Page 83 of Fated In Forever
“I don’t need Malachi. I only need myself,” I said, and for the first time in a very long time, I mean every word when I added, “I am strong enough to take you on.”
I turned my attention to the figure by Ravok’s side. “You should have let him sleep,” I murmured, pity stirring, along with revulsion as I stared at Romulus. “You truly are a monster.”
Romulus raised his head, pain flickering in his one good eye before that was replaced by the blank devotion for Ravok. “My Master knows the future,” he husked. “He offers eternal life. Power. Everything I've ever wanted.” With every word, his broken, bent fingers twitched, crimson red flashing at their tips.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to place where I’d seen that color before.
“He offers you nothing but suffering.” I gestured at my uncles, barely recognizable. “There is your eternal life, Romulus. Rotting away, piece by piece. Is that really the future you wanted?”
Something almost human flickered across his features, regret, and I felt sorry for him. Felt sorry for someone so empty, he’d allowed Ravok to fill him full of cruelty and hatred, while calling it love.
“Enough,” Ravok snarled, raising both hands, energy swirling around him like a storm. “Let me show you whatrealpower looks like.” His attack came from all sides—crushing me down to the Keep floor, tearing at my face, myskin, like the shadows had grown claws and teeth. Any ordinary human—any ordinary vampire—would have been reduced to ash in seconds.
But I wasn't ordinary anymore.
The corruption in my blood rose to meet his assault. I didn't block or deflect his attack—instead, I absorbed the bulk of his strike, letting the foulness of the rift flow through me and join the power already burning beneath my skin. When the magical storm cleared, I was back on my feet, unharmed and rolling my neck against the sheer force of magic straining against my skin.
Nash popped his head up over the rubble and gave me a thumbs up.
Ravok stared in shock, panting. “Impossible.”
Half of his thralls were spent, carved out husks crumpled onto the stone floor, the other half still standing, but…he’d only manage one more blow, if he was lucky.
Except the rift was cracking wider and Fiona's ward continued to fail and I did not have the right magic to fix any of this. I glimpsed another realm through the growing tear—a realm of pure black that waited hungrily for a chance to invade our reality.
I couldn’t fight Ravok and hold all that darkness at bay. I had to get rid of this asshole so Fiona could do her job. “Nash,” I called without taking my eyes off Ravok. “Stay down. Keep everyone else down, too. Tell Fiona to get ready to fix that leak.”
“I'm fighting beside you,” Nash said firmly, rising from behind his stone shield, gun in hand.
“Stay the fuck down. That's a direct order.”
“With respect, Miss Evangeline, you're not my queen. Not yet.” Despite everything, I had to smile at his incessantstubbornness. Still, if he got between us, he would die, and I couldn’t have that on my conscious.
“How touching,” Ravok sneered. “But you cannot stop this. The rift will open, the barriers will fall, and this world will burn.” He sounded delighted. “The only question is whether you die quick or slow.”
Those eyes narrowed. “Slow, I hope.”
Okay, now the bastard sounded evenmoredelighted.
I looked at him—the real monster determined to destroy everything I loved—and felt something as hard and cold as obsidian settle in my chest, like a shield around my heart. There was a price for love, and one I was willing to pay.
“Wrong question,” I said quietly. “The only question is whether there will be anything left to identify when I’m finished with you.”
Thuds echoed behind me, boots hitting the ground, and I knew without turning Blake and Riordan stood there, along with Finn and Nikolai. If wecouldfinish this today, if we could finally stop Ravok, I swore I would throw a fucking party.
37
BLAKE
The past five minutes had been spent in a blind rush of panic, ever since I’d watched Evangeline vanish from Laith Castle’s gardens, snatched away by some powerful, unforeseen force.
And now I was feral.Possessed.
I couldn’t fly fast enough, couldn’t make my shadows transport me back to this cursed place quick enough to keep my temper in check. Every time we got Evie back, every time we had a moment of peace, she was taken away from us again.
And I was fucking done.
I was killing these two fucks. Now. Any way I could.
