Page 73 of Fated In Forever
Blake stepped closer, cupping my face in his hands. “We'll figure this out,” he said fiercely. “Whatever's been done, whatever's changed, we'll find a way to undo it. We have The Book, that means we all get one wish, right?”
I leaned into his touch, chasing his warmth, which was like trying to grasp smoke, because I couldn’t shake the cold. “Every wish will have a price.” I reminded him quietly. “At some point, I expect the cost will be the end of us. And I just can’t…”
A rush of anger rose, my vision turning black, muscles going tight, those unnatural veins pulsing. I tried forcing it back down, getting control, but couldn’t, like my emotions were spiraling beyond my control.
“I am so tired of this bullshit.” I slammed my hands down on the nearest table, where an arrangement of white roses stood, fresh enough they still had drops of dew on their perfect petals.
The white petals darkened, bleeding from ivory to deep crimson, as if they were absorbing blood. The green stems turned glassy, black as midnight, and the leaves followed suit, curling at the edges as they hardened to obsidian. The transformation spread through the entire arrangement in seconds, leaving behind something that belonged in a graveyard.
The crystal vase was black, and the table…
I lifted my hands off the transformed, stone table and stepped away, clasping them tightly behind my back.
That was it, then.
I wasn’t touching anything else.Ever.
“What the hell just happened?’ Rohr whispered, his eyes darting between me and the roses. “Was that you?” He was as unraveled as me, and I hated myself. Hated how I ruinedeverything.
I shouldn’t have come back.
I should have stayed in the Underworld, with Malachi. What if my transformation had progressed too far, what if I could never exist in this realm again? I sucked in quick, unsteady breaths as something cold slithered through me.
Something that wasn’t supposed to be there.
Fear flooded in behind, a rush of pure panic I couldn’t stop.
Blake and Riordan stared at the transformed roses, then at my hands, which I tried to hide, but it was too late. Those dark veins crawled beneath my skin, and I felt them moving, as coldness came alive inside me.
“Get it out,” I pleaded, spreading my fingers, my breath hitching. “Get this out of me.”
“Evangeline,” Riordan's voice was carefully controlled, but not enough to fully mask his own underlying fear. “You need to stay calm. What just happened? How did you do that?”
“I don’t know, I was angry, and just…I touched the table and the roses changed to obsidian. I didn’ttryto do anything.” Panic boiled up, wrapped a vise around my chest, and then I was fighting to breathe.
The rug beneath my feet crackled, like fire eating through dry kindling, then blackness spread outwards from where I stood, the soft, colorful rug hardening, wool turning into glittering sand, strewn with chunks of glassy rock.
“Move.” I warned them, holding my hands out in front ofme. “Get back, you shouldn’t be this close to me. I should have stayed in the Underworld. I shouldn’t have come here. I’m dangerous and I’m going to ruin everything. I’m going to hurt you both.” I was completely unraveling. I knew it. But I couldn’t stop this sense of doom, or the spreading blackness beneath my feet.
“Evie, you need to calm down.” Riordan said through clenched teeth, his face pale as he circled me, staying well beyond the widening sweep of glittering sand consuming the center of the thick rug.
“Telling her to calm down won’t help.” Blake pointed out evenly. “Love, I need you to listen to me. Focus on my voice and relax your body, try to stop your heart from racing.”
“Iamtrying.” But the harder I concentrated on calming down, on breathing, the deeper the panic set in, and the further the sand spread, Riordan and Blake backing up, one slow step at a time, and I realized that I was minutes away from turning this entire room into some version of the Underworld.
“I can’t stop this. Not on my own,” I whispered, keeping my feet in place, because fuck knew what would happen if I started moving around.
The smell of fear thickened the brimstone-scented air, sweat poured down my spine, and the sea of insidious black expanded further outwards, like an unstoppable tide.
“What am I supposed to do?” I hissed, and there was nothing soothing about Riordan’s panickedwhy the fuck are you asking melook, or Blake’s raised hands, which were shaking, ever so slightly.
Which was why Nikolai’s appearance was a whole lot welcome, even with me stuck in the center of a sea of glassy sand in the center of his dining room—which I’d completely destroyed. When, with a wave of his hand, thecarpet turned back to carpet, I nearly collapsed from relief.
“Thank you,” I plunged my shaking hands into my pockets, and fuck me, but my jeans hardened, the fabric turning darker.
“Evangeline, I need you to relax your shoulders.” Nikolai’s voice was calming, hypnotic, sinking into my bones, smoothing out tense muscles and overwrought nerves. “Take a deep breath, let your lungs fill all the way. Hold that for a moment.”
He slanted me a look, more curious than judgmental. “Better?”
