Page 12 of Fated In Forever
Is that true? Rohr asked, his tone doubtful, but worried at the same time.If he can control Malachi…
Fuck if I know, but I’m not about to take anything this asshole says at face value.
Up close, I saw the effects of centuries of hatred and dark magic, the dark veining beneath his skin, his blackened nails, all signs of The Darkening. Romulus circled to the left, moving with the deadly elegance of eons of experience, fangs bared in a snarl of pure malice. “As for you lot, you’ve become vulnerable. Almosthuman,” he spat. “That weakness will be your doom.”
Beyond Romulus, Ravok and Wolf were tangled together now, the sound of ripping flesh and grunting punctuated by Dravin’s pained roar as he tried to lift himself off the stone floor, one arm bent at the wrong angle.
“I’d rather be human than whatever the fuck you’ve become, Romulus,” Riordan growled, his voice thick with hate. “You're so polluted, so blinded by obedience, you can’t see you’re fighting a losing battle. And youwilllose.”
Romulus launched himself at Riordan with inhuman speed, claws extended like razors. Before I could dive between them, they collided with bone-jarring force, crashing through what remained of an ancient pillar. White flames exploded around them as they rolled, both vampires snarling as those flames flickered and burned.
I moved to help my king, but my path was blocked by three thralls, materialized from the shadows. “Where in the fuck did you come from?”
One still wore the stained, tattered uniform of Tyrell’s guards, the other two were in civilian clothing, their decay not nearly as advanced. I sent my shadows billowing toward them and the moment the deathly mist touched them, their eyes went white and they collapsed. A few seconds later, they were nothing but piles of dark cinders, carried away by the howling wind.
Riordan was holding his own against Romulus, but every time my friend’s magic shifted, so did our enemy’s—from white fire to red, from mere flames to devouring creatures—the tip of every flame taking a bite of flesh at every opportunity, until both were dripping blood.
Romulus’s mimicry of our powers was immediate and near-perfect.
Something we couldn’t fight against, not without a plan.
I sent my shadows racing his way and he was barely able to throw up a shield of fire in time. shadows battled fire, then shadow against shadow, and there was even a moment I thought we had him, but then he combined both our magicks together and sent them roaring toward my king.
I roared, shifting my attack to defense. That potentially-deadly blast collided with my shadows, the resulting explosion throwing Riordan to the ground, pissed, thankfully unhurt.
Fine then, if magic failed, steel would do just fine.
I went in low and fast, my blades singing. Dodging blasts of fire and my own stolen shadows, my boots slipping through broken rock and debris, I gauged the distance between us, waited for Romulus to turn his body to just the right angle…
And when he did, with a flick of my wrists, I sent my knives spinning, then dematerialized.
Romulus howled as the blade bit deep into his thigh, followed by a pained roar of fury.
Sweat dripped down my spine, my heart hammered in my chest as I reformed beside Riordan, shoved him behind some rubble when Romulus released another blast of magic, chunks of an arch crashing down around us.
“We have to give Fiona more time.” I pointed, and Riordan blinked, following my finger. “Look.”
6
BLAKE
Her red hair streaming like a banner, Fiona finally closed off the leaking ley line, forming a bubble of magic that encapsulated the shimmering magic like a snow globe. The rift in the clouds paused, the chilled air no longer clogged with magic.
But she was alone. Eldric was down, unmoving on the ground, hair matted with blood.
And Nash…Nash was moving across the Keep to meet the oncoming threat.
“Now we know where he’s pulling his magic from,” Rohr hissed.
Thralls circled them like spiders, ten, twenty, climbing up over the lip of the cliff, arms and legs moving jerkily. “They’re coming up the walls of the ravine.” I spat. “Like a bunch of fucking insects.” Shots rang out as Nash and his guards picked them off, but they kept coming.
“Where the fuck did all of these things come from?” Rohr muttered.
“I killed three already, but there’s no way they brought all of these with them. They must have made them here. Kept them in reserve?”
Romulus yanked the blade from his thigh, glaring at the two of us before he rose in a vortex of roaring fire and shadow combined, several of the closest thralls dropping,curling in on themselves on the stone parapet, like drying husks.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Riordan asked, gaze fixed on the slowly desiccating corpses, Romulus’s sudden boost of power.
