Page 103 of Fated In Forever
“You are notfine, Silver. You are better, and you are healing, but we need to know what else can be done.”Let us check her over, you ugly fuck, then you can have her to yourself. I put everything I had into my stare and by some miracle, Malachi’s eyes shifted away first, that rumbling growl quieting.
“Sabine,” I said quietly, not taking my eyes off the demon lord. “Your brother claimed you’re a powerful healer. Check her vitals. Now.”
“You seriously expect me to risk life and limb to…”
“Sabine, check her over and make sure her body is accepting his magic, that the bond between them is stable, or you can go right back to wherever you came from.”
“Oh, well, when you ask so nicely…” The witch slipped past us with surprising grace, her combat boots silent on the stone floor. For once, her theatrical demeanor was nowhere to be seen as she pressed her fingers to Evie's throat, then placed a palm over Evie's heart. Magic shimmered around her hands—a pale blue power I’d never seen before.
“Her body is healing,” she murmured, her voice professionally detached. “Restoration of the bond has jumpstarted her system. Whatever residual magic she brought back from the Underworld has stabilized and is no longer cannibalizingher. Her depleted magic reserves will refill as her physical strength returns.”
Sabine narrowed her eyes and my stomach tightened. “Even though you are an asshole, your majesty, I’ll give her a boost of my magic to hurry this along.”
A magic I’d never seen before, blue as ice, glittering like the ley magic, floated over Evie in a cloud, then settled upon her like a misty blanket, sinking into her skin, leaving a trace of that blue-ish glow behind.
The veins in her arms lightened, she sighed, sinking deeper into her pillows, falling asleep as a bloom of color stained her lips. All the dark veins receded, that strange transparency to her skin turned back into a healthy flush of pink.
My body went weak as relief flooded through me, but the reprieve was short-lived. Malachi's growl returned, Sabine reared back to a safe distance, then his deep voice echoed inside my head, filled with primal rage.
You did this. You put her in danger.His amber eyes fixed on me with predatory intensity as he stepped closer, herding Blake and I into a corner.You were supposed to care for her, to protect her, you failed.
His eyes shifted to my friend.Both of you.
Blake tensed up beside me, shadows staining the air, but I snared his wrist to stop him from responding. This required delicate handling. Malachi was operating on pure instinct right now—the protective, possessive instincts of a creature who had almost lost his mate.
I doubted logic and reason would penetrate that thick skull.
And I was grappling with enough guilt of my own that his accusation stung. Malachi wasn’t entirely wrong. Wehadfailed to keep her safe. We’d lost our focus, Evie had suffered and that was something I would have to live with.
And spend the rest of my life making up for, if she’d let me.
“We would never put Evie in danger,” I said firmly, my voice carrying all the authority I'd learned from decades of leadership, the force of telling him the absolute truth. “Never. She is the most precious thing in the world to us.”
Then explain how she almost died on your watch.Even inside my head, the accusation was a rough snarl, and his claws extended, sinking into the bed on either side of Evie.
I took a measured step forward, ignoring the way his muscles bunched. “The bond between you, the one you blocked so she wouldn’t feel your separation…caused issues, once she arrived back in our world. She carried back a fair amount of darkness from the Underworld, which she couldn’t control.”
His head tilted, confusion flickering across his monstrous features.
“She tried to practice, to learn control, but she couldn’t manage such a foreign magic on her own,” I continued, keeping my voice calm and steady. “Not without your connection. So we removed the block, not knowing the end result. Evie's magic is powerful. Powerful enough to seal the rift shut. But somehow…between fighting Ravok and stabilizing the rift…her mortal body couldn't handle the strain of being exposed to so much dark power over such a long period of time.”
Understanding began to dawn, followed quickly by an expression of horror.
I was killing her?
“No, not you, and not us, the magic,” Blake explained quietly, finally finding his voice. “You saved her life, bysending her back to us. But the bond between you... it's too strong now. She can't exist without you anymore.”
The words hung in the air between us. Evie stirred on the bed, and all three of us turned toward her with identical expressions of concern.
“She's trapped,” Malachi said, his voice breaking with anguish. “I've trapped her.”
“No.” I moved closer, close enough that I could have reached out and touched his massive arm. I didn’t, but Icouldhave. “You're connected to her, just like we are.” Then I switched into mind to mind, since I had no wish for Evie to hear what I was about to say.
She is ours to take care of. We have to figure out how.
We live in two different realms, he said slowly.Two incompatible realms.
I’m well aware. So it’s a good thing Sabine here,I cast my eyes at Nikolai’s sister,is an expert on realms, and magic, and crossing over. I have a feeling she’s here for a purpose, and we should make use of her expertise while we can.
