Page 143 of Fated In Ruin

“You’re wrong, Romulus.” Eldric's quiet voice was amplified by the echoing tunnel. “Caine’s gifts were never wasted, except on monsters like you and Ravok.”

Romulus’s magic shuddered and I could breathe again, super-heated air tasting of sulphur rushing in, filling my starved lungs, searing my throat. But it was air and I dragged Riordan closer, checking his pulse.

Weak, but there, thank fuck.

Eldric stepped forward, the flames parting before him like curtains. Fire spiraled around his body, lifting him several inches off the ground. The asshole wasliterally flying, eyes blazing with golden light, his dark red hair whipping around his face in the superheated air.

Honestly, he looked pretty fucking awesome—not that I’d ever tell him.

“You dare to challengeme?” Romulus snarled, gathering darkness between his palms.

But there was a hint of hesitation, his eyes darting between Eldric and those hotter-than-fuck flames.

Eldric's response was another surge of flame, this one shaped like some great mythical beast. A dragon took form, fiery wings spread wide, mouth open in silent roar, crashing into Romulus with the force of a battering ram, slamming him into the far wall.

Stone spiderwebbed beneath the impact. For one glorious moment, Romulus hung there, suspended in a hollow of broken rock. Then he slid to the ground, his clothes smoldering, his skin blistered and red.

But Romulus wasn't finished. A guttural scream tore up his throat and he unleashed his own magic, a wave of foul-smelling darkness that swallowed Eldric's blazing flames. The two forces entwined in the center of the chamber, light and darkness, fire and void, straining against each other in perfect, terrible balance.

I hoisted Rohr up by his coat and dragged him out of the way, far enough we watched as the two ancient powers battled for supremacy. The air overhead keened and wailed, rock crackled from the heat, the mountain quaked.

Then Eldric did something unexpected. Instead of pushing against Romulus's darkness, he closed his eyes and stepped forward, letting the blackness swallow him whole.

My breath caught. For one terrible moment, he was gone.

Then the darkness began to glow from within—first a dull red, then orange, then yellow-white. Cracks broke through the shadows, light spilling through in brilliant bands. With a rumble of thunder, the darkness shattered, and Eldric emerged—wreathed in flames so bright I shielded my eyes.

Romulus screamed as that fire caught him, clinging to him like a living thing. He thrashed wildly, trying to extinguish the magical flames, but they only burned brighter.

“Get out of here,” Eldric shouted, his voice strained. “I'll hold him here. Find Evie before it's too late.”

Rohr hissed when I hauled him to his feet, doubling over from pain, “Fuck, Blake, we can’t just…”

“Go,” Eldric commanded, the force of his magic punctuating the word. The ground beneath our feet trembled and heaved, as if to urge us along. I grabbed Riordan’s arm, pulling him toward the tunnel ahead.

“He's right. We have to get to Evie. If Romulus came here to stop us…”

Riordan’s lips peeled back from his teeth. “That means Ravok has Evie.”

Romulus’s dark magic rose again, a malicious dark wind and I took one last glance at Eldric, standing proud amidst the flames, then dragged Riordan behind me, following the scent of a warm desert breeze and carnations.

63

MALACHI

Death crept through my veins like ice water, seeping into every cell, every corner of my being like eternal damnation. The change was happening, and like dying, there was nothing I could do to stop this.

With frozen claws, the crimson liquid pulled me deeper, not just into the pool but into something else. Something vast and ancient and hungry.The Underworld, perhaps, like that fool Aurelius had claimed.

Whatever this was, Ravok's ritual was working.

The chains were gone, but I wasn’t free.

My own helpless body had become my own prison.

Through the swirling, blood-tinged water, I watched Evie collapse, tears glistening on her pale cheeks. Even with darkness staining the edges of my vision, she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, gazing up at me like there was still some way out of this.

Still willing to fight for me.

---