Page 131 of Fated In Ruin
“And why would I do that? I don’t even like you.”
“You fucking love me. And Angel is going to love me too…as soon as she takes me seriously.”
I gave him the side eye. “My sister isn’t impressed with heroics. That’s not what floats her boat.”
“Oh?” Curiosity lit up his handsome face. “Then give me all the information I need to win her heart and sweep her off her feet.”
Riordan’s white fire took chunk after chunk out of another revenant, biting right through that thick, scaly hide like it was an apple skin. Even from here, the stench was mind boggling.
“The bookcase was a good start. Angel needs gentleness right now, Eldric, not male posturing. She needs to know she can trust you to never hurt her and to always be there for her, no strings attached.” I sighed. “I guess what she needs is a friend. I don’t know if she’s ready for anything more, not after Tyrell.”
“Then a friend is what she will have,” Eldric said, looking thoughtful. “And if…”
Don't come down here, you must return to Crimson House. You are in danger, Evangeline.
Malachi’s warning blared through my head, my entire body jolting in response.
One second, I was crouched behind the rocks, my gaze fixed on the battle right in front of us, the next, I was poised on the first step of a shadowy staircase leading down into the bowels of this place. “Malachi’s down there and he’s in trouble.”
“Evie, you can’t go charging down there,” Eldric warned in a low voice. “Wait.”
I turned back to Riordan, fighting like a madman, casting whip after whip of magic, his creatures devouring one revenant like a side of prime rib, Blake slowly crushing another beneath a wall of darkness.
But all I could see was the spiral staircase descending into darkness.
All I could feel was the blood bond pulling me downward like a physical force.
Eldric wrapped his hand around my upper arm. “Do not even think about going down there alone, they will kill me. Feed me to the revenants. And I am not dying that way.” Every panicked breath sawed in and out of his mouth.
But that pull was compelling, obsessive, undeniable.
I gripped my daggers tighter and took a deep breath. Somewhere below, Malachi was facing Ravok alone, believing he was protecting us by sacrificing himself. He was willing to die for us, and I wasn't about to let that happen.
I tore out of Eldric’s grip. “I’m going to…”
That was all I got out before I was falling, straight down into the center of that dark pit.
58
MALACHI
Ihadn’t been out long, a minute, maybe, the poison still burning like acid in my veins, my muscles still weak and rubbery as I gripped the wall, pulling myself up to my feet.
I had to finish this.
Ravok could never leave these tunnels.
Him dying down here was the only way Evie would be safe.
Swaying, I looked down at what was left of Noc, then pulled the iron dagger from his ruined, rotted body, tucking the blade into the back of my belt, before limping toward the chamber where Ravok waited, shoving against the effects of the poison, churning like acid through my veins. The air crackled with dark power, thick with the scent of burning pitch and something far more sinister…
Inevitability.
The real Romulus stood beside Ravok, sporting a gloating smile. No illusions, no disguises. My fingers tensed, eager to carve that smile right off his face. All these years, I’d considered him a fallen friend, when, in reality, he’d been destroying everything I loved.
Tyberius. Noctarian.
Now he wanted Evie. Well, the bastard wouldn’t get her.
