Page 30 of Fated In Ruin

Evie barely had time to scream before they disappeared, darkness swallowing them whole.

And there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do to stop them, except die.

14

EVANGELINE

Ravok’s hand brutally crushed my wrist, delicate bones grinding together, that rotten stench of death choking me as I thrashed to get free.

Every desperate breath burned sharp in my lungs, the magic inside me screaming to escape, coiled and caged, still partially bound by the block Malachi had placed on me for my own protection.

But I didn’t need protection.

Malachi did. He was going to die—soon—if he didn’t feed, and if Ravok took me away, that would never happen.

Funny, how quickly enemies became allies when an even bigger monster showed up.

I wanted to pour out every last flicker of this consuming power and let my frozen flames devour Ravok until there was nothing left of this asshole except a pile of yellowed bones, just like Tyrell.

But my strength was failing, body shivering like I was being carved apart by a thousand tiny knives, every breath getting harder as choking darkness whirled around us. Maybe because Ravok was preparing to dematerialize me away.

Maybe this was my magic, trying to escape.

Darkness had nearly cut us off, Ravok dragging me through the wreckage toward that gaping hole, but I managed one last, desperate glance in Malachi’s direction, “Release the block, Malachi. Do it.”

If you can hear me, you have to remove the block. Let me at least try.

Malachi’s jaw clenched, blood dribbling from his bone white lips as his mouth moved. “No. Too dangerous. Might…hurt…you.” The words were the barest whisper, I doubted he even realized he spoke them aloud.

Fuck that.

Fuck that when everything was lost anyway. What was the difference if the world was ending? What did it matter once Ravok had me under his control? I swore I’d never become anyone’s pawn again, that I would fight to the death before anyone used me the way Silas did.

He must have heard my thoughts, because Malachi exhaled—a sharp, pained rasp of sound—and something inside me shattered.

Magic roared through my veins like slivered glass, a flood of frozen darkness and raw, crackling power. Cold burned through my skin, my bones, icing my breath. The air inside the ruined castle groaned, bending under the assault of something long-dormant finally being freed.

I didn’t know how this magic worked, or what my limits were, but I’d been trained since I was a child to turn everything around me into a weapon and to use that weapon to bludgeon my enemies to death.

Flames danced at my fingertips and Iwinkedat this fucking entitled monster who thought he could strut in here and yank me away to be his plaything. “Now that’s more like it.”

Ravok thought he was the hunter. He waswrong.

I shoved against the pain, pushed those sharpened knives deeper into my very being, carving away at Malachi’s block, cutting past anything that felt wrong or constrictive until the last of his magical protections fell away, revealing the roiling core of darkness at my center.

The silver box gleamed, illuminated by a halo of light.

And the sight was glorious.

I lifted the lid and a web of darkness wove around me like a spider’s silken web, thrumming with energy, shifting and crackling as the flames grew.

Ravok hissed, jerking his hand away, eyes glowing red in his hollowed-out excuse for a face, his confidence faltering.

I threw my power forward, dark fire exploded from my fingertips—shadowy threads weaving into a conflagration that wrapped around the room, twisting reality itself. The torches stuttered, the floor disappeared, the very walls of the castle became nightmares, distorting and shifting.

Ravok eyed the darkness seeping from me like liquid fire and backed toward the opening, his eyes darting between me, my devouring magic, and Malachi, prone on the floor behind me.

I prowled after him, something truly terrifying growing inside me. “What’s the matter? I thoughtthiswas what you wanted?” I tipped my head and the shadowy flames thrashed between us. “I thought all this power was theprizeyou hoped to claim?”

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