Page 72 of Fated In Forever
“Call it the Underworld makeover. I don’t know, Angel, I’m literally still working this all out. It’s been a long fucking month…eight days…whatever.”
“Shoo,” she ordered Blake and Riordan. “I need to talk to my sister.Alone. Now, boys.”
I wasn’t sure either of them had ever been dismissed quite so abruptly, or had been calledboys, not in the last fifty years or so, but Blake kissed the top of my head and told Angel she had half an hour.
Then he’d be back.
“No way.”Angel murmured ten minutes later, holding the little carved swans, staring at me like I had five heads. “Please tell me you had hot monster sex. Like all the time. I mean, he has atailnow, right?”
“I’m not talking about this with you.” I told her stiffly. “Besides, we were trying to survive.”
“Oh sure, in his ginormous castle in his big bed with the silky black sheets.” she rolled her eyes. “So how muchsurvivingdid you do, and was there tail involved? Or horns?Or both? What’s his tongue like?”
“Oh, dear God, shut up.” I scrubbed my burning cheeks. “You’ve been reading too many books, Angel. Besides, we’re in real danger. There’s a rift, remember? And Ravok, and Romulus.”
“Romulus is dead and Nikolai and Fiona are dealing with the rift.” She shook her head, like somehow I should already know this. “And there is no such thing as too many books. Bex and I have been helping, you know. We’ve been doing research in the library here, which is amazing by the way. A little light on romance, but Eldric said once we close off the ley line, the rift might collapse by itself.”
“Eldric said, huh?” I teased, and it was gratifying to watch her blush for once. “What else did Eldric say? Has he shown you his fire magic yet?”
“Fuck off Evie, and for your information, he has.” She sniffed. “It’s an ancient magic, you know, runs in their familyfor thousands of years. He thinks his ancestor was a dragon shifter, or something.”
“Look at you, dropping that tidbit like it’s nothing.”
“Look at you, back from the land of the dead, looking as well fucked as a woman can be. I’m glad, you know,” her face softened. “I’m glad you’re happy. That you found them. Even Draven, who’s kind of an asshole, but I suppose he’ll grow on me. Where is he anyway? I want to see this tail of his.”
“He’s…he stayed.” Saying the words out loud was hard, a weight settling heavy in my chest. “That book right there grants one wish. Malachi used his wish to send me back. And the price was our bond being broken.” I paused, unable to meet her eyes. “The cost is always greater than you expect, I guess.”
“Oh Evie.” Angel reached for my hands. “Does it hurt?”
I nodded my throat closing off. “A lot, and it hasn’t stopped. Not once.”
“After Tyrell, as awful as that bastard was, I still felt like somebody had carved out my insides. But things will get better. I promise they will.” She surged forward and threw her arms around me. “You took such good care of me, came to visit, said all the right things. Told me the stories I needed to hear.”
She smelled so much like mom right now, familiar and nice, I let the tears come. For once, I didn’t even try fighting them, I just cried and cried, for Malachi and for me, for the unfairness of everything, and for not being able to just wish my life back to the way I wanted it.
“Now it’s my turn to take care of you, Evie. Not that your males won’t do a good job, but let me do my share. Because when this baby comes, you’re still going to be my number one go to babysitter-slash-diaper changer.”
“What about Eldric? and Bex?”
“Bex has already become Aisling’s shadow, and is talking about rebuilding the Nocturne library so it’s exactly like this one. As for Eldric…” Her eyes turned hazy. “We’ll see.”
32
EVANGELINE
When the thirty minutes was up—down to the second—Blake and Riordan reappeared and my sister left to find me fresh clothes, complaining I reeked of sulphur, which wasn’t a surprise.
When I told her I preferred plain old black, she just grinned. My mate reached for my hands, and I let him take them, drowning in the familiar warmth of his touch, even though our connection felt muted now. “You’ve been crying.”
“I’m fine.” The admission came out quieter than I intended. “When Malachi sent me back, there was a price for me returning.” I finally looked up at them both, seeing their confusion turn to dawning realization. “You know magic always demands balance. The bond between us—is broken.”
That wasn’t all that was broken.
I was having trouble findinganyof our bonds—the mating bond with Blake, or my Maker bond with Riordan. Like somehow, I’d lost the threads and couldn’t pick them up again. The complete disconnect was disorienting, but I had bigger problems at the moment.
Riordan stepped forward. “We’ll fix this, Evie. We’ll bring him back, and fix this.” That was Riordan, always trying to make everything right. New lines creased thecorner of his eyes. He looked like a king. Strong, yet wise, weathered by his trials, and still…decent to the core.
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe the hollowness I felt would fade. That I’d forget about leaving Malachi to rot in the Underworld, while I went merrily on with my life, but that was a lie.
