Page 53 of Devoted
“You wake us up,” Nico said absently, watching Luca with an unsettling stillness, as if he was seeing something the rest of us weren’t.
“You’ll monitor our heart rates and pulses and adrenaline, and if either of us is in distress, you wake us up and pull us out.” Nico shrugged. “There’s virtually no risk, other than the fact it will be difficult to locate Emilia. Once we find her, unraveling the spell shouldn’t take long.”
“This way, we’re not risking lives,” I took the empty glass from my brother. “We don’t set off any alarms, or engage the priests, or tip off my uncle or Blackwood. With luck, they’ll think she broke through the spell herself, which will only cement her fearsome reputation.”
“Fuck knows she’ll enjoy that,” Nico grumbled.
I set the glass down on the table, turned. Froze.
His eyes unfocused, Luca was rubbing his arm. Up and down.
And I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Nico’s shadows poured across the floor in an inky spill of black.
My vision blurred, chest aching. Luca wasn’t fine. Whatever was wrong with my brother was getting worse, and as soon as we were done here, I was marching him to the infirmary myself.
Dante leaned forward. “It seems you’re leaving out one very important detail, tesoro. Other realms can be far more dangerous than this one.”
“This is the most logical way to wake Emilia up,” I said stubbornly. “Risking everyone’s lives to accomplish the same thing doesn’t make sense. There is virtually no way to get onto that island without a fight, and even if we did reach the temple, they’ll have guards around Emilia, which means engaging them and endangering her.”
“Dream walking isn’t harmless, Emberline.” My husband’s searching gaze locked onto mine, and a shiver went down my spine at that accusing glare. “Have you done this before?”
Shit. If I told him the truth, would that increase my chances or doom them?
When I didn’t immediately answer, he rubbed his temples. “Let me rephrase that. How many times have you done this?”
“A… uhm… few.”
That slow, long inhale was Dante, gathering himself together before he exploded, and I could hardly blame him. We’d promised not to keep secrets, and while I’d never meant to hide my forays into the Underworld from him, neither had I considered… dreams counted.
But the worry in his eyes told me differently.
Dreams mattered very much when it came to my husband.
“I’ve… there’s a place where I always seem to end up. I don’t choose to go there,” I admitted softly. “But my parents are there. I… ask them questions, and I get answers.”
Dante blew out an even longer breath. “So, you’ve seen the darkness beyond the tattered veil.”
“I have.” I tipped my head, suddenly curious. “How do you know about the veil?”
“I’ve been there more times than I can count, wife. But I’ve never taken that final step,” he said quietly.
My curiosity was replaced with something closer to fear as I realized he was talking about the Fossa. About the decades he’d suffered there.
“Dante, I…”
“Once you’re inside a dream, none of us can reach you,” he said, jaw working.
“Nico will be with me the whole time, and we won’t get separated.”
Instead of placating Dante and Gabriel, the information only seemed to agitate them. Even Luca shifted position, gnawing on his thumb, a habit I’d never seen him do before.
“We need Emilia to destroy the Basin,” I announced to the room. “None of us can stand against Blackwood and his guards’ creations. Add Giovanni to the equation and every scenario I’ve come up with leaves us… not in a good place. With Emilia, we’re back on equal footing. We have a chance.”
“I’m not disagreeing with your theory. I’m questioning your methods,” Dante said patiently. “There are other ways to wake her up. Ways that don’t risk your life.”
“But they would risk yours,” I countered, just as patiently. “We can argue about this all day,” I continued, “but in the end, we need Emilia. If Nico and I don’t succeed, then we’ll do it your way. Would that be acceptable?”
For a long second we locked eyes, both of us willing to bend… but only so far.
