Page 31 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

MALACHI

I paused in the doorway, trying to catch my breath from my race upstairs, guilt building inside me as I gazed down at Vicious, fast asleep in our bed. I didn’t know how much time had passed since we’d arrived.

Days?

A week?

A month?

It was as if time was a mortal construct, one that lost its meaning here, in this endless place.

Evangeline stirred when I slipped into our chamber, her half-dreaming smile the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life.

I loved seeing her like this, naked, swimming in silken black sheets, like a precious jewel in the darkness, pale and golden and glowing with life.

The only thing in this entire realm that was alive and breathing.

She was perfect, and she was mine, at least for a little while longer, even if every moment felt stolen.

The entire castle was restored, I’d built each dark stone anew, every time she slept.

A high, peaked roof now soared over the Great Hall, torches blazed on every wall, the once-tattered banners were rewoven, red and white with a single black marking, copied from the carved obsidian stones outside the gates .

I had yet to figure out how to give Vicious the sun-drenched lake she desired, but I had given her everything else—a luxurious bedroom, comfortable chairs to curl up in, roaring fireplaces to stave off the chill.

Her every wish was mine to grant, and I yearned to give this female everything she’d ever been denied.

I reached down and wiped the smudge of my blood off her full bottom lip.

There was no food here, no water, but…

Feeding. We’d done plenty of that.

In fact, the taste of her still coated my mouth from earlier. But while neither of us ever grew hungry or thirsty, she was so pale—she needed more than my blood.

Once I completed the castle repairs, I’d used my talons to carve her a little swan from a chunk of black obsidian, then another, and now there were a pair of the delicate creatures sitting on her bedside table.

Right on top of The Book, with the key and the cold iron blade stowed safely in the drawer beneath them.

When she returned to her own realm—now that I’d finally discovered how to send her to safety—I would make sure she took those carvings with her, a reminder of our time here, a token of my undying love.

As for the cold iron dagger…

On one hand, the dagger was the one weapon that could harm Ravok, on the other…it had taken days for the burns on Evangeline’s hands to heal and I needed her safe and whole and unharmed, more than I required air to breathe.

Perhaps the dagger would remain here.

I found myself savoring the dark beauty of my castle more and more, much like I’d once cherished my lonely castle in Nova Scotia.

I admired the way shadows moved through the halls like living things, painting constantly changing murals across the floors.

The haunting melody of the wind whistling through the courtyard, like singing into the void.

The stories carved into the stone, every word a fated warning.

This place was horrible, but also breathtaking.

When I had left, Vicious had been fast asleep, and I slipped back into bed beside her, moving her until her head rested on my chest, cradling her slight form in my arms, all warmth and curvy softness, smelling like me.

Mine .

I ever so carefully slipped my fingers between her soft thighs and she moaned, eyes still half closed, biting her bottom lip when I pushed a talon gently into her and withdrew, scraping softly against her inner walls until her scent deepened and her arousal slicked my hand.

I wanted to do this forever. Taste her, pet her.

Lick and kiss and bite her until she called my name.

But…

Wake up my love. I’ve found something. I think it might be the other doorway.

She tensed in my arms, a long, shuddering breath whooshing out, her fingers digging into my skin . I discovered a portal in the lower levels which looks like it hasn’t been opened in forever, but this could be your way out of here.

I pulled my hand free and began licking her sweetness off my fingers, lapping until I got every last drop, and still wanting more. So much more. I wanted to shackle her to my bed and never let her go, drown in these sheets with her until I filled every hole with my spend.

Malachi, be real. She wiggled her ass tighter against my growing erection and I didn’t stop her. You know better than to think you can get rid of me through some hidden portal in the basement.

You can’t stay here, Vicious. You need food. You need to eat .

She wiggled tighter against me. I have been feeding plenty and you are all I need.

You need sunlight and fresh air and real food, Evangeline. You cannot survive here. Not like…

Not like me , was what I’d been about to say. Not like a monster, born and bred to exist in the dark. I smoothed back her hair and when I did, ice flooded my veins despite the rush of power coursing through me.

Her hair. Evangeline's beautiful honey golden hair, which had always caught light like captured fire, was darker at the roots.

Not just darker—black. The same black as my own.

And her skin, which had always held the warm glow of life, had grown translucent, as if the very essence of mortality was bleeding out of her.

Evie, I said softly, tipping her face up to mine, searching blue eyes that now held flecks of darkness I had never seen before.

This is not something you can deny, or get through with your usual stubbornness. This place is bad for you. I swallowed. I’m bad for you.

Let me be the judge of that. I decide what’s good and bad and where I want to be, Malachi. Not you. Even her voice sounded different inside my head—deeper in tone, with a resounding echo that seemed to come from somewhere far away.

She curled around me, warm and soft and delicious. Besides, it's beautiful here, isn't it? In a terrible sort of way. I like this castle. I could stay here forever.

The casual acceptance in her voice made my stomach clench. She shouldn't be finding beauty in this place. She shouldn't be adapting to it, shouldn't be changing to match its dark splendor. But I could see the change happening before my eyes—the Underworld was claiming her, as it had claimed me.

“Except…how long have we been here?” she wondered, her gaze fixed on the wandering souls circling along the vaulted ceiling. “Every time I wake up, I can’t tell what day it is, or even remember how much time has passed since we fought Ravok.”

The question hit me like a physical blow, because I didn’t know, either.

The only thing I was sure of was that time moved differently in this realm, stretching and contracting according to laws that had nothing to do with the passage of the sun and moon.

I'm not sure , I admitted, which is even more reason for you to leave. Think of what’s happening in your world. Think of Blake and Riordan, and your sister.

“I am.” She stared down at our joined hands, as if studying the contrast between her increasingly pale skin and my obsidian-tipped fingers. “Trust me…I am.”

I tugged her to her feet. Then come with me and see what I found.

The portal seems dormant, but it’s a possible way out.

Get dressed. Bring The Book, and the key.

I raised her hand to my lips, pressing them to her skin.

Now that I’d found the second portal, there was no time to waste, and seeing these changes in her, the truth slammed home.

She was not meant for this place.

And I’d been a fool to believe I could keep her.

“We always end up like this, don’t we?” She sounded so sad as she pulled on her clothes, tattered and worn now from the sand and the sharp rocks, then slipped on her boots. “You, always trying to do what’s best for me…and me, leaving you behind.”

She wasn't wrong .

But in this awful place, the magic flowing through me felt natural.

Right, as if I had been living as only half of myself for my entire mortal existence.

And that was the danger. The Underworld was seductive, offering everything I had ever wanted—power, purpose, a place where I truly belonged.

It would be easy to let this place claim me completely, to surrender to the dark beauty of this realm and never look back.

But Evangeline didn't belong here.

She was filled with light and warmth and hope, everything this place was not. If her transformation progressed much further, she could become something else entirely. And I never wanted her to change.

She was perfect.

In every way, Vicious was flawless, and I didn’t want a single hair on her head, a single freckle on her beautiful face to change. No, I wanted her to remain forever exactly as she was right now.

Fierce, stubborn, flawless in both heart and soul.

The realization hit me with startling clarity. Somewhere in the chaos of recent events, somewhere between her desperate attempts to save me and our shared plunge into the realm of the dead, I had fallen even deeper in love with Evangeline.

No, not love…this was more than love. We were bound together by our very souls, as if we had always been joined indelibly, back to the very beginning of time, and would remain so, until the very end.

Nothing would ever come between us.

Not being split apart by different realms, or death, or even time. The only thing could ever take Evangeline away from me was if she became something else…and this place was doing that very thing.

“We’ll need The Book,” I said, smoothing my thumb over her tiny knuckles. “And the key.” I opened the drawer and took out the key, so small and bright between my enormous talons, carefully slipping the chain over her head. “Can you carry them for me?”

Esme had spent centuries unraveling the magic woven into every page of that relic.

There were spells, written plainly on every page, some too wicked to ever be spoken aloud.