The Brightest Embers. Jeaniene Frost

had rented a lovely little villa inside the city walls for all of us. Everyone enjoyed it so much that our stay stretched from one week into two, and then two weeks into three. Even Brutus seemed to love it, staying inside during the day and then using his seagull disguise to fish from the nearby Mediterranean Sea at night.

      By our fifth week, I was starting to feel good enough to confront one of my guilt-ridden phobias. “I’m going for a walk,” I told Adrian.

      Both golden brows rose. “A little overdressed for that, aren’t you?”

      I looked down at my lavender silk dress and my high-heeled sandals as if just now realizing I was wearing them. “Eh, maybe,” I said with as much vagueness as I could muster.

      Adrian got up, and his gaze raked over me with a lot more suspicion now. “What are you trying to hide?”

      I almost said, “Nothing!” but then I stopped myself. Why wasn’t I telling him what I was really going to do?

      “I’ve been avoiding churches,” I explained, beating back my inexplicable urge to lie. “Abandoning my destiny made the paranoid part of me wonder if I’d be smote on the spot if I entered one, but I know that’s ridiculous. So, I want to prove it to myself by going to one today.”

      “Oh,” Adrian said. Then his lips began to twitch as if he were fighting not to laugh over my smiting fears. “I’ll go with you.”

      “You don’t have to. This whole thing is silly.”

      “Ivy.” The smile wiped from his face as he came over to me. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, taking my hands. “Silly or serious, if something is bothering you, I want to be there. Whatever it is, we’ll face it together.”

      I squeezed his hands, once again wondering why I’d tried to hide this from him in the first place. “You’re right.”

      Now he smiled, and it warmed me more than the bright day outside. “Let’s see, we didn’t spend much time in Saint Peter’s Basilica before, and it is one of the main attractions here.”

      “Not there,” I said. The basilica felt more like an incredibly elaborate museum than a church. “Saint Stephen’s of the Abyssinians.”

      That reminded me of a more antique version of the church my parents had occasionally taken Jasmine and me to when we were kids. After everything that had happened, I longed to feel the same sort of normalcy I’d felt back then.

      “I don’t think that’s open to the public,” Adrian pointed out. “Unless you want to break in, you might have to pick another one.”

      I gave him an arch look. “I have a way around that. You’ll have to dress up to make it work, though.”

      He chuckled and went to get dressed. When he came out ten minutes later, he wore cream-colored pants, a matching open jacket and a pale blue shirt that made his eyes appear an even more vivid shade of sapphire. Combined with his golden hair, six-six height and face that looked half-angel instead of half-demon, he was so stunning, there was no chance of him going unnoticed.

      “I might have to make you wait outside, or you’ll ruin my plans to blend in,” I said, giving him an admiring stare.

      He came over and tipped the brim of my hat back. “You’re the one everyone will look at,” he said, and bent to give me a deep kiss.

      I broke it off when I found myself thinking about abandoning my plan in favor of spending the day in bed with him. “Behave,” I told him, wiping a smear of my lipstick from his mouth even as it curled into a smirk.

      “Who, me?” he asked with mock innocence. “Always.”

      Right. Behaving wasn’t in his DNA, let alone his personality. Still, he could be incentivized. “You’ll be glad later if you do,” I said in my most suggestive voice.

      Now his grin was every shade of wicked.

      It didn’t take long for us to reach the small chapel. Saint Stephen’s of the Abyssinians might be closed to regular public foot traffic, but it could be rented out for private weddings. Late summer in Rome was apparently a popular time for them, and today had more than one nuptial on the docket. My plan was simple: pretend to be one of the many guests so I could sneak in. When a thick cluster of guests approached the chapel, I grabbed Adrian’s arm, pasted a smile on my face and followed them inside.

      Adrian let me choose our seats, and I picked ones in the back. As I sat down, I found myself tensing. If any of my fears were founded, now would be the time for something awful to happen. Yet as the minutes ticked by, nothing did.

      “See?” Adrian murmured, gently squeezing my hand. “You’re fine, Ivy.”

      Now I felt even sillier for letting my lingering guilt make me so paranoid. “Let’s go, before someone notices that we don’t belong here,” I whispered.

      We left the church. It had been a sunny, beautiful day ten minutes ago, and now that I’d left my irrational fears behind, it seemed even brighter and lovelier. Adrian and I were enjoying a leisurely stroll back toward our villa when I realized that I’d have to find a bathroom sooner rather than later. My previously bunched-up nerves must have given me an upset stomach.

      “I need a bathroom,” I told Adrian. “Have you seen one?”

      Thankfully, he had, and I almost ran inside it. A short time later, I was washing my hands when the bathroom mirror began to ripple in a frightening way.

      I hadn’t broken the mirror when I’d entered because we were on hallowed ground, but it wasn’t too late to fix my mistake. I grabbed the nearest trash can, about to bash it into the mirror, when an all-too-familiar voice said, “Don’t!” Then it went on to say, “I believe we’re long overdue for a chat, Davidian.”

      I paused in midswing. Demetrius, Adrian’s biological father and my arch nemesis, had never wanted to chat before. He’d tried to kill me more times than I could count and held my sister hostage as bait, but one-on-one conversation? That was new. Still, it was daylight and I was on holy ground, so if Demetrius did try to cross over in another attempt to kill me, he would fry as soon as he left the mirror. The thought of seeing him burning and screaming appealed to me so much, I lowered the trash can.

      “What did you want to talk about, Daddy-in-law?”

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      DEMETRIUS’S FULL APPEARANCE became visible in the mirror, so I caught it when he winced, as if being reminded of our new familial tie had caused him actual pain. I’d hoped it would. It certainly stung me a lot.

      “Never call me that again,” he bit out.

      “Believe me,” I said, glaring at him. “I find it mutually repellant.”

      Demetrius was one of those demons who looked like a regular person. He had unremarkable features, black hair, pale skin and a wide mouth, so Adrian must have gotten his gorgeous golden looks from his mother. A closer inspection revealed that a writhing mass of darkness clung to Demetrius’s outline. His shadows had once been far larger and more impressive, and they weren’t Demetrius’s only trick. He was also a shape-shifter.

      The first time I’d seen him, Demetrius had morphed into a huge dark cloud with flesh-ripping claws and teeth. That form had been beyond terrifying, which was why he’d chosen it. Demetrius was as cruel as he was inventive.

      “What, no congratulations on the happy news?” I continued to needle him. “It’s a shame you missed the wedding. It was thrown together last-minute, but still, it was beautiful—”

      “Speak softer, before Adrian hears you and storms in here,” Demetrius snarled.

      He’d revealed a lot with that statement. While Demetrius could have guessed that Adrian was with me in general, he shouldn’t have known that Adrian was close enough to possibly