Page 28 of Fated In Ruin

Malachi never finished because the entire side of the room ripped open, like something out of a disaster movie, and through the gaping opening, Ravok appeared, a dark silhouette outlined against the mangled, ruined gardens, like some kind of haunted specter.

13

MALACHI

Icould not believe I’d been outplayed.

By a newborn.

A newborn with the face of a fucking angel, the body of a goddess and the eyes of an innocent.

But still. I’d spent these past weeks so sure I had the advantage, it never occurred to me anything was happening in that castle except a panicked scramble for survival. And Vicious was right. I’d been so focused on moving everyone into position for my final coup d’etat, I hadn’t noticed Riordan—the fucking king of the entire clan—waspossessed by Ravok.

For an entire fucking week.

I turned, ready to…I don’t know what, when the world exploded. I threw myself over Evangeline, crushing her beneath me as a wave of devastating magic swept through the room.

The scent of death filtered in through the tear in my glamour, thick and suffocating. The once-vibrant gardens surrounding my castle were ashy, brittle husks, their skeletal remains casting eerie shadows in the dim light. My unbreakable wards, carefully woven with centuries of magic, had cracked under an ancient force—one far older, far crueler than anything Evie had ever known.

Ravok stood in the gaping tear of my ruined wards, his emaciated form framed by fraying magic barely clinging to life. His eyes, black as the abyss, flickered with amusement as he surveyed the castle’s lush interior.

The two of us, crouched on the floor.

Darkness coiled around him like a living thing, thick and inescapable, his dark power blocking out the morning sun as shadows rose around him. His magic was as I remembered, darkness flecked with red, like shadows that had been dipped in blood.

But he was still outside the walls, which was something.

Evie trembled, fingers twisted into my sleeve, though I doubted she realized she was touching me. The air pulsed with tension, thick with the iron tang of impending violence as I pushed my aching body upright, feeling the threat like a knife in my heart as I pulled Evie to her feet in case we had to run.

“Release my magic, Malachi. Do it,” Vicious hissed softly, gripping my wrist, not in fear, but to urge me on. Fear for her rose and I shoved it back down, focused on the monster who haunted every minute of my existence.

“You’ve grown sentimental, Malachi,” Ravok mused, stepping forward—but still…not through. So my glamour was still holding, or he was weaker than he appeared.

Twelve hundred years rotting in a box had ruined him.

His cheeks sunken into his skull, eyes staring out of hollow holes, hair long and stringy. Beneath the layers of clothing, I’d wager he was equally gaunt, and yet here he was, taunting me in my own fucking home.

I stepped in front of Evie, taking her by the wrist and shoving her behind me. “I much prefer you locked in an iron box. The smell was…less pungent.”How the fuck had he found me so quickly? And how had he gotten here when he was so weak?I probed the gloaming darkness behind him, but sensed nothing.

His voice was silk wrapped around a steel blade. “Still a fool, I see. Hiding in your sanctuary, buried in your plotting, craving power.” His lip curled, a parody of disappointment. “But you forgot one thing. You are only an extension of me. Of my will, of my power. Alone, you are nothing.”

All my old fears and doubts rose like a tide of choking guilt that would never be stopped.How did he cut me down so easily, with only a few words and that mocking smile? How could I accomplish so much and yet…feel so small in his presence?

His dark gaze fell on Evangeline, hidden behind me, and that grin turned brittle. “Don’t delude yourself, Malachi. Nothing belongs to you. Especially not her.”

My body went tight at the possessiveness in that creeping tone, the lust rampant on his face. I bared my fangs, every muscle taut with fury. “You will not take her. Not now, not ever.”

Ravok chuckled, dark and amused. “Ah, that is not your decision to make, but hers, and I have already seen how she will choose. Your disappointment is…” His tongue wet his bottom lip. “Delicious in its agony.”

“Malachi.Look at him,” she urged softly, nails biting into my skin where I held her. “This is our chance to finish this. Why are you hesitating?”

Because he would hurt her, in order to control her.

Because I’d never felt so close to losing everything before in my life.

Because I was fuckingafraid.

“You always did talk too much.” The moment the words left my lips, glamour exploded, a wall of swords and daggers—sharp enough to shred—speeding toward my Maker with enough force to crush a house.

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