Page 64 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

BLAKE

I ’d known this was a trap from the moment we’d arrived, but the nature of it had eluded me. In the past weeks, Rohr and I had discussed at length the various scenarios where Angel might be used as a hostage, as possible leverage against Evie, but with everything happening lately…we had become lax.

And the cost of our carelessness was staring us right in the fucking face.

His hand twisted in her hair, Ravok held my mate off the ground, her toes barely brushing the concrete floor, the point of a wicked-looking knife pressed against her pale, fragile throat. Her eyes blazed with fury, blood streaming down her face as she tried to pry herself free.

She was injured, but…

Malachi's body lay crumpled in the corner, a crimson pool beneath him, his lifeless eyes staring at nothing. From what I could see, his head had nearly been sawn off—probably by the very knife Ravok held at Evangeline’s throat—Draven would never rise to fight another day.

The sight of him dead and my mate so vulnerable turned temper to cold rage.

“Blake,” Evangeline whispered, her voice barely audible over the pounding of my heart. “Please...help me. Please, don’t let me die, too.”

“Let her go,” I snarled, shadows already pouring from my hands, reaching toward Ravok like Death personified. But they stopped a few feet short, hitting an invisible wall, writhing uselessly in the air before dissipating into nothing.

Ravok's smile was cold and cruel. “This is the last time you'll ever see her alive,” he said, his voice echoing off the concrete walls. “I thought you might want to say goodbye. I heard you never had the pleasure with your sister. What was her name again? Ah yes, Cassmira .”

“You fucking bastard,” Riordan hissed, flames erupting around me, racing toward Ravok, until like my shadows, they stopped, scattering harmlessly, leaving only the acrid smell of spent magic in the air.

“Please Blake, please ,” Evie sobbed, and my heart twisted. I’d never heard her beg like this before, never heard her so goddamned desperate, her eyes continually flicking to Malachi, to me, to Riordan.

I poured everything I had into my power, calling up shadows from every corner of the bunker, from the depths of my soul, every last drop of magic, anything to break through that wall and crush this fucker.

I had decimated armies with my magic, wiped away thralls, felled literal monsters, but no matter how hard I pushed, my darkness couldn’t breach whatever barrier Ravok had erected around himself and Evangeline.

Shadows hazed the air around us, fading as I paused, panting, hands heavy and useless at my sides.

“Your magic is worthless here,” Ravok said conversationally, pressing the knife a fraction deeper.

A thin line of blood appeared on Evangeline's throat, and she whimpered. “This is my game. My rules.” I lost my breath when he jerked my mate’s head back, delicate tendons straining.

“Mine to bend and to break, should I choose. ”

“Please,” I heard myself say, my voice cracking. “Please don't hurt her. Take me instead. Kill me, torture me, do whatever you want—just let her go.”

“And me,” Riordan pleaded, his own voice thick with emotion. “Take both of us. We'll come willingly. Just... let her go. Please don't hurt her.”

Tears slipped down Evangeline's pale cheeks, her bottom lip wobbling, and something inside me broke. “I wanted forever,” I whispered, my powers useless, my strength gone. “I wanted so many things with you. Everything, and these past days…I let myself believe we might have that future of ours. I’m sorry. This is my fault. If I hadn’t… ”

“Blake, please do something,” she sobbed as Ravok watched us raptly, his eyes shining, as if we were giving him exactly what he wanted. “You have to give him what he wants, or he’ll kill me.”

“I love you,” I said, the words tearing from my throat. “I've loved you since I saw you that first night, and I’ve loved you every night since. I'm sorry I?—”

“She knows,” Riordan cut me off, his knees hitting the concrete. “Evie, you know we both love you? You know we'd do anything for you?” Riordan’s eyes slid to mine, then back to Evie, filled with pointed, urgent warning.

This is the trap, Blake. We’re looking at the trap. Right at it.

How? How is this the trap, and how do we break through his magic?

I don’t know, but Silver has never begged for anything in her life, and I doubt she’s starting now. Riordan studied Malachi, the gruesome scene, and I followed his gaze, unease filling me. And I doubt a simple knife to the throat can kill a god.

A demi-god, I corrected him.

“I know,” she whispered, and somehow her voice carried perfectly across the space. “I love you both too. I always have.”

Ravok's laughter was like acid. “How touching. A deathbed confession. Or should I say, confessions.” He tilted his head, studying us with those cold, predatory eyes. “Tell me, what would you give up to save her? Your powers? Your souls? Your kingdom…your clan?”

There it is, Blake. There is the trap.

“Anything,” I said without hesitation, knowing this was what Ravok wanted to hear. “Everything I have is yours. Just don’t hurt her.”

“Anything,” Riordan echoed, tears streaming down his face.

“Interesting,” Ravok mused, his knuckled whitening as he tightened his grip on the knife. “But the only thing I want from you is your pain. Your suffering. The knowledge that you failed your mate and your lover, when she needed you most.”

“No,” I breathed, already reaching for her, my fingers raking across something hovering between us, like a sheet of frozen glass.

“Goodbye, Evangeline,” Ravok said softly, and the knife flashed.

I screamed—a sound dredged up from the very depths of my soul as I watched the blade slide across her throat. Evangeline's eyes went wide, her mouth opened in a silent gasp, and then she was falling, crimson spraying across the concrete beneath her.

“ Evie .” Riordan's anguished cry joined mine as we both lurched forward, but there was nowhere to go, nothing we could do. She was gone, and we hadn’t saved her, we’d failed her.

I collapsed, my forehead hitting the cold concrete as sobs I couldn’t stop wracked my body.

Beside me, Riordan was making sounds I'd never heard from him before—raw, animal howls of grief that echoed off the walls.

The grief was staggering in its entirety, the way it carved me out, how nothing else mattered.

Ravok could kill me right now, and I would not care.

Death might even be a relief.

My eyes were closed when Ravok's footsteps approached slowly, deliberately.

“Now,” he said, his voice soft and satisfied, “now you understand what real power looks like. What it means to be truly helpless. I accept your gift. I will take your lives, and your kingdom and your clan. Your magic will serve me, and perhaps, if you serve me well enough, you can keep your souls.”

But I couldn't hear him anymore. All I saw was Evangeline's face, the light fading from her eyes. All I could feel was the crushing weight of failure, of a love confessed too late, of a promise to protect her that I'd broken in the most terrible way possible.

In that moment, I knew the truth.

Death would be a blessing.

Because living with this—living with the memory of watching her die while we knelt helpless before her killer—was a fate worse than death itself.