Page 1 of Fated In Ruin
PROLOGUE
BLAKE MARTEN
Darkness everywhere, swallowing me up.
Riordan’s foul curse cutting through the silence.
Evie was gone, her parting words ringing in my head.
“One week. In Malachi’s castle. To do whatever he wants.”
That fucking rat bastard had stolen my mate away and…and…a sound ripped out of me, a snarl so unhinged and animalistic, I couldn’t believe it came out of my mouth.
Magic consumed me in a swirling wave of cold, devouring shadow, like Death itself raked her talons across my skin, pure power racing through me unchecked.
I was going to raze this world to the ground.
Magic flayed my skin, and I welcomed the pain,because everything was going to burn, burn, burn.
“Blake.” Fiona’s voice, filled with terror. “Please, get ahold of your magic, you’re losing control.”
No. No, I have to follow Malachi. Kill him. Rip and tear and rend and…lightning poured through my veins, a storm brewed inside my heart, my ribs collapsing beneath the crushing pressure as rage expanded, cold as airless space, endless as the universe. This power I’d always kept under tight control wanted free, and I was inclined to let my darkness roam.
Let it swallow up everything, like the pain that was swallowing me alive.
Stop this, Blake,Rohr muttered into my head.Before you kill us all.
I don’t care. The world is ending. She is gone.
And we’re going to get her back, now stop with the theatrics and pull yourself to-fucking-gether before I choke all the goddamned air out of your lungs. Remember who you are. You’re acting like Draven right now.
Of all the things Riordan could have said…thatpulled me out of my mindless rage.
“I’m nothing like that fucker, and if you ever insult me like that again, I will crush you into dust.”
“Ah.” Riordan looked me up and down, brows raised. “Good to have you back. Now let’s get inside before you scar poor Fiona for life.”
I blinked at my friend, the strong reek of smoke and spent magic finally registering. I looked down. I was practically naked, scraps of clothing all that were left of my favorite shirt and pants, dark red marks covering every inch of my exposed skin. A pale Fiona stared at me through a cloudy haze.
Fuck.
Through the clearing smoke, the gardens came into view. Wrecked. Utterly wrecked, like fires had been burning for days, charring everything, leaving the stone walls blackened and crumbling. Ruination stretched out as far as I could see, tendrils of smoke still rising.
“Don’t worry,” Rohr forced a smile. “The abjurist will fix all this, too.”
I didn’t give a fuck about the damage. My mate was gone. I reached up and rubbed my chest. I couldn’t evenfeelher and panic took the place of rage, fear stealing the air in my lungs, the strength from my legs.
A strong arm slipped around my waist and steadied me. “Let’s get you inside,” Riordan murmured, and anger swelled again at his utter calmness.How the fuck could he be so calm?
“Because Malachi isn’t going to hurt her, and because those words…what Evie said wasn’t true, Blake. That bastard put those words in her mouth to provoke us, you know it as well as I do.” He steered me toward Crimson House. “And because we’re going to get her back.”
If there was one thing I regretted in life, it was not killing Malachi Draven sooner.
How many times could I have slipped my knife between his ribs, thrust the point into that soft, beating organ he called a heart, then disappeared into the shadows, leaving him to bleed out, no longer a thorn in our sides?
Too fucking many.
But no. I’d let that fucker live.
