Emilio’s blade tore through the opening Luca left. Steel bit into his side, slicing deep across his ribs. The pain exploded like fire, ripping the air from his lungs. Luca staggered, blood spilling hot down his torso, his grip faltering.Emilio’s eyes lit up with savage triumph. “There it is. The golden heir bleeds just like the rest of us.”But Luca barely heard him. His gaze was locked on Isabella.The soldier’s blade was already arcing down toward her. She tried to raise her dagger, but she was too slow, too small against the brute’s strength.Something inside Luca snapped. The curse roared out of him in a surge of golden fire. The world blurred, his vision burning, his body moving faster than thought. One heartbeat he was locked in Emilio’s grasp, the next he was across the battlefield, his sword cleaving through the soldier’s chest before the man’s strike could fall.The Serpent collapsed in a heap of blood and steel at Isabella’s feet. She stumbled back, eyes wide, staring at Lu

The silence after battle was the loudest sound Luca had ever heard. The clash of steel and screams of men were gone, leaving only the acrid stench of smoke and blood drifting through the ruined courtyard. He leaned heavily against Isabella, his muscles still trembling from the weight of the curse.He had spared Emilio. A decision that should have felt righteous, but instead left a hollow burn in his chest.Isabella pressed her palm against his chest, grounding him. “Breathe, Luca. You are still here.”He looked at her, his throat raw. “I should have ended him.”“No,” she said firmly, her voice cutting through the doubt. “You would have lost yourself.”Her conviction steadied him for a heartbeat. But then the sharp crack of distant horns pierced the night air. The Serpent’s retreat had not been an end,it was a warning.From the shadows of the city, fire erupted. Buildings along the southern wall blazed, flames licking the sky. Screams carried on the wind. Emilio had not vanished in def

The street was ash and fire, the cries of the wounded drowned beneath the roar of flames. Luca stood trembling, his sword raised, his eyes locked on Emilio. The boy was safe in Isabella’s arms, but nothing felt safe. Not with the curse clawing its way out of him.Each heartbeat was a drumbeat of power. Each breath was a storm. The blade in his hand hummed with something darker than steel, vibrating with hunger.Emilio saw it. He reveled in it. Blood slicked his mouth as he smiled through the chaos. “You feel it now, don’t you? The freedom. The truth of what you are. You don’t want to fight me, Luca,you want to be me.”Luca’s jaw clenched, sweat streaking down his soot-stained face. He wanted to deny it. He wanted to throw Emilio’s words into the flames and walk away. But the truth was bitter and undeniable. Part of him did want it,the release, the violence, the end of restraint.Isabella’s voice was the only thing tethering him. “Luca, listen to me.” She stepped forward, the boy cling

Luca’s breath turned shallow, his chest constricting as if her words had stolen the air from his lungs.She was there.The flames hissed and spat behind her, the dying firelight casting Grace in a halo that was neither holy nor damned, but something caught in between. His finger tightened on the trigger of his pistol, yet he could not pull it. The look in her eyes rooted him in place.“You are lying,” Luca rasped, his voice thick with fury. “My father was ambushed by Emilio’s men. I saw the aftermath. I buried what was left.”Grace’s lips curved into something sharp and pitying. “That is what you were told. What Emilio made certain you believed. But I do not lie, Luca. I never waste truth on the unworthy. You wanted answers… and here they are, bleeding at your feet.”Her words slithered into the cracks of his mind, prying open scars he had kept buried for years. His father’s death had always been a wound that never healed. And now this stranger,this predator in silk skin, was picking

The smoke thickened, choking the night air. The flames from the ruptured barrels licked higher, painting the water in violent orange. Luca’s chest heaved, his finger tight on the trigger. Emilio’s smirk carved through the chaos like a blade.Grace stood frozen between them. For the first time since he met her, she looked small. Not weak, but caught in the weight of something she had tried to bury.“Grace,” Luca hissed, his voice raw, “what the hell is he talking about?”Emilio laughed, slow and cruel, as though savoring every second of Luca’s unraveling. “She never told you? Of course she didn’t. The fox always keeps her mask on.”Grace’s hand tightened on her blade. Her eyes darted between Luca and Emilio, her lips parted but no words came.“Say it,” Emilio pressed, stepping closer, his men circling. “Tell him who you really are. Or I will.”A shot rang out. Grace moved first, firing into Emilio’s advancing soldier and dropping him cold. Her voice tore through the ringing echoes, sha