Page 40 of Fated In Ruin

You don’t know that.

You think I can survive losing you?

Because I fucking can’t.

That’s all I know.

The responses came like gunshots, one after another and I couldn’t even tell him the truth about why I had to avoid Crimson House at all costs.

But if we didn’t kill Ravok tonight or tomorrow, there was a possibility we never would.

And if Blake knew—if he evensuspected—I was planning to use myself as bait to get close enough to Ravok to do that killing…yeah, the thrown over shoulder/dragged back home scenario was definitely happening.

I’m going to kill him. Once that’s done, I’m coming home. Just not yet.

For a long moment, there was no reply. Then?—

You’re mine, Evangeline. And I always protect what’s mine. Never forget that.

I swallowed hard, my chest tight.

I am yours. Always yours. And you have to trust me.

Nothing. Minutes passed. My fingers trembled as I held the phone, waiting for his response, but none came, and that tightness cracked my chest as I typed out what I knew would be my last message of the night.

Don’t come for me, Blake. As your mate, I forbid you to interfere. Stay at Crimson House and I will find you when this is finished.

I closed my eyes, exhaling slowly as I shut my phone down to conserve the battery. My mate was angry, but he had to understand.He had to.

Because no matter how much I wanted to go home to him, no matter how much I loved him, I would lose everything that mattered if Ravok survived. I’d seen what that monster was capable of, and I would never risk my future.

This wasn’t over until Ravok was dead, preferably burned to ash and missing his head.

I chewed my lip and plucked at my filthy clothes, the ones I’d been in for days now. I needed a shower and sleep, but those luxuries paled in the face of what Ireallyrequired.

I had to ask a favor, and my most logical alternative…I blew out a nervous breath.

I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. There was something building between Malachi and me. Today had been more than biology and blood, today had been about something deeper, something…more lasting.

Something dangerous that scared me…because it felt so right.

Which made what I was about to do the riskiest choice I had ever made.

18

MALACHI

Candlelight splashed against the raised paneling of my chamber, throwing long, jagged shadows that danced like specters. Outside, a summer storm howled through the turrets of the castle, a ceaseless wail that matched the restless storm inside my head.

Fingers steepled beneath my chin, eyes fixed on the flames before me, my mind traced every possible path, every route I could take to keep Evangeline safe. Which was a fool’s errand.

Hiding her was pointless. Ravok would see. He always saw. The future was his to toy with, to weave into a noose he’d tighten around our necks. And without control over her magic, Evangeline could not stand against him.

Not yet.

She would be strong one day, but training her—gods above and below—training her would take years. Decades, maybe. Time we did not have.

I pressed my fingers against my temples and exhaled slowly. There had to be another way. Some loophole in the web Ravok had spun around us both. Some hidden road he had not foreseen.

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