Page 47 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

MALACHI

T he river was kind to me these days.

The raging black water used to fight me. Push back. Swallow my curses beneath an angry roar, try to drag the boat under, battering at me with all the fury of well, hell .

But not anymore.

The black water shifted when I guided the boat in for my final trip of the day— or was it night —churning current turning smooth and silent beneath the obsidian hull. The only sound was the clinking of the heavy chain and the rough sandpaper burr of my calloused palms against the metal.

Ten crossings today and I barely felt the strain.

I’d learned how to navigate the eddies of water as easily as I’d mapped out every plain and mountain, valley and rocky crag of this realm, the stillness of this place—the lack of wind or birds or another voice—a constant balm to any painful memories that rose to the surface.

Pain and loss could be beautiful, too, because they brought everything good into sharp relief. Made the good memories shine brighter, loving words resonate deeper, remembered touches feel like fire on my skin.

The castle on the cliff had grown, this past year.

The walls didn’t crumble, the spires rose straight to the clouds.

Evie’s scent had faded long ago, but she was everywhere I looked.

In the vases of dark red roses on every table, in the courtyard fountain filled with river water, in every place she once sat or laid or touched.

Every improvement I’d made with her in mind.

Everything in that castle held a piece of her heart, and everywhere I looked, reminded me of her.

Today, Vicious had been with me since I’d opened my eyes, closer than she’d been since she’d left. She was a constant worry at the edges of my thoughts, and that knot in my stomach tightened. A fear that wouldn’t go away, one that had been increasing day after day.

I couldn’t make sense of this dread.

Then, staring across the raging river, I swore I saw her.

Only for a second, little more than a shimmering form on the opposite shore, Evangeline stared at me, her blue eyes bright as stars. Fear turned my blood to ice, my bones to stone, but when I blinked, she was gone.

I blew out an unsteady breath and told myself I was seeing things.

Then pulled the boat up on the shore, waited for the souls to flow onboard, like a flood of pure light, running my fingers over the familiar runes, hoping they might calm me. Despite the glow, the souls gave off no heat, and in the starkness of this place, their warm auras should have soothed me.

But today, they didn’t.

I never spoke, the souls never made a sound, but the chains groaned when I picked them up, hauled the heavy links out of the churning current and heaved, the hull scraping along the rocks before gliding silently into the water.

I was halfway across when something hit me .

A ripple in the dark.

Not from the souls or the shadows or the river.

The disturbance came from deep inside me, and where that constant ache was a reminder I’d once been loved, a knife stabbed deep.

Pain .

Like a blade slipped beneath my ribs. Sudden. Deep. I stopped cold, my hand frozen on the chain, the boat rocking, mid-stream, waves lapping greedily as we rocked back and forth. The glowing souls dimmed, the current turned rougher as the boat spun, caught by the current.

My mouth had gone dry.

Because I knew that feeling. I’d felt Vicious’ pain before, but this?—

This was different.

This wasn’t pain from battle. Or magic. Or fury.

This was the pain of something unraveling.

Something ending .

I staggered forward, one hand braced on the prow, forced myself to breathe.

But the cold feeling didn’t pass, the pain didn’t fade, the feeling only grew deeper, until my insides were icing over.

This wasn’t the Underworld’s chill. This was the kind of cold that came when you lost something you couldn’t live without.

“No,” I whispered, my voice rasping in the mist.

She couldn’t be sensing me—I’d protected her, before sending her back. Unless…

Even though I’d sworn to never touch our bond again, I reached for the golden chains between us that had long gone quiet. A thread I’d cut, hoping to keep her safe. I opened up my end and shuddered.

Fear pulsed.

A heartbeat. Faint. Erratic. Weak .

I dropped the chain to the deck with a deep, metallic clank that may have cracked the keel in two. But I didn’t care.

She’s dying.

My hands clenched into fists. The stillness I had cultivated, the peace I had embraced—cracked. Shattered, even if the hull hadn’t.

I turned the boat around.

Souls or no souls. Schedule or no schedule.

Nothing mattered now.

Because Evangeline was slipping away.

And I wasn’t letting her die.

Not today.