Page 69 of Fated In Forever
Shadow magic, the kind that had remade Malachi into something magnificent and terrible. Magic—another realm’s magic—flowed through me like a dark river, seductive and dangerous, whispering of abilities I had never possessed before.
With barely a thought, I extended my senses outward, over Irish soil and ocean air and sensed... well, everything. The life force of each blade of grass beneath me, the distant cries of seabirds wheeling over the cliffs, the ancient stones of Laith Castle pulsing with centuries of accumulated magic.
Even beyond, like a wound in the fabric of reality, I felt the rift.
Felt every hungry, greedy pulse, as it bled more darkness into the world. Felt the tremulous trail of ley line magic, tracing a delicate path through the tunnels far beneath the mountains. It was like I was aware of everything, all at once, and in that moment I couldn’t breathe.
Gripping The Book, I began walking toward the castle doors. Each step felt strange, as if the wet, spongy ground wasn’t normal, and my feet would rather be treading on black, shifting sands. My shadowy vision turned the world both sharper and more distant, like I was seeing everything through a spyglass.
I reached for a pale pink rose, and tendrils of darkness coiled around the thick petals, not destroying them but... changing them. The color deepened, became more vivid, turning to a crimson red, and I yanked my hand back. I picked up a fallen branch, and tender new leaves burst from withered wood, roots writhing at the opposite end, reaching for rich soil.
I dropped it to the ground, horrified.
The roots were black, glassy, like they’d been forged from obsidian.
This was the power Malachi had tried to save me from. The power of death. Or transformation.
Or whatever the fuck this was.
The ability to manifest change like this was intoxicating and terrifying, and I could understand now why he had been so terrified.
But…the closer I got to Laith Castle, the stronger I sensed the rift's influence, how that unnatural breach was slowly poisoning this world just as surely as staying too long in the Underworld would have poisoned me.
I curled my fingers into a fist, watched darkness pulse along my veins, hope sparking as I had a revelation.
What if I could actually stop Ravok now? Shadow fighting shadow.
Darkness against darkness.
The liveried Knightsguard on either side of the front doors froze as I approached, and inside, I picked up two familiar signatures—Blake's wild, uncontrolled rage and Riordan’s ice-cold control.
They were about to get quite a shock.
“Hey.” As I got closer to the spooked guards I dug deep for my friendliest smile. “I’ll bet everyone’s looking for me, but here I am, back from the literal dead, so to speak.”
I stopped, unsure what to do next. The guards were in the same position, hands on their weapons, doubt on their faces. This felt like an Irish/vampire version of the OK Corral.
“Look, my mate and my king are inside, and I need to speak to them.”
One of them pulled out his phone and began scrolling. “We’re not allowed to let anyone pass, except those on the list.” Guard number two said gruffly, looking like he took his job very seriously, and honestly, good for him.
Wouldn’t I love to have a job I enjoyed.
But no, here I was, diving headfirst into the Underworld and battling Elders who wanted to burn the world down and now I was probably cursed for life.
“I wouldn’t happen to be on that list, would I?” I craned my neck to try to get a better look at this mysterious list. “I mean, I’ve been gone for…” I rocked back on my heels. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday.” Guard one muttered, looking totally unimpressed, given I’d literally survived the Underworld and returned to tell the tale.
I blew out a breath. “I was only gone one day. God, it felt like so much longer.”
“That is because time moves differently in other realms than it does here. But you’re off a week. You were gone eight days, Evangeline, not one.” Nikolai strolled up with that maddeningly slow gait. “Thank you, gentlemen, I will take it from here.”
“Wow, eight days? That makes sense.” Even though it really didn’t. “It felt like I spent months in the Underworld, so that’s good to know.”
But Nikolai wasn’t looking at me, he was staring at The Book.
“Where, may I ask, did you find that?”
