Page 109 of Fated In Forever
“You, Evangeline, will always carry a piece of the Underworld in your veins,” she explained. “The Underworld's magic has changed you permanently, but I've... refined the darkness so it will not corrupt living flesh.”
I flexed my fingers, igniting the power humming beneath my skin—different from before, darker but also somehow more whole, as if all the jaggedy pieces finally fit together, with no spaces between. “What does that make me?”
“Lucky,” Sabine said with a faint smile. “Malachi will live forever, or until he lays down his crown and takes his rest. You…” Her smile gleamed like a cat’s. “You will live for a very long time, both of you bridging the gap between life and death, between mortal and immortal.”
She grinned at her brother. “Not bad for one day’s work, if I do say so myself.”
Nikolai finally spoke, “None of us get the life we want. We all have to settle for what the universe gives us.”
“Thisisthe life I want,” I insisted, meaning every word.
Malachi squeezed my hand, his touch achingly familiar despite everything that had changed. “We aren’t settling,” he agreed, and for a moment, we lost ourselves in each other’s eyes. “We’re going to build a future.”
“Once Ravok’s dead.” I reminded him.
“And the rift is stabilized.”
“And we killallour enemies.” Sabine added, with just a little too much enthusiasm, in my opinion.
52
EVANGELINE
Malachi didn’t let me out of his sight for the rest of the evening.
Neither did Blake and Riordan, all of them staying close, and now here we all were, awkwardly standing around at the top of the steps, people trying to make their way around us as everyone in the castle settled in for the night.
‘You look tired.” Blake pointed out for at least the third time, although he was right. The circles under my eyes had returned, some of my old exhaustion was creeping back in after such a demanding day.
Riordan and Malachi were engaged in some sort of silent pissing contest, and when I reached down both of their bonds, silence met me on the other end.
“We need to sort this bullshit mate crap out. Tonight.” Riordan finally snapped, “Follow me.”
He stalked toward our bedroom, the rest of us following in his wake, the hair going up on the back of my neck.
Maybe we should do this outside. I told Blake, dragging my feet.I’d hate to destroy another room in Aisling’s castle, she’ll never forgive us.But my mate just took my hand and kept tugging me along, leaving me to sort out a hundred different scenarios in my head, all of them ending in massive amounts of bloodshed.
Aisling was seriously going to evict us.
Then the four of us were locked together in a bedroom that was suddenly too small and too overflowing with male aggression. This was a bad idea, but Riordan was right about one thing. We needed to sort things out between us now, otherwise, someone—probably Malachi—would be left on the outside.
Just the idea made my heart ache and my palms sweaty.
“I’ll go first.” Rohr plunged his hands into his pockets of his dress pants, the edge of his tattoos peeking over the deep V of his sweater as he pinned a cold stare on Malachi. “I don’t trust you. You’ve betrayed everyone who has ever trusted you, and caused more misery than I expect any of us know. But…” His eyes went dark. “You saved Evangeline. Sacrificed yourself for her. And that is something I can respect. Even admire.”
I had to hand it to Riordan, he looked every inch a king right now, head held high, powerful shoulders in a tight, proud line. He wasn’t one to be fucked with, especially with the cloak of white-hot magic hanging around him. Heat radiated off his big body, corded forearms flexing when he crossed his arms over his chest.
“We’re setting down ground rules.” Blake stepped up, so he was shoulder to shoulder with Riordan. “Evangeline comes first. Always. Her welfare, her safety, her happiness takes precedence over everything else. You hurt her, you’re out. You fucking risk her life one single time…you’re fucking gone.”
My mate’s smile didn’t hold a trace of amusement. “When Ravok is dead, and this is over, Evangeline will be Riordan’s queen, and sit beside him on the throne, ruling over the Nocturne Clan. I know where I will be. Standing right the fuck in front of them, protecting them from everyfucking threat, every fucking enemy who dares come for them. The question is…where will you be?”
I could barely breathe.Queen. I mean, they’d joked about the title, and I’d thought it was an annoying nickname, but never in a million years had I entertained the idea such a thing might really happen.
Oh, trust me, it’s happening, Blake purred.And I can’t fucking wait to get you into bed with nothing but a crown on your head.
Malachi remained still as a statue, the only thing alive about him were his eyes, overflowing with emotions too intense for me to sift through. There was an agonizing moment when I thought he might leave, turn on his heel and walk away.
Another when emotion shifted to fury, Blake and Riordan bracing themselves, bodies tensing for an attack. Then his stance relaxed, and he dipped his head to all of us, in a show of startling submission.
