Page 27 of Fated In Ruin

He stared down at me like he was seeing me for the first time and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like being the manipulating, lying one out of the two of us. Kind of hard to stay up on my pedestal of absolute righteousness that way.

“Let’s talk about these memories I saw.” I scowled up at him. “Morvessa was a witch?”

“Her bloodline was, before Ravok turned her. Now they’re a royal house of the Nocturne clan.”

“God, you guys make the shittiest choices in allies, I swear.”

He became a thunderous wall of crossed arms and lowered brows, a storm raging in his eyes as he stared me down. “What aren’t you telling me, Vicious? Because there’s more, isn’t there?” That intense, judgey glare didn’t waver one bit.

“Okay, fine, I may have fed Riordan a second time, in order to knock him unconscious with a bunch of tranquilizers.” I cringed slightly, because honestly, that sounded terrible. “Long enough for Fiona to exorcise that bastard in a blood circle ritual, which honestly, I thought worked, up until recently.”

“Exorcised Ravok in a blood circle…” Malachi repeated like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “How did you sneak all this under my nose?”

“I don’t know, maybe you were too busy with your own sneaking to notice?”

But he wasn’t listening, his body stiff as he stared off into space. “He not only knows you exist—he’s seen you? Talked to you?” His mouth twisted into a grimace. “And he knows what you taste like, which means he’s tasted your power, he knows you have magic.”

“Magic that was bound by my mother,” I pointed out. “You’re the only one who’s seen my magic.Reallyseen it.” Which I doubted was a good thing, but the way Malachi was acting, I felt like I had to throw him a bone, though I wasn’t sure why I even bothered.

“Look, we stick to the original plan. You teach me how to control my magic, and we use it to kill him. That was a solid, straightforward approach. Moderate chance of success, medium chance of survival.”

A hideous crackling skated up the walls, over the roof, and while Malachi’s glamour wavered, his wards didn’t break. Outside, it was pitch dark, as if even the sun had flickered out.

“He wasn’t supposed to even know you existed.” Malachi’s dark stare looked like he wanted to kill something. “You were supposed to be my ace in the hole, Vicious, and he’s known about you all along.”

“That doesn’t matter,” I insisted. “He knowsnothingabout me. I was careful, every time we interacted. I hid everything from him.”

“Ravok sees everything, remember?” Malachi said bitterly. “He’s hunted your bloodline for centuries, Vicious. You are his endgame, and…that’s why he broke out.” His narrowed gaze flashed to mine, filled with betrayal. “He discovered your existence.”

I swallowed. Okay, that made sense, especially once I replayed the first time he’d stared at me out of Riordan’s eyes, that utter shock of recognition.

I thought you were all dead, he’d said, with a flash of cunning greed.

“How could he see anything, trapped beneath the castle, locked away in all that iron?” I demanded. “You never should have put him in there. This is all your fault.”

“My personal failings no longer matter, not with everything that has transpired. The element of surprise is gone, and now even my best…”

“Explain what you meant when you said I was invisible. I’m assuming you meant he couldn’t see me in these…visions of his?”

“When Aoife was forced into that alliance, she wove a spell of protection over her eldest daughter, Rhiannon, hiding her from Caine. No matter how hard he searched, he—nor any of his Elders—could ever find her. All of her direct descendants were protected by this magic, including you and Angel.”

“But then he found out I existed, right under his nose.” Or rather, above him in the castle that had become his tomb.

“You are no longer a weapon I can train in secret, Vicious. You are the prize Ravok will move heaven and earth to possess.” His narrowed gaze tracked along the walls, to the doors, a slight frown creasing his forehead.

“He’s not at full strength yet, right?” I followed the direction of his attention, but saw nothing but landscape paintings and Chinese vases balanced on pedestals. “We still have time?”

“Not enough.” Malachi rose, crossed to the window and peered out. “Not if he’s strong enough to come here, trying to break through my protections. He believes he’s recovered enough to challenge me.”

His eyes rested on me, cold as a winter wind. “He’s here for you, Vicious.”

I ignored the rattle of fear in my ribcage, the way my heart stuttered and raced.

“So take the block off my magic and let’s see what I’m capable of. That’s better than sitting here waiting to die.” I peered out the window, but could only see swirling darkness. “You said my magic can kill him.”

“With training and control, and a certain amount of luck,andif he didn’t see us coming, this might have worked, but now…now,” with a shudder, he looked down at me, the ring of fire around his pupils guttering away to nothing.

“I’m taking you back to Crimson House. I will do what I can to slow him down, but you must take your sister and hide. Tell the king and Marten everything you’ve seen and…”

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