Page 150 of Fated In Ruin

For one terrible moment, nothing happened.

Then the beast gave an exasperated sigh, grasped my arm and we landed down on the shale covered cliff beside Riordan and Blake, both of them looking somewhat…concerned by recent developments.

Well, join the club. Concerned was my new middle name.

“What the fuck is happening, Evie?” Riordan muttered, “I thought…Ravok was transforming, not Malachi. Did something go wrong?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Where is my brother?” Fiona demanded, marching up to me. “Where is Eldric?”

“Still down below.” I turned to Malachi. “Can you find him and bring him up here? Please?”

For a boon of my choice.The beast’s cunning, wicked smile was so Malachi-like, my stomach clenched.I will save the scholar, who is nothing but trouble, and I do not see why you bring him on these missions, Evangeline.

Ah, the form changes but the lectures stay the same, I see.

Make your decision, but he is not an asset. Perhaps now is the time to thin your ranks, let only the strongest survive.

“Oh my god, you are worse than…” I glanced at Fiona, waiting for an answer. “Fine, save him, you get your precious little boon, then we’ll discuss my dubious choices later,” I grumbled.

The creature nodded and disappeared, leaving the four of us staring at each other.

“So, clearly there have been some developments,” I muttered, as a bone-shaking roar echoed out of the Keep above our heads. “Ravok turned Malachi into some ancient Roman god, but he seems to be listening to me, so let’s take that as a win.”

“You’re planning to take him home with us, aren’t you?” Blake growled. “What the fuck are we supposed to do, Evie? Build him a dog house?”

“He’s not a dog,” I scolded. “I was actually hoping Fiona would know what he was. Ravok called him…Orcus.” But she wasn’t listening.

“I don’t give a fuck what he is. If he eats my brother,” she enunciated every word, “I will turn him into a fucking toad.”

“Okay, nobody’s getting turned into toads,” Riordan said, glaring at Blake. “Or getting stabbed. We need to all calm the fuck down and take a deep breath here. Obviously, today didn’t turn out the way we’d planned, but we’re all still alive.”

“Yeah?” I grumbled, “Well, so is Ravok.”

We all froze as Malachi reappeared, holding a struggling Eldric aloft before dropping him onto the loose stones like a sack of potatoes.

The scholar’s hair was charred at the ends, he had a gash across his forehead, and smelled like smoke as he gave Malachi a glare that would have peeled the skin off a witch. “Thanks a lot, asshole. I nearly had him.”

He did not nearly have him. Romulus was in the process of wearing him down for the final blow.

“Stop being difficult. How fast can we get out of here?” The creature let out a low, rumbling sound—not quite a growl, not quite a word as his form rippled, shadows stretching and contracting. For one breathtaking moment, I saw Malachi's face emerge from the darkness, then he was gone.

Beneath our feet the mountain rumbled, stones tumbling down from the cliffs around us.

“How weak is Ravok right now?” Riordan checked his weapons, motioning Nash closer. “I’m assuming your knife was coated with silver nitrate and that was a direct hit?”

“Of course it was. I’m excellent at what I do,” I said coolly.

“Good girl.” I preened a little at his praise. “Then this is our best chance of killing him. We wait until he emerges and Fiona, you, Blake and Evie concentrate your efforts on him, I’ll deal with Romulus.”

“You couldn’t fucking deal with him down below,” Eldric snarked, wiping blood off his face with his shirt.

“I don’t have to worry about being buried alive now, and if you keep being a dick, I’ll makeyoufight him again. Now let’s keep this tight.” Riordan made a hand gesture I didn’t recognize. “Nash, keep your men along the perimeter, they can step in if this goes sideways, otherwise, I want to minimize casualties.”

Blake opened his mouth to say something cutting when the world detonated with a deafening crack, a choking storm of stone and dust engulfing us. The ground shook as the entire cliff collapsed beneath our feet.

For a second, all I saw was falling rock and a thousand-foot drop beneath me, reaching for something—anything—to break my fall, but my fingers clawed at air as I plummeted straight down.

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