Page 127 of Fated In Ruin

“I stopped you. I will stop him.” Rom was lying. Evie couldn’t possibly find me across two continents and an ocean, shecouldn’t.

“No, you won’t. You have already lost her. Our Master is unstoppable.” Rom’s smile faltered, his eyes glazing over, locking with mine…green…why were they green?

Bright bottle green. Eyes I hadn’t seen in centuries, his hair turning lighter, longer, his body thickening, broader, almost bulky. His gaze softened, his expression genuinely regretful.

“Hello, Malachi, my old friend. It has been a long time since I last saw you in Rome.”

I pitched backwards onto my ass, horror and recognition clamping a vise around my shattering heart.

Through some spell or dark magic, Romulus had put his face on another’s body, the illusion so perfect even me—a master of illusion—hadn’t seen the truth.

“Noctarian?” I lunged forward, prepared to rip that hideous weapon from his chest, but my limbs wouldn't respond. The knife wasn't just a physical weapon—spelled iron was meant to disintegrate a vampire from the inside out.

There was nothing I could do. Noctarian was going to die.

“Why? Why are you helping them?”

His brow wrinkled. “Helping? I’m not helping. I’ve been a slave, ever since you swore that oath to him. You didn’t save us, Kai. You bound us to Ravok, gave him our souls to control and command. Romulus…was glad…he served willingly.” His next raspy cough brought up a mouthful of blood.

Bright, red blood. Not black, like Romulus’s.

“But I despised that monster. Thank you for releasing me, this is a good death, compared to how I’ve spent my life.”

“You never…I never knew.” I couldn’t wrap my head around this. All these years, I’d painted myself as their savior…had I really cursed them?

“I never blamed you.” Noctarian’s eyes shone, his face calm as his body began to decay, right before my eyes. “I knew why you bent the knee, because you always were a noble fool. Listen…”

I bent forward, nothing else in the world existing except for my dying friend, the one I’d killed twice over, without even knowing.

“He’s waiting, but he’s not the one who will…” His eyes dulled. “Don’t let them get their claws into you. You must leave this place, old friend. Leave before Ravok…” Another cough, hacking up blood. “Now.Run.” Then his body collapsed into a pile of dust and bone and fabric, and I turned toward where a warm, almost welcoming light glowed.

I reached desperately down the bond I shared with Evie—pouring every ounce of my strength into one final message, one warning.Don't come down here, you must return to Crimson House. You are in danger, Evangeline. All of you are in danger.

But even as I screamed my warning down the bond, I sensed their familiar presences above me. Blake's deathly shadows. Riordan's focus. Eldric's fiery power.

And Evie’s fierce determination.My Evie, about to walk straight into danger.

For me.

Despite everything I'd done to keep her safe, she’d followed me straight into this hell.

My last thought before unconsciousness claimed me was a prayer to whatever gods might listen to ruined creatures like me:Let me be strong enough to save them, even if I can't save myself.

56

EVANGELINE

Imight have been screaming as I clung to Riordan, hurled through time and space.

I'd experienced the disorienting effects of dematerialization before, but never like this. This was like being unmade. Every atom pulled apart and scattered across an impossible distance. I focused on the pressure of Riordan’s arms around me, gripping me tight. Without him, I would be lost in the void between places.

We paused, cold, the kind I’d never experienced before, searing my lungs, turning my throat raw, tears streaming down my cheeks, even with my eyes scrunched shut.

I managed one pained breath. Two.Three.

We disappeared, then, suddenly, we existed again.

Crisp mountain air slapped my face when we materialized on a forested ridge. Above us, shrouded in evening mist, stood the ruins of Château des Ombres Éternelles. Even from this distance, I could feel a sense of wrongness emanating from those crumbled stones. This was a place where great evil had once existed…and existed again today.

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