Page 6 of Fated In Forever
There was a history between these three, and Ravok was about to get a dose of his own medicine.
Some of the weight slid off my shoulders, at the idea we weren’t alone in this battle.
That not only was Evie safe, she’d managed to secure us allies.
“Nein, Dravin, ni scalt thu sie fihtan, bi dir bleib.” Wolf shouted across the void at Dravin, already reforming on the opposite side. I expected him to cast magic, but instead, he launched himself at Ravok like an animal, ripping and shredding with teeth and claws.
“There’s your distraction, Fiona,” I said pragmatically. “Let’s go make the most of it.”
Wolf had already vanished, Blake right behind him, then Fiona and I dematerialized across the chasm, landing on the furthest edge of what remained of the castle, directly beside the leaking stream of magic.
My teeth ached from the sheer amount of magic around us, a bone-white Fiona clutching her temples as she raised one hand to the sky, the rift growling right back, belching darkness out like brimstone.
“Do what you can,” I told her, turning to face Ravok.
“We’ll buy you as much time as possible.”
3
EVANGELINE
Ash and Brendan were sire and daughter, that much was clear. They shared the same lopsided, toothy smile, same thick, curly black hair, the same-colored eyes. They even carried themselves the same way, as if they’d been born to power.
Then there was the entire conversation they shared with one brief glance, before turning twin, blinding smiles on us.
And I didn’t miss how Finn and Nikolai—how the entire Knightsguard closed protectively around her, like a wall of defense against the monstrous threat—mostly Malachi but also me—none of them could quite get a read on. Tensions were on the verge of exploding, and given Malachi’s current, unhinged state, I knew once tempers exploded, this ended only one way.
Absolute. Carnage.
Time for calmer heads to prevail.
“If we had anywhere else to go, trust me, we wouldn’t have come.” I told Brendan, staying close to Malachi. Not that I had a choice, since he still had my shoulder in a death grip. “I don’t know what your history is with Malachi, but we all have a bigger problem,” I said, attempting to sound like a reasonable person, not the drama llama Commander Finn clearly thought I was.
“We’re not here to incite fear, but what has happened inFrance…” I took a breath. “What happened really could end the world.” My gaze flickered between the older male with his steady eyes and unflappable demeanor, and his daughter, now giving me her full attention.
“I was there, beneath the ruins. I don’t know anything about rifts, but I can explain what led up to the mountain exploding. This was no accident, it was an act of sabotage.”
Not everything. Malachi butted in.They don’t need to know everything.
Yeah, no shit. But coming here was your idea and they need to understand the scope of the threat. Since I’m apparently your mouthpiece, we’ll be doing this my way.
“I’ve heard rumors of Château des Ombres Éternelles.” Brendan mused, “About the caverns beneath the castle, and the Ancient who once lived there.”
My gaze strayed over to Aisling, who watched us unblinkingly, not a shred of emotion on her face as she leaned against Nikolai. She had the perfect poker face, and perhaps I was just a little bit jealous of how I—trained since birth to ferret out lies—couldn’t read a single tell in her blank expression.
“The tunnel system runs deep into the mountain, about five hundred feet. At the center was a carved, round room, a place where a ley line had ruptured, long ago.”
“Wasa round room?” Brendan pressed, alarm growing in his expression.
“Everything is buried. Less than an hour ago, Ravok collapsed the entire mountain, fully rupturing the ley line. Magic is leaking up into the atmosphere, into a giant rift. Fiona…the witch who was with us, said if the rift becomes too large, this realm could collapse.”
Brendan took this in without so much as a blink, his even expression never changing. Finn strode over to thefirst row of chairs and sat down with a thud. “Seriously? Can’t we get through a single week without the world ending?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Finn,” Aisling scolded, “it’s been at least three weeks since we’ve had a world ending event. We’re about due.”
She strode forward and extended her hand, casting one wary eye up at Malachi. “You can call me Ash, by the way. Ignore these heathens, they’ll spend the next hour posturing while the world burns. Tell us more about this rift.”
I went to take her hand, only to discover—to my absolute humiliation—I was still gripping my knife. None of the guards had tried to take it from me, so obviously, I wasn’t viewed as a threat. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or offended.
