Page 141 of Fated In Forever
“Good plan.” I stepped into Blake’s arms, not trusting my materializing skill enoughnotto end up imbedded inside a rock wall. “There’s something I noticed, down in the bunkers. Ravok is still injured from…”
“Evangeline, this will be incredibly dangerous,” Riordan said, using his placating, reasonable tone, the one he pulled out when he was trying to get his way, but today, that voice was not going to work. “If something goes wrong?—”
“Everything is already going wrong,” I cut him off. “Ravok is down there, and Malachi is facing him alone. We can’t let that happen.”
“Do not make me regret this, Evie, and do not do anything rash,” was all Blake hissed into my ear before we all began to dissolve, Eldric’s red hair whipping around his face as he faded away.
We’re coming,I sent to Malachi. Hang on, my love, we’re coming.
68
EVANGELINE
From what little I could see, sandwiched against the wall by Blake’s muscular body, the chamber was a nightmare come to life.
The pool, once a sheet of pure reflective silver, had been corrupted into something obscene. Its surface was midnight black, a faint mist rolling off the surface that made my skin crawl. Ley line magic choked the room, but the iridescent particles gave that dark water a wide berth, hovering up near the ceiling.
On the other side of the opening, backs flat against the wall, Riordan and Eldric took turns glancing around the corner into the room, where the portal, at least, was still dormant, though the very air around it pulsed, and the ancient runes carved into the chamber walls were glowing with a darker light now, almost black.
Ravok and Malachi faced each other like two ancient forces, light and dark, good and evil, if you wanted to wax all philosophical.
The Elder looked strong, no sign of injury or weakness, but his eyes... his eyes were bright with madness, darting around the chamber too quickly, his tongue continually swiping his bottom lip when he turned toward the doorway, searching the darkness of the corridor.
Not normal darkness, but Blake’s shielding shadows, swirling around us in a protective cloak.
“Ah, Malachi,” Ravok said without turning, his voice echoing through the chamber. “Your family has arrived. That’s how you think of them now, isn’t it? Family?” He spat out the word. “One thing I never thought you’d become was sentimental, and yet, here we are.”
Where is Romulus? I asked everyone in the vicinity.He has to be somewhere.
You shouldn’t have come. Malachi gave me a vague shake of his head, his attention never leaving his Maker, a faint haze of ambient magic floating off his shoulders, like he couldn’t contain his powers. The portal behind him darkened, watching, like a hungry, sentient being.
“You're just in time,” Ravok continued, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “All my visions come to fruition tonight.”
Malachi shook his head, like he was scolding an errant child. “No, they won’t.”
“I am never wrong.” Ravok’s smile was sharp as a blade, sweat sliding down his face, his neck, soaking into his shirt. “You forget who you are. My creation. The blood oath may be broken, but there are other bonds—older, deeper, more fundamental to your very nature.”
“No,” he said simply. “You have no hold over me. Not any longer.”
“Deny the truth all you want, but you will always be my slave.” Ravok's dark chuckle echoed through the corrupted chamber, considering Malachi as if he were nothing more than an annoying insect.
And Malachididn’tlook threatening, in his dark velvet jacket and open shirt, standing at perfect ease, hands looseat his sides, no sign of tension in his shoulders. Waiting…for what, I didn’t know.
“You always were foolish,” Ravok’s voice dripped with condescension. “So much potential, yet so limited by your pathetic attachments to mortals.” Even through Blake’s cloak of shadows, the Elder’s too-bright gaze fixed on me with predatory interest. “Did you come to watch him die? Because this place will become your tomb. fitting, I suppose, for you all to end up here, together.”
Behind Malachi, a mist of red magic traced over the edge of the portal, then those shadows ground into motion, like a heavy, ancient engine firing after a long rest, I could almost hear the groan as they began to spin. The dark pool rippled, sending up more of that foul smelling mist.
Does anyone see Romulus? He has to be here somewhere.
He must be glamoured.Blake answered.But that’s stolen magic, if I’ve ever seen it.
I didn’t know if Ravok was too blinded by hate and power to see what was happening around him, or if he didn’t care, but this would not be like last time. Last time, the pool, the portal and the ley line worked together, like three symbiotic entities. Now…it was almost like the three powers were at war.
“…I am older than the foundations of this mountain, stronger than the forces that shaped the realms themselves. You will never be anything, even though I gave you everything…”
Ravok continued to rant, face shining with sweat, dark power crackling in the air, the portal beginning to spin in earnest now, the corrupted pool boiling like a tar pit.
What the fuck do we do? Riordan asked.
