Page 149 of Devoted

Behind me, something metal snapped, the crack rending the air like a gunshot.

A warning shout from one of the guards and there was Dante, up on his feet, one shackle still bolted around his wrist, the bench ring broken, the expression on his face as he crawled toward me… heartbreaking.

Determined. Ruined. Feral.

But all this iron sapped all his strength down to that of a mortal.

And every inch cost him.

“Don’t. Touch… her again,” he snarled, dragging himself toward me. “I might have iron in my skin, but if any of you touch her again…” Dante’s fire kept trying to burst free, only to be doused by the pins and the shackles and the mountain of iron around us, this cage we’d never escape.

“Make sure the big bastard doesn’t get up again.” The blunt-faced guard ordered, and I began to crawl, inching toward him as a slew of guards surrounded my husband, clubs coming down again and again in fast, sharp strikes, wood thudding against muscle, until blood stained the metal deck, and he stopped moving.

“Stop… stop hurting him.”

A boot sank deep into my gut, flipping me over on the deck, the world spinning.

We’d never make it to Venice.

We were all going to die on this godsdamned boat in the middle of the sea, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

Reeking breath spilled over me, and I opened my eyes. The sadistic guard was right in my face, grinning like a maniac. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you. Time for another swim.” He jerked his head, and the two guards grabbed my arms, hauling me toward the railing.

From the other side of the deck, a bloodied Gabriel and Nico yanked against their bindings, helpless to break free.

“I love you,” I whispered. “Take care of Dante. If you can.”

Then I tipped over the side, and the black water consumed me. Cold was everywhere, outside and inside, smothering the air from my lungs faster than before, and I released my last breath of air.

I would have liked to see Venice again.

See Luca—my brother—again, the way he was.

I would have liked to have a future with the men I loved and trusted and never would have found but for a broken vow at the altar and a promise of revenge.

The lights went out.

CHAPTER 56

NICO

This time when they dragged Emberline up from the water, she didn’t make a sound.

There was no gasping for air, no wet, drowning rattle.

She lay limp on the deck, hair plastered to her face, skin as white as mountain snow. Like the night we’d pulled her out of that basement, and it had taken Emilia’s magic to bring her back from the dead. I strained against the shackles, the chain slipping through the ring, link by link as I gained one foot, then another.

“Let me fucking help her,” I screamed. “Let me do something.”

Face down on the deck in a puddle of blood and water, Dante groaned, struggling to push himself upright, massive arms shaking for a moment as he managed to lift his head… only to collapse, unconscious.

Three of the guards were laughing.

Malicious, cruel laughter. The kind I’d heard my entire childhood, living in that castle outside of Rome. The laughter of bored, weak males who only found enjoyment in pain.

And then I felt the world shift.

Like stepping through a sheet of ice, we passed through the containment ward keeping my powers locked down. The vise around my chest loosened, the darkness inside of me unfurling like a thundercloud.