I blinked as his meaning sank in. “You’re going to what? Offer to sleep with her?”
“We are on the brink of war, Emilia. I’ll fuck her senseless if I must. I’ll use my sin and make it so good she’ll envy any other lover I take after her. It might buy you time to slip out of the cell.”
“What about you?” I asked, hating that I’d even consider going along with something that clearly made him look on the verge of experiencing my husband’s sin. “If I slip away, you’ll still be trapped. With her. There’s no telling if she did murder Greed’s commander. And I’d hate to see what she’d do to you if you betray her.”
“Your concern for my welfare is truly touching,” he quoted back to me, earning himself an offensive hand gesture. “I’ll move so I’m near the cell door. Then I’ll shove her toward the mattress, be as rough as she likes, and slam the door before she knows what we’re doing. If we’re lucky, I won’t have to touch her more than the prodding toward the bed.”
“I don’t like it. There’s—” A low, rattling cough startled us both. I shot the prince an accusatory look, and he shrugged. “How did you fail to mention there was another person here?”
“Regenerating a heart is no small task. I awoke shortly before you did.” Envy strode over to the bars, peering into the semidarkness. “Who’s there?”
Another cough. It didn’t sound good.
“Hello?” I asked, coming up beside Envy. “Wrath?”
“Emilia?”
My heart clenched painfully. It wasn’t my husband. I couldn’t tell if I was relieved or more worried for his welfare. But still, I recognized that voice.
“Antonio?” He coughed again, the sound closer. As if he were in a cell beside ours. “Are you imprisoned, too?”
His quiet laugh turned into racking coughs. “She promised I’d see my mother again. If I did everything she said. She wanted me to pretend I killed those girls. If I played my part, she swore she’d bring my mother back. Just like she did to the wolf. Angel of Death. That’s what I’d thought. Who else but an angel could bring back the dead? I thought maybe she’d bring the witches back, too. I didn’t know… I didn’t know she wanted vengeance against their families.”
I closed my eyes. His actions made sense. He’d never been the same after his mother’s death. Had abruptly joined the holy brotherhood, withdrew. Grief wasn’t simply a shadow that followed people around; it was the worst sort of companion. It was an emotion that could either encourage someone to wither away through sorrow and tears or turn them into a monster. Craving vengeance like blood. Justice. Retribution. As if spilling blood would bring that one person back. I would know. It was the very same spark that ignited my current path.
It was cruel of Vittoria to dangle that sort of impossible hope in front of his face. Inhuman. I grasped onto the belief that some noble side of her was still left. Something redeemable. A bond between us that could never be broken. If there wasn’t, then perhaps Greed had been correct. Maybe she was not meant to be saved.
“She deceived us all, Antonio. Even me.”
Envy flashed a look that stated he hadn’t been deceived, and I motioned for him to keep his troublesome mouth shut. He held up his hands in mock surrender and went back to his corner to lurk and plot. Goddess, grant me strength to deal with superior, arrogant demon princes.
“Would you want to go back home now?” I asked when my old friend hadn’t said anything else. “It’s not too late, you know.”
“Home.” He said the word as if testing it out and finding the taste a bit too bitter for his liking. “It’s all another deception, isn’t it?” Before I could think of a response to comfort him, he said, “Domenico never leaves her. Even when she comes down here, he stands at the end of the corridor, guarding. And he’s not alone. It’s hard to make out, but there are usually several others. They brought a new one here. She doesn’t come near the cell, but I see her watching. She seems wilder than the others. Like a feral dog that can’t stand being caged. Domenico seems on edge whenever she’s near. Which is all the time lately.”
“How do you know she’s new?”
“I heard them whispering the night she arrived. Something about her being unable to travel between realms. Domenico and another wolf had to retrieve her.”
I glanced at Envy. His expression was strained. Even if our plan to lock Vittoria in our cell worked, we’d have the wolves to contend with. Which wouldn’t be too troubling if it wasn’t for my festering injury and lack of a weapon. I also wasn’t sure what Envy’s power did, but I wondered if being in a place locked by goddess magic tampered with his abilities at all. Judging by his bleak reaction, it wasn’t good. And if there was a new wolf who put the others on edge because of her inability to travel to the Shadow Realm, I didn’t want to come face-to-face with her. I strained to see around the bars again.