Page 80 of Fated In Ruin
“I have a box. A silver box with a lid.”
“Have you ever looked inside that box?” She asked softly. “There will be a trigger of some sort, a nexus where all your magic springs from. Find that, and you can begin to exert control.”
I shook my head, a tremor of fear turning my knees weak. “I’ve never looked inside. Just closed the lid to lock my magic down.”
“For this to work, you have to look inside. But beware of what you’ll find. Memories that birth darkness such as yours are dangerous.”
Fucking fabulous.I took a breath then dove through the layers of shifting shadows and opened the lid, already knowing what I’d find. I had enough darkness inside me to fuel my nightmares for an eternity, but there…at the heart of everything…
Was a beautiful blonde woman kneeling in a darkened street, her tearstained face turned toward me as she mouthed—I’m sorryas my father raised a sword high over her head, the deadly edge glinting.
I closed my eyes, tears pricking beneath the lids. “I’ve seen it. Now what?”
“Hold onto that pain, use those feelings to fuel your power, then shape your magic into something. Any shape will do, so long as you are the one controlling the form. It will resist, but darkness responds to pain.”
The shadows fought, slippery and thick as I molded them, formed them into something resembling a crooked sword. Sweat beading on my brow, I lifted the pitiful thing between us, forcing the dark flames to hold their shape for a few seconds before they broke apart.
“That’s a very good start.” Fiona’s eyes shone with hope. “Now let’s try that again.”
34
MALACHI
Iflattened myself against the stone wall, rock cutting into my ravaged back as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing.
Evangeline was here.In my cell.
Her beautiful face was luminescent against the gloom, her spicy scent a reprieve from the reek of old blood, damp stone and piss.
But she was here. Shecouldn’tbe here.
Go. Run. You aren’t safe in this terrible place.
Her smile warmed me from the inside out, her fingers trailing gently down my face, blue eyes glimmering with tears as she took in the ruination of my wrecked body, courtesy of her father and uncles.
She thrummed with power, the sort I hadn’t sensed…ever.
Not even Rhiannon possessed magic this commanding and she had been the most powerful witch I’d ever known. Evangeline was…something different. And maybe I should be frightened, but instead, I was in awe. She was magnificent.
Utterly magnificent.
And she is not safe. As quickly as she appeared, she faded into the darkness, like a dream I’d awoken from, her hand still reaching out from the shadows before she disappeared completely.
My conversation with Romulus came flooding back in a wash of horror. Evangeline was in danger. Even now, Ravok might be at Crimson House, he could have his hands on her, and if he was hurting her, I couldn’t stop himbecause I was chained to this fucking wall.
Panic surged, the kind I’d never known before.
A helpless, sick horror, staining every part of me.I had to get to her. I had to protect her.
Muted voices echoed down the corridor outside my cell, followed by heavy boot falls and strength rushed through me along with a surge of adrenaline, the last burst of energy my body was capable of.
I was cloaked by the impenetrable darkness inside my cell as two younger guards stopped to peer through the bars. The second their human scents hit me, I sent out tendril of glamour—all I had left—painting a scene of an empty cell, open shackles dangling from the wall.
“Fuck. Goddamn it, he’s gone, Virgil.” The guard’s curse was distorted through my glamour, then keys jangled and hinges squealed before the door slammed open. The rusty shackles, slick with blood, bit into my wrists as I tried to work one hand free, biting back my grunt of pain when the dark-haired guard approached, furiously stabbing a knife into the shadows between us.
“Where the fuck did he go? I can’t see a fucking thing in here. If he escaped, Silas is going to kill us both.”
The sandy haired guard hovering out in the hall groaned. “This can’t be happening. Fucking hell, how could this happen on our watch?”
