Page 91 of Fated In Forever
“You know what Evangeline needs, Blake. As her mate, you sense the problem, and you know how to fix this. The question is, will you?”
Oh, I knew. I felt that wrongness, deep inside her, through our bond, which was also fraying apart. And while it went against every protective, possessive instinct I had as her life-bonded mate to put another male’s claim before mine, I wouldn’t let her suffer a second longer, not if I could fix this.
“Of fucking course I will,” I snapped. “The question is, will he come back?”
Could he come back? Evie had been tight lipped about how her bond with Malachi worked, mostly to spare our egos, but also, because I’d been so murderously angry over the entire arrangement, she was trying to spareme.
“Sabine can take you into the Underworld. You can ask him yourself.”
“Oh, trust me, I will.” I’d do more than ask, I’d drag him back by his fucking horns, because I knew he had those now.Maybe by his fucking tail. Evie’s pale lips moved, her fingers twitched, as if now, in sleep, she reached for someone who wasn’t me.
I wasn’t even jealous anymore. Not really.
Jealousy was the purview of someone who wasn’t facing down the prospect of losing his mate.
Because Malachi was bonded to her, the same way I was. Maybe on a deeper level, maybe not. Maybe we all loved Evangeline in our own ways, and that was enough. I knew it was for me.
To hold her again, to fucking hear her laugh again…I blew out a shaky breath, rubbed my temples. “Fine. I’ll talk to this sister of yours.”
“Sabine will make some requests…demands. They might seem…outrageous,” Nikolai was saying, but I was barely listening.
None of us had any control over fate, it simply…was.
I was her mate, and Malachi was…whatever the fuck he was. Her monster, I supposed. But he gave Evie up, sent her back to me—to Riordan and me—to save her, knowing we would protect her, love her, care for her. Knowing he would never see her again.
That had to be an impossible decision.
And now I had to bring him back to save her.
And somehow, that wasn’t a hard decision at all.
“Tell your sister, if she can get us into the Underworld, I’ll give her anything she wants.” I looked back at Evangeline, lying so still beneath her blankets. Her chest still roseand fell, slow enough my heart caught in my throat. “Tell her I’m ready to leave, as soon as possible.”
43
MALACHI
The river was kind to me these days.
The raging black water used to fight me. Push back. Swallow my curses beneath an angry roar, try to drag the boat under, battering at me with all the fury of well,hell.
But not anymore.
The black water shifted when I guided the boat in for my final trip of the day—or was it night—churning current turning smooth and silent beneath the obsidian hull. The only sound was the clinking of the heavy chain and the rough sandpaper burr of my calloused palms against the metal.
Ten crossings today and I barely felt the strain.
I’d learned how to navigate the eddies of water as easily as I’d mapped out every plain and mountain, valley and rocky crag of this realm, the stillness of this place—the lack of wind or birds or another voice—a constant balm to any painful memories that rose to the surface.
Pain and loss could be beautiful, too, because they brought everything good into sharp relief. Made the good memories shine brighter, loving words resonate deeper, remembered touches feel like fire on my skin.
The castle on the cliff had grown, this past year. The walls didn’t crumble, the spires rose straight to the clouds.Evie’s scent had faded long ago, but she was everywhere I looked. In the vases of dark red roses on every table, in the courtyard fountain filled with river water, in every place she once sat or laid or touched.
Every improvement I’d made with her in mind.
Everything in that castle held a piece of her heart, and everywhere I looked, reminded me of her.
Today, Vicious had been with me since I’d opened my eyes, closer than she’d been since she’d left. She was a constant worry at the edges of my thoughts, and that knot in my stomach tightened. A fear that wouldn’t go away, one that had been increasing day after day.
