Page 138 of Fated In Forever
To freeze every perfect moment into an endless stretch of eternal happiness.
Because I was, for the first time in my life, genuinely happy. I was content, pretending I had a normal life, a realfamily, a future that stretched beyond the shadowy realm that had claimed me like a prize.
The transformed Crimson House rose in my mind—the library I'd crafted with Angel in mind, the gardens I'd oriented to catch the morning light just right, the lake Evie had spoken about so longingly, with so much desperate want in her voice, I’d made a promise to her and myself, that if I had the chance, I would give her every last thing she’d ever wanted.
Riordan had waved a hand in the air, told me he’d always hated the damn place anyway, and for me to do whatever I wanted with Crimson House.
I had suspected as much. His mother had endured countless horrors in that house. His sire was a weak, spineless bastard, little more than Tyrell’s puppet, and this clan finally had the king they deserved in Riordan. Evangeline would be his queen, he’d told me, once Ravok was defeated.
Then we’d both laughed about just how much she would hate everything about being queen, but secretly enjoy it, just a little.
Blake had helped me the most that night, especially getting the lake just right. And for the first time since Tyberius, I’d felt…like I had a brother again.
A grumpy, cranky brother, but…still.
I was leaving my soul mate—the one I’d somehow found again, through time and a billion other souls—in good hands. With two males I trusted. And who, I thought, were starting to trust me back.
Now, I imagined Angel's children playing in those gardens, rowing a boat across that lake. Of Evie and her sister and Bex, reading in the library on dark, rainy days, of my mate waking up early in the morning, before anyone else and watching the sun come up over the water.
Maybe thinking of me.
Even if her memories were getting fuzzy, even if she’d forgotten what I looked like.
Because that was the truth I couldn't escape, no matter how Evangeline's eyes lit up when she saw me, no matter how she'd whispered my name in the darkness of our shared nights. I would always belong to the realm of shadows, always bound to an unending task. What kind of future could we build in a place like that?
No, she wasn’t meant for the darkness, not like I was.
Down below, Nash spotted me and raised a hand, an open smile on his lined face, and I lifted mine in response. Fiona was back today, magic spinning from her hands as Nash stopped and watched avidly before perching on a nearby rock, speaking softly, something that made her smile.
The grizzled commander ran his hand over his scarred head and smiled back, looking almost boyish, despite the gray hair.
Bitterness rose in my throat like bile. For the first time in centuries, I had built a life worth living for, worth fighting for—and it would be ripped away from me by the very nature of what I was. The blood oath might be broken, we would eventually defeat Ravok, but I would be denied my future.
Vicious deserved better than a lover who existed on borrowed time, who could never promise her tomorrow because his future belonged to forces beyond his control. She deserved someone who could wake up beside her every morning, who could grow old with her, who could?—
Movement below caught my attention, dragging me from my spiral of dark thoughts. At first, I thought they were shadows from the clouds overhead, but then I saw themclearly. Figures crawling through the rocks at the base of the cliff.
Thralls.
My blood turned to ice as more appeared out of thin air—materializinginsidethe warded area—dozens of them, then hundreds. They moved like a dark tide across the ancient stones, then began climbing. Silent, so silent even Nash was unaware of the attack about to happen.
Down at the edge of the trees, Ravok's silhouette was unmistakable even at this distance, and that hunched figure beside him...Romulus, somehow still alive, but bearing the signs of all his terrible injuries, no longer capable of the fast healing a healthy vampire should be.
But my old friend wasn’t healthy, was he?
No, Rom was corrupted to the core.
The Knightsguard stationed around the perimeter were already engaging, their shouts echoing as they collided with the first wave of thralls, Nash’s head snapping up. Fiona dropped her hands, Dravin disappearing, reappearing at the edge of the ledge, in time to shove the first of the oncoming thralls back over and send its body crashing onto the rocks below.
I began to dematerialize, my form shifting from solid flesh to mist, sending my mate an urgent warning while I still could.
Evangeline. Ravok and Romulus have finally come. Thralls are inside the wards, Dravin and Nash are engaging, I’m heading down to help. Be safe. Be smart.
We’d known it was only a matter of time before Ravok came for us.
Instead of spending countless man hours hunting him down, we’d done two things.
Left our outer wards just a little vulnerable, so he could slip inside.
