Page 24 of Fated In Ruin
“Something that was long overdue,” she hissed, even though he was yanking her around like a rag doll. “This ends today.Everythingends today,” she snarled, as the rest of Caine’s Elders pounded on an invisible wall, separating them from their master.
The old man shifted, the cloak falling away to reveal a beautiful female with flowing black hair and green eyes who looked remarkedly like Lady Morvessa of House Ebonshade. The moment she raised her hands, the entire clearing filled with greenish light, and the leaves overhead began to whisper.
Aoife spoke a few words in a language I didn’t understand and the air shuddered. Trees groaned, and birds burst from the branches above me, filling the sky. Caine slapped his hand over her mouth, engulfing her entire face before she wrenched away with a raging grin.
“Too late, it’s done,” Aoife hissed. “When the last of my line has all died out, you’ll have nothing left. There is no magic more powerful than to curse your own blood. There will be no more Bloodmoon females for you to use.To break. No dark female magic to give you power. This curse won’t end for over a thousand years and by then, you will be in the ground. Our seers have foreseen your fate.”
Caine backhanded her, sending her flying. Aoife landed in the grass, her head bent at an unnatural angle. Dead. That easily, he’d killed her.
The black-haired witch hissed, the grass around her swaying, as if she controlled its movements. “Your kind is an abomination, nothing in this world is meant to live forever.”
“Your seer,” he sneered, “is wrong.” His gaze drifted to Ravok. “I will live forever, as will my legacy.”
“I will add my own prophecy to the mix, monster of monsters.” The black-haired witch’s red lips curved up in a wicked grin. “When silver wood rises and ravens take flight, a dark son returns, under cloak of midnight. Blood will combine to give birth to a king, a High Lord of Night, a future to bring. Crowned shadows awake, with his queen by his side, both claimed by darkness, illusion’s dark bride.”
“Speaking in riddles will earn you the same reward as her.” His dark eyes tracked over Aoife’s crumpled form. “Speak plainly, and I will allow you to live.”
She shrugged her thin shoulders. “Your future is nothing but an illusion. The destiny you cling to…a lie.”
“And I will counter your prophecy with one of my own. Your entire bloodline dies tonight, with you.”
Even contained by the circle, Caine became a blur and when he reappeared, he’d bent the witch backwards, his fangs sinking deep in her throat as she struggled, whips of grass and vines magically tangling around them, trying to rip him away.
But he was too strong, and she went limp, the light dying out of her eyes.
He dropped her body next to Aoife, who he nudged with his toe before his head snapped to Ravok. “Find the eldest daughter. I want Rhiannon, now that her mother’s magic no longer conceals her. Bring her to me and I will reward you with whatever you desire.”
Ravok took a long look at the carnage in the circle, cunning glimmering in his eyes before he dipped his head and vanished.
Even though none of this was real, my body went limp with relief, until I was yanked away again.
11
EVANGELINE
Iwoke up in Malachi’s castle, alone on the green velvet couch, the esteemed owner nowhere in sight. I blew out a breath of relief. Holy fuck, I needed time to process what I’d just seen. Maybe I should…
Malachi strode past, muttering to himself like he didn’t even see me, the piano playing a melancholy, depressing tune. Probably Russian. All the depressing stuff was Russian.
“No, that can’t be right.” Malachi changed direction and stalked past me, heading the other way. “You’re lying.”
“Would I lie to my favorite son?”
I froze at the voice that crept from the shadows, the craven tone, the slight accent, the deep timber. And when Ravok stepped into the light, far more frightening in the flesh than he’d been in Malachi’s memories, I ceased to breathe.
“She is mine to claim. Mine to use. I have waited for too long to allow you to take what rightfully belongs to me.”
Was this even real, or another memory? I dug my fingers into the plush velvet.This felt real.
Fangs slid down so fast from Malachi’s mouth I shivered. “Evangeline belongs to no one. She never will, and you are a fool if you…”
“Enough.”
Malachi froze, my own body went boneless when that voice rolled over me like a boom of thunder, fear settling into my bones, deeper than any I’d ever known. I frantically scanned the room, the floor to ceiling windows, dawn breaking over the ruined gardens.
How did Ravok find us? How could he be so…alive?
Days ago, he’d been a skeletal wreck.
