Page 40 of Fated In Forever
No.
The word shook the walls, made the water tremble, even the portal paused, as if surprised, and Malachi’s jaw flexed. He looked at me—really, really looked at me—for the first time in what felt like hours, and painted in his desperate gaze was fear.
Ever so carefully, he stroked my cheek with one talon, the cool hard claw dragging down my skin with the utmostcare. There was a sense of finality to that touch, like this was goodbye.
No. We finish this. We must.
There is still a chance we can fix this without breaking us apart.I wanted to scream. But I didn’t and the moment stretched between us—so fragile, so sharp, so fucking final.
Brendan stepped forward, then?—
A crash, a shift in the air, blackness.
I reached out, clawing at the dark.
Blind.
The runes burst into light. The archway was gone.
In its place stood a seamless wall of stone, the runes glowing brighter through the fading haze of Malachi’s glamour. No doorway. No crack. No seam. And no one left in the room except for me and Malachi.
Trapped together as the portal roared back to life.
I smashed my fists against the place the door used to be. “Riordan? Blake? Finn?”
Nothing. I turned, breath quickening. “No, no, no—this isn’t right?—”
Malachi didn’t move. He was staring at the pool, the way it was rippling, the silvery edges lapping at the dusty floor, like waves on sand as something beneath the surface began to rise, like a leviathan from the depths.
Ravok breached the surface, with a grin that was terrible in its superiority, silvery water sliding off his shoulders, leaving him miraculously dry as he stepped onto the stone floor and faced Malachi.
Malachi lunged, hands stretching, reaching for Ravok’s throat, curved talons ready to slash, and he was almost there…when he froze in place. Ravok chuckled. “I warned you that blood oath was for life. And still, you bent the knee and swore your soul away. I own you. I control you. You are forever mine, that is the simple truth.”
Ravok pressed the tip of that silver blade to my throat, used that sharpened point to tip up my chin so I had to stare straight up into his hateful face. “Make no mistake, I will bleed her into this pool until the waters run red, even if I have to drain her dry.”
The pool rippled, as if it understood his words and was hungry for another taste of my blood.
Malachi growled and growled, his chest vibrating, body straining to gain a single step, every muscle quivering beneath Ravok’s control. But he could not move.
The portal began to roar, red lightning tracing the outline, sizzling around the doorway, as if it was coming alive.
Between my breasts, the key burned. I closed my hand around it, wincing at the heat. The key pulsed in my palm, The Book vibrated. Something was happening, but I didn’t know what. They were important, but I didn’t knowhow.
I looked to Malachi.
But he couldn’t help.
“I’m not giving you anything,” I said loudly. “Not one goddamned thing, especially not my blood, you fucking prick.”
Something inside the portal howled—low and long, like a night creature being dragged from sleep. The water churned in earnest, and Ravok’s smile grew wider as he pressed the point of the knife in deep and drew his first drop of blood.
18
BLAKE
“Fuck.” For a second the word echoed so loudly inside my head, I wondered if I’d cursed aloud.
All around us silence ruled the pitch black, where even our breathing disappeared into the heavy emptiness, like every part of us was being absorbed by the mountain around us.
