Page 154 of Devoted

I wasn’t afraid of the Emissary or my magic.

And I wasn’t afraid to kill my father.

CHAPTER 58

EMBERLINE

Emilia’s temple had never looked as good as it did right now, rising out of the water like a broken stone shard against the star-filled sky.

The low-lying island was little more than a dark smear against a bruised horizon, no lights or fires to mark the rocky bump as anything other than completely uninhabited. Exactly how Emilia wanted it.

“There, cut to the right.” Nico pointed, his other hand braced on the railing, the wind peeling his long hair back from his face.

There had been a moment between us—more like a split second—where I thought I’d glimpsed something behind his eyes. Some dark, vast emptiness staring down at me, a connection taking shape before he’d looked away.

I shook my head.

I was exhausted and was imagining things.

“Dante.” I shook my sleeping husband, and his snoring cut off a second before he opened his eyes, blinking owlishly at me as if he wasn’t quite sure where we were. “We’re almost to Emilia’s; we’ll be tying up soon.”

Torches sprang to life around a stone dock as Gabriel swung us around, cutting the engine to a low idle as he made the turn. At the end of the stone pier, a dozen figures waited in silence—priests in their dark robes, hoods pushed back to reveal their glowing crimson sigils, and scattered among them were the white linen of the healers, unmistakable in the dark.

“Huh. What do you know? Looks like she was expecting us,” I murmured, rolling my eyes at Nico’s I-told-you-so grin.

At their center, still as a statue, her dark hair piled immaculately high, stood Emilia, completely focused on the iron boat as we slid up along the dock, Nico tossing a rope to the waiting priests. She stepped to the edge of the pier, her red dress barely moving in the windless night, lips curled back in distaste.

“All this iron is making me ill. I want this foul thing off my shores as soon as possible.”

“Never fear, I’m on it.” Nico strode up to the front and jumped from the bow to the dock, mooring line in hand. “As soon as everyone is offloaded, I’m sinking this fucker in the middle of the lagoon.”

“Help the injured up first,” Emilia told the healers, gesturing at Valeria, slumped against the cabin wall, something like pity in her expression blooming before she smoothed it away.

“I know there’s a lot of blood, but she’s not injured,” I whispered, climbing out of my husband’s warm lap and taking Nico’s outstretched hand. “Not physically, anyway.”

Emilia’s dark gaze cut to mine. “Bring her up first, anyway. We will treat her inside.”

Two healers descended into the boat and helped Valeria to her feet. She went without protest, moving like a sleepwalker through a dream.

“Up you go, princess.” Nico pulled me onto the dock one-handed, and I’d never been so happy to feel solid ground under my feet. Finally on land, some of my nausea eased off, my legs feeling incrementally steadier. Dante followed me up, giving the boat a baleful glare.

“Sink it somewhere deep,” Gabriel told Nico, already scanning the dark water beyond the island.

“I’ll take it out past the northern point.” Nico leapt back onto the deck. “Somewhere it can rot for the next millennium. Let our disappearance be a mystery that keeps Giovanni up at night.”

“Evil.” Gabriel’s eyes shone. “I like it.”

Dante cast off the lines, and Nico reversed away from the dock, the engine running at a whisper until he reached open water and opened up the throttle, leaving a wake behind him as he roared into the darkness.

“Come,” Emilia said simply. “You need to rest. There is food and drink, and I have a place for you to sleep after my healers have looked you over and you’ve eaten something.”

Gods, I could have hugged the prickly High Priestess right now, and as if she could read my mind, her whole body stiffened.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hug you, even though I want to.”

“I’m not exactly the hugging type.” But she was smiling as she turned away, heading for the temple, the hem of her dress whispering over the stones.

“I still might, you know,” I said, following so close, I was nipping at her heels. “Hug you. One of these days. If I can work up the courage.”