Page 6 of Fated In Ruin
“Malachi,” Evie cried, her voice sharp with panic as that plume of dark fire reached toward me, like a slow and terrible finger of death. I raised a hand, summoning a shield of glamour. Her power struck mine and the force nearly shattered my bones. I’d only ever seen power like this once before, and Evangeline was stronger.
Much, much stronger.
Her magic was raw, deadly, and beautiful—the perfect reflection of her.
“Focus, Evangeline,” I shouted, stepping closer despite the maelstrom ripping around us. I wrapped my glamour tighter around the entire garden, absorbing the worst of the onslaught. “Youcancontrol this power, you were born to wield this. Breathe. Breathe in and out, and focus.”
“I’m trying, butI can’t.” Her eyes, wide with terror, locked onto mine. That fire swelled again, and this time the assault shredded my defenses, burning through my glamour, flames nipping at my face with vicious, icy teeth.
“Youcan,” I ordered, keeping my voice steady. “You’re stronger than this. You’re stronger thanme.”
“I can’t.” She lifted her hands, encased in flames of purest black, staring at them like she was trapped in a nightmare. “Please help me, I can’t go through this again, I can’t hurt anyone else, oh God,make this stop.”
I didn’t know what she was seeing right now, but she was unraveling beneath her fear.
Sweat beaded on my forehead as I held my fraying ward together, tried to contain her burgeoning power, but some of her magic leaked through, the backs of my hands blistering from the cold. “Concentrate. You have to find the source of your magic. There’s a kernel at your center, a place where the power springs from. Look for that and build a wall of steel around it.”
“Everything is too…I can’t,” she gasped, shadowy flames pouring out of her mouth, leaking from her eyes. “Wait.” she held up a shaking hand. “I think…I found it. Like an open box…with a lid…if I just…”
Her power flared once more, a final, desperate burst of flame that left the air sparkling with frost, ice clinging to my eyelashes and cheeks. Then, slowly, the darkness receded, drawn back into her like the tide retreating from the shore.
Evangeline fell to her knees, frost glinting in her hair, body trembling as she gasped for air. The garden around us was in ruins—blackened, frozen, lifeless. But she was alive.
Wewere alive.
I knelt beside her, winding my fingers through hers. I rubbed her ice-cold hands to get circulation going, and she didn’t pull away.
“You’re okay, you’re okay,” I murmured, gathering her trembling body against mine, her head still bowed, breath coming in quick, panicked gasps. “You did it, Vicious. You controlled your magic.” Which was remarkable. Somehow, she’d instinctively known what to do.
I ran my hand over the back of her head, and with one last, shuddering breath, she relaxed against me. My heart shuddered, a lump forming in my throat. I wanted this moment to last forever, for this to never end, but right now, secrets were spilling from my lips, too fast for me to stop them.
“You were born for this magic, Vicious. I have never met anyone as strong and brave, but you are also powerful, in ways you do not yet know. You are going to rock the stars in the sky, Evangeline, and I cannot wait for the day you bring this world to its knees.”
With great effort, Evangeline raised her face to mine, darkness glittering in their pale blue depths, that aura of black flame expanding around her like an unholy halo.
When she rose to her feet with a smile, everything inside me stilled and I snatched my frozen, blistering hand away, stumbling back as I spun another shield of glamour, tried to smother her flames, but I was too slow, too drained from bringing her here.
Evangeline was too strong, her magic too powerful, and my own magic…
I reeled backwards as the truth hit me.
Right now, my own magic was no match for hers.
3
EVANGELINE
Seconds after Malachi spoke the spell, pain swallowed me whole, and I disappeared down the crushing, wet gullet of some enormous dark creature, the world blurring as my magic rose, a sea of black that had no end.
This was worse than I remembered. My magic was darker, like drowning in thick, choking oil. Power so infinite, stretching out so far, I didn’t know where it ended. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t fucking survive this onslaught. Like a rock, I plunged down and down and down without ever hitting bottom.
Maybe I’d be stuck here forever, falling endlessly through time.
Then the onslaught slowed. Stopped. Waited.
Ibecamethat churning, inky darkness, and all I knew wasrage.
I came to staring up at Malachi, my hand gripping his tighter than necessary, his face ten shades paler than a few minutes ago, and my pulse jumped in anticipation as I adjusted to the river of power coursing through me.
