Page 170 of Devoted

Every second chafed—listening to hundreds of soldiers laboriously picking their way over broken stone and twisted trees—but they had to be far enough inside that once the fighting started, escape wasn’t an option.

Emberline hadn’t moved an inch, years of training turning her body into a motionless weapon waiting to be sprung, one hand resting on the blade at her hip. Her hair was braided tight, her jaw locked, her shadowed gaze following her uncle until the stone swallowed him whole.

The moment he was out of sight, the bulk of his forces with him, a shifting wall of shadow settled over the center section of the abbey and most of our enemies, cutting Giovanni and his small group off from the rest of their forces.

A shield against sound and smell and sight.

Silence that would buy us ten, fifteen minutes of precious advantage.

The moment Nico dropped that shield in place, I tipped my wife’s face up and kissed her, longing to hold on to her forever but promising myself this was not the last time.

“Stay safe. Do not go after your uncle alone.”

“I actually kind of liked this shirt,” she said ruefully, running her finger over the collar. “Don’t take any chances. Stick to the Ashbound and don’t be a hero.”

I winked. “Being a hero is kind of my thing,” I teased, throwing her own words back at her as Gabriel’s signal floated through the ruins, the trill of a common blackbird.

Now.

I opened my hands and let the demon rise—a roaring, unrestrained transformation that ripped through my bones and covered me in a cloak of fire. Fabric drifted off of me in pieces of ash, and I leapt out over the heads of unsuspecting guards, landing in the center of a knot of Ashbound.

And I began to burn.

War was seldom clean, but my fire cut cleanly through the fire-spirits and guards alike, leaving them on the ground in piles. As if I’d called them to me, more Ashbound came, fire leaking through their cracked faces, falling before me like wheat scythed by a reaper.

Emilia’s priests were as deadly as she’d claimed, taking out the perimeter guards before they could shout a warning, bodies falling, dragged into the shadows before their comrades realized they were even gone.

Gabriel and Emberline went for the Summoners.

I tracked them through the smoke—both of them moving with the same controlled, lethal efficiency. They fought well together, knives flashing, the deadly guards going down before they could access their magic, Gabriel going as far as to cleave off one’s gloved hands as he was in the middle of casting his spell.

Damn, Nico’s shields were good.

Between the priests, Severin’s soldiers, and the three of us, we’d taken out most of their supporting forces within five minutes and so far hadn’t alerted Giovanni. I picked off Ashbound wherever I could, roaming between the fighting and torching the little fuckers before they could do any serious damage. We had a few injured soldiers, but so far, Gio hadn’t noticed his little recovery mission was fucked.

Three Summoners formed a line, and Emberline slipped around Gabriel’s flank, working her way behind them. Two more guards peeled away to intercept her, but I incinerated them with a burst of fire, buying her a few seconds to slip behind the first Summoner and slit his throat.

Gabriel took out a second, then the third.

Not one of them had the chance to use their magic.

And so far, the Drax had yet to make an appearance, thank fuck. I’d had my fill of those little buggers, and if tonight was the night we exterminated them off the face of the earth, all the better.

A patrol of Draconi soldiers flanked a group of guards and Ashbound on the far side of the ruins, and I headed that way, pushing fire into both hands, bearing down on them as soldiers and guards scattered before me.

The Ashbound shrieked as they died, the shrill sound bouncing off Nico’s shield.

“Dante!” My wife’s scream sent me turning, but I was too fucking late.

A swarm of spiders—where the fuck did they even come from—surged up and over the tumbled ruins, clawed feet hissing against stone, mandibles snapping. They gave Nico’s shadows a wide berth, but everything else was fair game.

Including me.

Two of them went airborne, sailing straight through the plume of fire I sent their way, as if caught in a warm updraft.

One landed right beside me.

And because fate was a fickle bitch, the other landed right fucking on top of me.