Page 22 of Fated In Forever
My eyes focused on Blake as Brendan began to chant, a phantom breeze stirring the piles of dust and straw in the corners of the training room.
If this ritual works, your mate will be free of me. I will turn fully into Orcus, instead of this half-formed creature you see before you. Once that happens, while I still have my mind, you need to get me close to Ravok.
And then?
Then I will finish what I should have finished a long time ago.
Done. Blake dipped his head, ever the obedient dog, his eyes never leaving mine. “And then?” he mouthed, across the room.
And then you will kill me. Evangeline is in possession of a book and a key. Inside the book is the means to end my life. Do not lose your will, do not hesitate, do not let her talk you out of this. I have no wish to live out my days as a mindless monster in some iron cage, surviving on scraps. Once Ravok is dead, kill me quick and for fuck’s sake, make it decisive.
He sliced his head to the side and it was done. Clean, neat, a better ending than I deserved, after everything.
The breeze became a wind, whipping my hair, dragging across my skin like razorblades.
The symbols etched into the worn granite floor pulsed with an eerie light, their power pressed against my skin like ice-cold fingers.
Brendan Thorne circled me with the practiced grace of a male who’d done this a hundred times, his fingers trailingover the lit candles—for show only—and the ancient tome laid open on the hastily arranged table—also a worthless prop—as he murmured ancient words of an unbinding spell that may have very well worked.
If the cosmic magic joining Vicious and I hadn’t been birthed from the bowels of time itself.
If I didn’t have one foot in this realm, and my other…somewhere else.
His chanting turned sluggish, the air in the room grew thick and oppressive, and I felt something tugging at the edges of my consciousness—trying to pull away the part of me that belonged to Evangeline.
I tried to let it go. Tried to pry that bond out of me, like a coin from a beggar’s hand, pain lancing through my skull, my teeth grit tight as I dug and ripped at those fragile, golden links connecting us. But as the chanting grew louder, I realized those golden threads weren’t breaking—they were growing brighter, stronger.
Thorne's voice faltered as he noticed, too. The floor beneath my feet began to crack, hairline fractures spreading across its ancient surface like a spider's web as I crashed to my knees.
“Impossible,” Brendan hissed, rearing back, “The bond... it's too strong.”
Despite the pain, I had to smile. “Did you really think some dusty old ritual could break what Evangeline and I have? What we share spans lifetimes, bridges generations, has been forged to last forever.”
“No,” Vicious lunged forward, was almost to the edge of the circle when Blake caught her, arms banded around her stomach and dragged her back. “I don’t want this bond broken. I want Malachi back to his mortal self, so this bullshit ritual has tostop.”
Her eyes met mine, filled with so much fury and accusation I had to look away, throat burning, heart hurting, chest so tight I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t face her pain, even when I knew a clean break now was for the best, because a future bound to me held something far worse than heartbreak. Even so, watching her suffer tore me to pieces. I could have stopped this, could have sentenced her to torment and sorrow.
Instead, I directed all my fury at Brendan. “Try again, Thorne. Put in some real effort this time,” I sneered, hating myself just a little more.
His eyes flashed with outrage, a hum of angry murmuring kicked up between Rowan, the king, his brother, Nikolai and Aisling. “Then we'll try something else. Something more... direct.”
This time, when he began to chant, the words were different—harsher, more guttural. The first vampire unbinding spell. I'd heard this only once before—was surprised to hear the words spill from between Brendan’s lips, but a spark of hope ignited. This was a piece of arcane magic so dangerous that most considered it forbidden. The air itself recoiled from the incantation, smoke rising from the carved symbols on the floor.
Agony unlike anything I'd ever experienced tore through me.
Like someone was reaching into my chest and trying to rip out my heart with barbed wire.Good, break this bond, set her free. The connection to Evangeline wavered, flickering like a candle in a hurricane. For one terrifying, exhilarating moment, I thought his ridiculous ritual was working.
But then I felther.
Pouring her strength back into our bond, her love blazing like a beacon in the darkness.
Get her out of here. I thought to Riordan, Blake, anyone who would listen.Get her out.
Blake tried, but Vicious fought, yanking out of his hold, hissing words I could not hear before taking up her place again, arms crossed over her chest. Thorne's chanting grew more frantic, sweat beading on his pale forehead despite the chill in the chamber. He reached into his coat again, this time producing a vial that glowed like blue, liquid starlight.
“A very special blood,” he panted. “Distilled from outside of this realm. If this doesn't sever your bond, nothing will.”
