Page 142 of Devoted

“But we’re not done for yet,” I assured her. “We’re pinned down at the moment, but all we need is one opening. We’ll head to the cove, and from there…”

From there… what?

If we had a boat, we might be able to get clear of the island, get far enough out into the water to dematerialize, but where would we go? Where did we even have to go?

“Luca?” she murmured. “My brother?”

“He’s… alive. Blackwood needs Luca’s body, so he won’t let anything happen to him.” That was the best I had to offer in a shit situation. I had no idea how to get her off this island, had no idea what even to do next.

“What about Valeria?”

We all looked at each other. Gabriel shook his head.

“I haven’t seen her since the attack started. With luck, she’s still in the city or had enough warning to get somewhere safe.”

“Dante.” Gabriel’s hissed warning was the only heads-up I got before three Ashbound came over the wall, followed by a dozen Drax, mandibles clicking. I couldn’t do anything about those little fuckers, but…

I set Emberline down behind me, then fire engulfed me, heat sheeting off my skin, raced up my arms, forming a wall of devouring flames between us and the threats.

The front line of Ashbound crashed straight into it, cracking and crumbling, falling into ashy heaps of bone. The Drax surged through my fire, the perfect targets for Nico’s shadows to sweep through the burning gap and rip through the cluster of Drax with quiet, precise efficiency.

But there were more coming. So many more.

Somewhere behind us, Luca—Blackwood—laughed, the sound even louder than the roar of the villa collapsing, louder than the blood pounding in my ears.

Then the pain hit.

Agony consumed me whole, and much like what I’d suffered in the Fossa, this rolled through me in relentless waves, one after another, too fast for me to catch my breath. I crashed to my knees, unrelenting pressure stealing my vision, wiping away every last thought inside my head.

Nico made the same, choked sound beside me, and I knew Blackwood was using Luca to worm inside our heads, twist our minds like he was wringing out a sponge. The pain was… I heaved, liquid spewing from my mouth into the sandy ground.

Pressure built and built, the world darkened around the edges, and then two pairs of hands gripped me roughly and I couldn’t…I couldn’t…

Something sharp and hot pierced my back, the top of my shoulder.

Another agonizing stab in my arm.

At the base of my neck.

The foul taste of metal coated my tongue in thick, gagging layers, my strength draining away like someone pulled the plug, the demon at my center going suddenly silent, as if he’d been bottled up.

Cold iron.

I registered what was happening a half second too late—the numbing bite in my flesh, around my wrists and ankles, the nausea that followed, my fiery magic guttering like a candle in a high wind. They’d driven iron pins into me, where I couldn’t reach them, couldn’t dig them out.

Then I’d been shackled. With the same chains they used at the Fossa.

As long as I had this iron in me, my magic was worthless.

On my right, I heard Nico’s sharp inhale, then Gabriel’s, then the pain in my head slowly eased off, and I became acutely aware of my situation. Our situation.

Shackled, pinned with iron, face down in the dirt.

Naked, courtesy of the demon.

Nico and Gabriel were on the ground beside me, boots planted between their shoulder blades to keep them down. I couldn’t see Emberline. Because of the iron, I couldn’t sense her, only smell the faint trace of her scent in the air around us, fresh and clean above the reeking breath of dozens of Drax, rocking forward and back on those spindly legs, like they were waiting for the command to start feasting.

We were so fucked.