the hallway.

“What did you do?” Gabriel bore down on Luca. “How many are coming?”

Blackwood smiled. “All of them. Enough, you’ll be leaving this island in shackles or in a box. Either way, you’ll never become Don.”

An explosion roared through the villa, the vibrations moving across the floor and up through my knees, and the windows rattled in their frames. Somewhere outside, someone screamed—not in fear but in pain—a brutal sound that cut off as soon as it began.

“With me,” Gabriel ordered sharply. “Dante.”

I sent a blast of fire through the door, clearing black, curled-up shells the way, Emberline’s head lolling against my shoulder, her legs and arms dangling. She made a small sound, and I pressed my lips to her ear.

“We’re getting you out of here. Hang on.”

Where the fuck we were going, I had no idea, but we had to get clear of this building. Another explosion rocked the foundations, walls swaying as we stumbled down the hall. I looked over my shoulder. Luca stared after us, that leering grin on his face, his entire being glittering with Blackwood’s malice.

Guilt gnawed at me as I ran, Emberline bouncing in my arms as I looked over my shoulder. We were leaving too many others behind. Valeria. The staff. The healers. Innocents who’d helped us. I slowed down, then Gabriel shoved me forward.

“Keep going, don’t you dare stop. We’ll head for the cove. From there, we’ll…”

A pause. Something in Gabriel’s face shifted, his eyes widening fractionally.

“Move,” he roared, “As fast as you can.”

I followed the line of his stare, out through the windows to the rocky coastline, where Drax swarmed up over the sand, heading for the villa. So many that the ground was completely covered in black. Behind them, uniformed guards materialized, charging up the hill toward us.

“Head for the trees. We can make it,” Gabriel panted, shoving me ahead of him as all around us the trees shook and swayed from the vibrations of thousands of approaching feet.

“We have to.”

Behind us, in the last light of the day, the villa was still burning.

Not all of it was gone, but most. Orange flames spilled through broken windows, smoke pouring out behind, and the screaming was already dying off, along with the last of the staff and Valeria’s loyal soldiers.

Three surviving healers were huddled into a frightened knot, surrounded by a sea of waiting Drax. Blackwood’s guards dragged a male out of the burning skeleton of the villa, dropped him on the ground, and snapped their fingers. The creatures dove for their meal, and his howls stopped immediately.

We were cornered, cut off from the path leading into the jungle, trapped against a solid wall of rock to our back, the burning villa to our left, and a hungry army everywhere else.

Nico’s shadows were writhing at his fingertips, his jaw set in a stiff, determined line. Out in the open, he could transform; the question was… this close, would any of us survive it?

I knew he was asking himself the same question; otherwise, he’d already be the Emissary. The problem was, we had nowhere to go if things went wrong.

“There are more coming.” Gabriel peered past me to the beach. “And they’re not stopping. He really did send everyone. Blackwood’s personal guard. Ashbound behind them. And more Drax than I can count. We need a plan.” His voice was controlled, flat. Devoid of everything except purpose.

“Nico and I take out the closest guards. The Summoners. Then Nico turns into the fucking Grim Reaper and kills every last one of those nasty little fuckers.”

“I can’t,” Nico said miserably. “I still have my shadows, but something’s preventing me from transforming.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s like… my magic is right fucking there. I can almost touch it, but it doesn’t respond. My father knows who I am. What I’m capable of. It’s possible he set up a containment field to keep my power locked down.”

“Like the runed circle he trapped us in before.”

Emberline’s breathy whisper had me dipping my head, running my fingers over her pale face, checking for any sign she was still in pain. But her eyes looked clear, her face pale, and she’d stopped shaking.

“I’m okay. Just…weak.” She looked around, blinking, as if trying to bring the world back into focus. “They found us.”