Chapter 28

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

Stella was allowed time for a quick shower and a change of clothes while Dom sent messages to rouse Nico D’Argento.

Carmella was waiting for her as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom in the Aladoro guest suite, and Stella sent a prayer thanking San Marco that she had gotten dressed straight after her shower.

"How are you feeling?" Carmella asked.

"A little sore, but nothing I can’t live with," Stella replied. She tried and failed not to fidget as the Lioness of Venice looked her over. "How about you? You killed your husband tonight." Nice one, Stella, she’s going to kill you too.

"I do believe we killed him if you want to get technical about it." Carmella let out a tired, hurt sigh. "Rodrigo had it coming as soon as he sold out Venice. The Aladoros have always protected the Republic, and to think his actions almost led to its downfall makes me sick. He wasn’t always such a bastard, but his lust for power and his jealousy of Gio finally destroyed his common sense."

"Can I ask why he was jealous of the Doge?" Stella asked.

"The three of us grew up together. It didn’t matter that I married him; Rodrigo was always resentful of my friendship with Gio. A friendship that saved all of our necks tonight." Carmella’s lips rose in a sphynx smile.

"I’m more interested in you, Stella Vianello. A fulmian mage and my son’s mate. Only Domenico! Do you love him?"

"Very much so," Stella replied honestly. "Though I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of being his mate."

"Only because you don’t know how precious the bond is. There is a reason it’s illegal by shedu law to harm a mate. When you return to Venice, I will tell you what it means to be a mate…and an Aladoro."

Carmella offered her a set of stilettos, both inlaid with hexes and engraved with snarling shedu.

"For now, I expect you to go and kill the bastards who think they can ruin our good name." She kissed both of Stella’s cheeks. "Welcome to the family."

* * *

Stella stoodon the deck of a warship, the salty wind lashing her face while she tried not to stare at the man at the helm.

Nico D’Argento was an imposing man, with a zero-bullshit tolerance, dark straight hair streaked with gold from hours in the sun, and eyes as blue as the Adriatic. He had been dragged out of bed, told what happened, and had his warship, a dromon called Reitia’s Wrath, ready to depart before dawn.

Stella thought Carmella had been intimidating, but Venice’s Naval Commander certainly gave her pause.

The D’Argentos were the serpent shifters’ equivalent of royalty. His aunt was the fiercest general Venice had ever had, and Nico looked more than ready to live up to the family name. In their fully shifted forms, the D’Argentos were massive dragons of the sea, able to tear a boat’s hull to splinters in a battle. Looking at Nico, Stella believed it.

"Nicolo is ridiculously impressive, isn’t he?" Zahir said as he joined her at the front of the boat. Stella hadn’t realized she had been staring at the Commander in his brilliant indigo and silver uniform, two sabers hanging from his broad back. He was talking with Dom at the other end of the ship, and Stella’s heart trembled when Dom caught her gaze.

"He’s certainly intimidating," Stella replied. They had cleared the lagoon, and the ocean was a brilliant mass of blue around her.

Stella had never been on a ship so big in her life and was doing her best to stay out of the crew’s way as they unfurled sails and worked around the deck.

Unlike every other time she had seen him, Zahir was dressed in dark clothes, almost somber. Gone was the ostentatious, party djinn, and only a pissed-off king remained.

His magic danced in orange-gold swirls around the masts, rigging, and sails, giving the ship as much speed as possible.

"Can I ask why you came along?" Stella asked. "I thought djinn hated the water."

"Young djinn do, except for the marids, but that’s only because they fear not being strong enough to stay above it. I have no such fear." Zahir’s expression changed to something dark and terrible. "Besides, most of the people missing are Wands, and let’s just say I have a particular aversion to slavery."

Stella wasn’t dumb enough to ask why. She knew enough of the djinn’s history with slavery to know not to push Zahir on the topic.

There was more than one story in circulation about his many years trapped under the control of the kings of Persia, and the things he did to escape.

The djinn king’s cheerful mask came down again, and he gave another smile.

"Now, it’s my turn to ask something. Why are you hiding from your mate?"

"I’m not hiding," Stella said stubbornly.

"Don’t lie, habibi. What’s wrong? I thought you two would be all over each other. You both looked like you were about to tear apart anyone who came near you in the cellar."

Stella pushed her hands through her hair. "He didn’t tell me about the mate thing. I don’t even know how I feel about it. I don’t want it to be a prison sentence for the both of us."

Zahir laughed. "It’s the complete opposite of that. You already love him. This is just another manifestation of that love."

"But I’m human. There’s no way the shedu are going to accept me. They rarely even marry outside of their own species," Stella argued. "I’m never going to be welcome in the circles he lives in. He’s a Council member, and I’m not even a tarot painter anymore."

"The only thing shedu love more than their magnificent bloodlines is tradition, so let me tell you a story." Zahir leaned against the wooden railings and looked out over the water.

"When I lived in Babylon, shedu used to be paired with fulmian mages for battle. They would work together as one unit, striking their enemies with the power they generated, like what you did, but on a scale great enough to decimate armies. If they were mates, it made them even more powerful. You’re not just a human, Stella. You are the only fulmian mage in the whole of the Republic, and Dom is the strongest alpha seen in hundreds of years. Together, you are tradition and legend made real. You and Dom are more than mates, you are destiny."

Stella crossed her arms. "If that’s true, why didn’t he tell me? Maybe he doesn’t want a mate, even if I am a fulmian mage."

"I had to tell him, Stella. The dumb ass hadn’t even considered it. He’s shaken up about it, but he’s not shaken up about how he feels about you." Zahir nudged her. "Go and talk to him. We could be ambushed by the Varangians when we finally find this ship, and you don’t want to go into a fight with it hanging over your head."

Stella looked at Dom. He tilted his head towards the captain’s cabin.

"You’re right. I need to yell at him and make myself feel better," she said with a nod.

"That’s not what I said at all!"

The inside of Nico’s cabin was sparser than Stella expected. There was a bed built into the ship’s side, a table covered in maps and weapons in racks. There was nothing decorative or impractical about it. Dom stopped pacing when she came in.

"Hey," she said as words abandoned her.

Dom sat down on a wooden chair, exhaustion in every line of him.

"Stella, I’m so sorry for Rodrigo, for everything that has happened in the last twenty-four hours."

"What about lying to me about being your mate?"

"I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell you."

"And that’s better?" she demanded.

"I only found out yesterday. I was going to tell you last night, but I didn’t get a chance to. I understand why you would be upset about it though."

"Do you really? You are already a big, dominant jerk when you want to be. You will be even worse if we are mated! I’d never be able to have my own life. I’d just be the ’Aladoro mate.’ Locked up in the Aladoro palazzo, being arm candy and running your dinner parties!"

Dom got to his feet and closed in on her, golden eyes flaring. "Who said you would have to do any of that? I’d never make you give up your family business or your life. I would get Antonio to run the dinner parties if I were forced to ever have them. I’d never lock you up. Your independence is one of the things I love about you."

"Then what do you want, Dom? I’m not a shifter. I don’t understand any of this."

"I want you, damn it! I want you to be my mate and to be by my side. I want you to make me chase you and wake up every day next to you. My whole world has been turned to rubble in the last day, and I don’t care because you are still alive."

His words sank in. He really does want you as his mate.

"Then if you feel that way," Stella shouted back, "why haven’t you kissed me yet?"

"Because I want to hear you say it."

"Mio Dio, you have more magic words?"

Dom took her in his arms, pressing his forehead against hers. "Yes. Say, ’Domenico Aladoro, I accept you as my mate,’ and I’ll give you whatever the fuck you want. I need to hear it, Stella. Please, love. Tell me you want me as much as I want you."

Stella managed to keep her voice steady as she looked up at him with a challenging glare.

"Domenico Aladoro, I accept you as my mate, and I swear if you don’t kiss me this second, I’m going to throw you overboard—"

Dom lifted her up and captured her lips with his before she could finish her threat.

Instantly, heat and magic flared between them, and Stella could feel the mating bond tie her to him. This man, who had owned her heart since she had first seen him in a crowded room at Carnevale, was finally hers.

Her legs wrapped around him, her hands going under his shirt, needing to feel his skin and heat. Dom groaned against her mouth, deepening his kiss, and holding her tightly to him.

A loud knock on the door had them both jumping in fright.

"Don’t screw in my bed, Aladoro!" Nico shouted from the other side of the door.

"What about the table?" Stella called back.

"Out! We’ve got sails on the horizon."

Stella kissed Dom again. "I love you."

"I love you too. And I’ll prove it in every possible way as soon as we get some privacy," Dom promised, setting her down.