Page 5 of Fated In Ruin
And too pissed for anything else.
“Then consider this my promise to you. I will teach you everything I know, until you have complete control over your power.” I turned to face her. “I swear it.”
In return she snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
The high, ivy-covered walls cast protective shadows over the twisting paths, a small fountain babbled softly in the center, the sound a soothing counterpoint to the tension snapping between us.
For one fraught moment, our eyes locked and my breath stilled in my lungs.
This was my chance to tell hereverything. To let the secret I’d been keeping for years spill out…but she wasn’t ready. No, the truth would devastate Evangeline’s entire world, and right now, I needed her strong.
Pissed off, strong and fearless.
That was the only way she’d survive this.
So the truth would have to wait.
Evangeline waited a few steps away, her hands trembling at her sides. Repressed power coiled beneath her skin, a caged predator pacing within its prison.
Even now I couldn’t tell how strong her magic was—or what form the power would take once released—but the result would be powerful enough to destroy everything in its path.
“Brace yourself,” I murmured, raising my hands.
Her eyes, impossibly dark with a hint of challenge in their depths, snapped to mine. “Maybe it’syouwho’d better brace yourself.”
I should have stopped right then, but I was too greedy to see all of her, to glimpse the depths of magic churning inside her like a leviathan. Hungry for revenge and redemption and fucking absolution of my worst sins.
Besides, we were on my territory, wrapped up in my magic, and she was what?
All of three months old?
“Just relax,” I soothed, stepping closer. “Removing the block won’t hurt, but your magic will want to escape…I’ll go slowly, so too much power doesn’t swamp your system all at once. I don’t want there to be any pain.”
Her lips parted as though to argue, but she didn’t. Still, fear bled into her expression, and a rare and fragile feeling tightened my chest. She straightened her shoulders, feet braced on the grass, chin tipped up, challenge shining in her eyes.
No, Vicious wouldn’t let pain stop her.
She wouldn’t let anything stop her.
I reached out, brushing my fingers along her wrist, where the old, nearly invisible scars of my teeth marred her skin. My own blood flared in response, recognizing that connection on some primal level, my heart beating faster as glowing lines appeared over her skin, pulsing with protective energy.
Once I removed the spell…
I double checked my glamour, my warding around the estate, searching for any weak points, any vulnerabilities. There were none. Less than a minute. Just long enough to gauge her abilities and rework the blocking spell.
“I trust you,” she said, her long lashed eyes guileless and wide, and the weight of those words wrapped around my heart and threatened to bring me to my knees.
“I won’t hurt you, Evangeline. I wouldneverhurt you.” My lips quirked into a shadow of a smile, then faded quickly as I pressed my palm over her wrist, drinking in her sweet scent. The ancient incantation spilled from my lips, barely a whisper, unraveling the witch’s spell binding her like chains.
The moment the last word left me, the airsnapped.
This was no gradual release, this was an explosion of pure, untapped power, her magic shattering through my wards like they didn’t exist. A deep boom reverberated off the back of the castle, my ears hollowing out.
Her power surged to life in a tidal wave, shadowy, black fire exploding from her skin and licking through the garden with an unnatural chill. Those dark flames burned cold—achingly so—searing the air with frost that shimmered like shattered glass. The nearest rosebush froze solid in an instant, velvet soft blooms crackling with ice, solidifying, then crumbling to dust.
Evangeline gasped, clutching at her chest, but the fire kept growing.
Until an aura of darkness danced around her, devouring everything in its path. The trellis collapsed under the weight of the ice creeping up its frame. The fountain froze solid, the sound of breaking stone creaked through the garden.
