Page 54 of Fated In Forever
Every time I stopped, they stopped, too, acting all innocent.
Great. If this continued, by the time I found Malachi, I’d be towing half the denizens of the Underworld along with me.
And I was definitely going to find him. The tether grew stronger with every step, as if the fabric of this realm had reinforced our connection, strengthening it into something I couldalmostsee—if I turned my head just right. A golden chain that shimmered at the edge of my vision, leading deeper into the labyrinth of black stone.
Malachi…if you are anywhere close, please say something.
But the Underworld gobbled up my plea as hungrily as before, leaving me with nothing but my desperation and my growing personal soul brigade. My feet didn’t hurt, but it felt like I’d been walking for days, time stretching and distorting like everything else in this godawful place where I didn’t belong.
I wanted to go home.
Back tomyworld.
The thought hit me like a physical blow, and I stumbled against the obsidian wall. What was happening above? I’d gladly left Ravok bleeding and alone, but what about Blake and Riordan and Nash? What about everyone else in the tunnels?
What had Ravok done to them, while he’d trappedMalachi and me in his fucking web of delusions of grandeur?
Those questions haunted my next step and every one after as I plodded on, wondering if I was imagining this incessant tugging.
Without Malachi—without me—Ravok would go on a rampage.
My next steps became a countdown of faces—Angel and Bex, back at Crimson House. Eldric and Fiona and everyone at Laith Castle.
If Blake, Rohr and the others didn’t make it out of those tunnels, if everyone wasn’t warned, none of them would realize the danger they were in. They wouldn’t see the threat coming, not until Ravok and Romulus were upon them, and here I was, lost in a maze of obsidian and shadow, chasing after someone who might not even want to be found.
Although that wasn't true. The demanding tug of the tether told me otherwise.
But what would I find at the other end? Malachi…or Orcus?
The male or the monster?
Whoever I was following, that incessant urge turned painful and I pushed myself off the wall and continued walking, my pace quickening. The obsidian boulders grew bigger, the carvings scarier, the sand beneath my feet grittier, but those golden chains of our bond remained constant, a beacon in the chaos.
The cold air tasted metallic on my tongue—and up ahead, I caught strange glimpses of fire. Torches, burning red as blood, probably because there were only two colors in this place. Black and crimson…and the pale white glow of all these souls.
I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly aware ofhow wet my clothes were, how inadequately they shielded me from the bone-deep chill of this place. But I didn't stop. Somehow, stopping felt the same as failure, and besides, if I stopped, this place might just eat me alive.
I dug my knuckles into my sternum, where the ache was the worst. I was close.
My heart hammered against my ribs with something that might have been hope or terror, and in this place, the two felt remarkably similar. The obsidian boulders grew sparser, and the shadows thinned as I reached a break in the endless maze.
“Malachi,” I whispered, and this time I thought I felt a response—a ripple down the bond between us.
One more step and I found myself standing at the edge of a vast cavern, obsidian walls falling away into space so enormous I couldn't see the far side, only the glow of flames beneath me—row after row of torches, burning along the walls of an enormous black castle.
Some of the little glowing blobs floated past me out into the air, lightning crackling above me in a sky that went on forever. But it wasn't the vastness of the yawning space or the castle or even the closeness of those deadly lightning strikes that stopped me cold—it was who stood before me.
My heart raced, eyes widening.
He was alive.
Relief wrapped around me…followed by a flash of fear and something close to disbelief.
Just ahead, Malachi waited on an outcropping, his massive silhouette blocking out even the looming castle. For a second, all I could do was stare, stomach twisting as I took him in, mind scrambling to process what I was seeing. He was massive, bigger than before…and he had…horns. The golden chain blazed intensely, so bright I could see everylink clearly, stretching between us like a bridge made of sunlight.
But there was no sunlight here.
Only shadow and that castle.
