Page 20 of Fated In Ruin
“Let’s not forget you’re the one who handed Angel over to him in the first place.” Something inside me shriveled up at her look of disgust. “I would have killed that bastard, with or without your help.”
I shuddered. She had no idea how close she’d come to becoming Valaine’s prisoner.
To being strapped to a table and tortured and…
“I know you would have tried,” I said quietly. “Maybe you would have succeeded. I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone as determined as you, Vicious, especially when it comes to protecting the ones you love. But loyalty only goes so far.”
“Loyalty is all I’ve ever been able to count on, so…”
“I have been around a long time.” I leaned forward. “I’ve seen more than you could imagine. Loyalty has a price, and there comes a point when even honor can be bought.” I held up a hand to stop her indignant outburst. “I’m not suggesting you would ever sell anyone out for money. But to save those you love, you would trade away your life. That is the price you would pay, Vicious.”
“Loyalty kept me searching for Angel, when I wanted to give up. It kept hope alive when Blake was lost to me, even when Riordan was almost…” She snapped her mouth shut, a look of utter horror flashing over her face and every instinct went on alert.
“When Riordan was almost…what?” I hissed, cursing myself for swearing that goddamned oath not to read her mind.
“When Riordan wasalmost…what?” I pushed forward so our knees touched. Not a good idea, since all I wanted was to get my hands on her again, but this…Vicious was hiding something. I smelled her lies in the air, in the way she wouldn’t meet my gaze, in how her body curled in on itself.
Oh, she was adept at hiding her feelings, but I was better at reading her than most.
“When Riordan decided we were done. But by then, I…” She sighed heavily, digging the heels of her palms into her eyes. “I’d started to believe in his lofty ideals for a new kingdom and all hisbuilding a new society bullshit.So I stuck around.”
I studied her face, her bitter scent, the way she fidgeted.
“You’re lying to me, Vicious,” I murmured. “And as for Riordan’s kingdom…every one of his vaunted ideals are built upon the bones of his murdered sire. His nobility is a ruse.”
“Look at you, acting so high and mighty. As if you have any ideals at all, locking your own Maker in an iron box to rot.” She sneered. “Don’t pretend you stand on a pedestal, Malachi, when your feet are mired in the mud.”
Rage coursed through me, not at her, but myself, because every word was true. As much as I wanted to sweep Evangeline off her feet, I was the villain in her story, not the hero, no matter how much I’d like to pretend otherwise.
I dipped my head in defeat. “Fair enough.”
“Fair enough? Seriously, that’s your answer?”
My smile sharpened, “What, you don’t like me being agreeable? Do you desire…more?” This time, I leaned closer, so our noses almost touched. So I tasted the air she breathed, felt the heat drifting off her body. “Would you like to fight me, Vicious? Let out some of that pent up anger and aggression?” I goaded softly, hoping she’d take me up on my offer.
I wanted nothing more than for us to collide like two great forces and end up in a tangle of hungry, grasping flesh and greedy mouths. “Would that make you happy?”
“I’ll be happy when you’re dead,” she huffed, looking away, two pink spots in her cheeks.
“Obviously, but…there is something you need to know. Something important.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I should have told her this the moment we arrived here, but I’d held onto this truth for so long, I felt almost sacrilegious, giving something so momentous away.
“Ravok would kill me, your mate, your king, everything standing in his way to get to…you.”
She blinked. “But I’m no one, I’m not…”
“You, Evangeline, are the prize Ravok desires most in this world, even above revenge.” I plunged my hands into my pockets so I didn’t reach out and do something foolish, like pull her into an embrace.
“You are the reward he’s dreamed about all those years, the one thing that has always been beyond his reach, carefully hidden from his gaze. And if nothing else convinces you to help, if I cannot convince you to trust me, know this.”
She was so close, my next breath tasted of her fear.
“If Ravok can’t find you, he would take your sister and use her as bait.”
She leapt to her feet, stabbing a finger into the center of my chest. “Angel isn’t even…”
“Part of this?” I suggested. “No, she’s not, but we already talked about the whys.Loyalty.You would trade yourself for your sister, would you not?” I trapped her wrist, pressed her palm against my chest, my cock hardening from that simple contact.
“You think I’m a villain? Ravok will kill everyone you love to force your obedience, while I waste precious hours trying to convince you this is a fight you cannot ignore.” My heart hammered against her hand, but she didn’t pull away. “We haveoneadvantage. Ravok doesn’t yet know you exist. And you will remain invisible, until the moment you unleash your magic and end him.”
