Page 76 of Fated In Ruin
I pressed a hand to my belly, anxiety and magic thrumming at my center, my new power refilling faster than I could control, probably because of Riordan and Blake’s blood flowing through me like liquid energy.
The whole way down here I tried shoving those dark flames back into the silver box, but…I wasn’t even sure the box existed anymore, buried beneath layers of shadow.
The night air was saturated with the scent of spicy phlox and crabapple blossoms, but beneath the floral sweetness lay a tension thick enough to wrap around my throat. My worry spilled over as I veered off the path toward her, wondering why she was waiting for me in the middle of the night.
“Evangeline.” Her golden eyes flicked coolly over me. “You and I have a lot to catch up on.”
“You can start by telling me the truth, Fiona. You knew I was a Bloodmoon witch—you knew who Aoife was—the first time you saw my magic.”
Fiona sighed, her fingers digging into her temples. The lines around her eyes deepened, and for the first time, she looked old. Not old-old, since she appeared less than thirty, but weighed down by the world. Tired.Mortal.
“Guilty as charged. I did plan to tell you,eventually,” she murmured, so low her voice was almost lost beneath the shifting branched overhead. “But I wasn’t sure. How could I be, when there have been no other witches with your magic for centuries?”
A bitter laugh escaped me, along with a vague brackish mist, turning the closest plants to ice. “You knew what I was—what I am—and you kept that to yourself? My magic isdangerous, Fiona. I could have hurt someone.”
Her gaze was heavy, unreadable. “Not while it was locked down. I hoped to teach you how to use your power. How to control it. I had aplan.”
“A plan?” My voice rose, raw and sharp. “Well, that went to shit, the second Malachi dragged me out of here.”
Fiona’s lips pressed into a thin line. “You were never going to be a normal witch, Evangeline. And now that you’re a vampire…I’m not surewhatyou are. Something…different.”
The words should have cut me. They should have made me feel like some kind of monster. But instead, they confirmed exactly how I felt, deep down inside. I didn’t fit anywhere. Not quite a vampire, not quite a witch, still somewhat a human.
I inhaled sharply. “So what am I?”
Fiona turned back to me, and in her eyes, I saw something I wasn’t ready for.Fear.
“You could be the counterbalance,” she said softly. “To Ravok, to what he represents.”
The garden shrank around me, the sweet scent turning bitter. Ravok was evil. Pure evil, but…I was evil, too, with my dark, malevolent magic, capable of showing people their sins, capable of terrible things.
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. If anything, our magicks are similar, not different.”
“Similar…but only in strength. Intention is what defines magic, Evangeline. And balance is necessary, especially now. Two great powers not seen in centuries, existing at the same time,” Fiona sighed. “This cannot be a coincidence. There has to be some higher purpose.”
“I’ve seen his magic, it’s dark, like mine. I don’twantthis magic,” I complained, rubbing my suddenly cold arms. “I don’t want to raise the dead or kill everything around me. I surely don’t want to see ghosts.”Or their sins, or any other horrible thing.
“Again, intention is the key,” Fiona explained, like she was speaking to a child. “Ravok’s power is ancient, forged from pure evil, a magic that has grown more corrupt over time. Witch magic—even the darker kind—has always been a counterbalance. And a threat. Which is why they were hunted almost to extinction.”
“So I’m a witch, not a vampire?”
“You are both. A child of two worlds, three, if you count your human side. What is curious…Ravok didn’t seem aware of your existence until recently.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. “Not until he possessed Riordan and drank from you. Am I close?”
“Closer than I’d like you to be,” I muttered. “If I’d known what a pain the ass Ravok was going to be, I would have had you kill him, instead of exorcise him.”
“I would have failed. Even weakened, I lack the strength to kill a being like Ravok. The Elders were chosen for a reason, and I thought I would go my entire life without meeting one.”
“I’ll bet you wish that was still the case.”
“You have no idea.” She looked up at the window, and when I followed her gaze, there was Blake, watching. I lifted my hand and gave him a nervous wave. Hopefully the this-is-going-okay kind of wave.
“But we do have to kill him,” Fiona said, as if we were talking about the flowers. “It will come down to him or us, and even united, I’m not sure our combined powers can withstand him.”
“And you haven’t seen what he’s become.” I blew out a breath and the entire garden to my right withered under a coating of frost, the crystals sparkling beneath the moon.Damn it.
“He’s stronger than he ever was, according to Malachi, and there’s no explanation why.”
“Nevertheless, Ravok must be stopped. You are the first female Silverwood in a thousand years, born to a Bloodmoon witch.” I swore her eyes began to glow from within. “Exactly as the prophecy foretold.”
