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RIORDAN

T he thralls gnashed their teeth, hands clawing the air to reach us. These thralls weren’t really alive—more an empty void where life should be, the echo of hollow souls bound to Ravok's will.

These were not normal thralls, with their rotting bodies and putrid stench.

But there were so many.

Spread out before us like a dark tide, their white faces gleaming with an unnatural hunger, the air reeking of rot.

But it was Ravok who drew my attention, his feral gaze fixed only on Evangeline, and something in me turned to ice. I knew that look. I'd seen it countless times before—the triumphant look of a predator who believed his prey was already caught.

Silas and Alistair were with him, their expressions hollow, as if they were decaying from the inside out. But out of all our enemies, one stood out more than any other. The vampire standing at Ravok’s side, his stance unbowed, head held high.

Not a thrall.

His wavy hair was nondescript brown, his stature slender and except for his large hooked nose, there was nothing overtly distinguishing about him, except he was the only one besides Ravok who wasn’t a reanimated corpse.

A perfectly ordinary, unimposing vampire, and yet, dread crawled through me, the moment my gaze landed on him, as if his appearance masked something far more sinister.

“Give me the girl.” Ravok's voice rolled across the ruined grounds like thunder. “And the rest of you may live. She's the only one I want.” His lips curved into what might have been meant as a smile but looked more like an ugly gash. “For now.”

Beside me, Evie's shadows writhed with ghostly flames, her power calling to mine, dark fire reaching for my light. On my other side, Blake's energy crackled like death given form, our combined magicks churning like star flecked night itself.

We all knew what we had to do, we had to hope our magicks cooperated.

“You won't touch her,” I warned, my voice carrying across the dead space separating us. The words came out calm, but inside, I was calculating angles, distance, weak points.

The chances five of us had against an entire army.

Not great odds, but we'd faced worse.

And Nash was moving his men to the facing windows of Crimson House, in position in case Ravok—or his horde—made it past our defenses. Every guard was equipped with silver bullets, but I didn’t know if they’d kill reanimated flesh.

“What a poor king you make.” Ravok shook his head, chuckling. “Sentencing your loyal followers to death, all for the sake of one worthless female.” My jaw clenched, magic burning white-hot, the heat searing my face.

“This female is worth a thousand of you,” I hissed through my barely restrained rage. “You are a soulless fuck who should never have seen the light of day. Come a little closer and I’ll shove you back in that box myself.”

“ How dare you threaten me .” Ravok’s heavy brow dropped until I could barely see his eyes. “You presume to speak to me as an equal, when you are but a…”

“You know,” Blake murmured quietly, giving me a hungry, glittering look I knew all too well, “he talks too much. Don’t you think?”

“This is not the time, Blake,” I hissed, “I swear, do not…”

“ How about you go fuck yourself ,” Blake shouted, grinning at both of us before he tacked on, “Look, you two would have wasted time going back and forth, I’m just cutting to the chase, seeing how things were starting to drag on.”

“God, Blake,” Evie muttered, “just wave the red flag, why don’t you?” But her cheeks were pink, her eyes nearly as bright as Blake’s, lips curved into a vicious smile.

“Let them come. They won’t get through,” Malachi stated with his usual arrogance, his eyes fixed not on his Maker, but on the tall vampire beside him, and those warning bells in my head grew louder.

Ravok's response was a casual wave of his hand. “Bring her to me.” His gaze turned darker as the vampire beside him leaned in. “Unharmed,” he added, as if the brainless creatures needed a reminder.

His thralls surged forward like a tidal bore, their movements unnaturally swift and coordinated. Because they were controlled by one mind .

That wall of pale, demonic faces chomped the air with broken teeth, feet digging chunks out of the ground, legs blurring as they closed the gap between us. I spooled up more magic, preparing to hit them with a plume of fire, then everything stopped.

They crashed into Malachi's invisible glamour, a barrier as thin as silk but apparently stronger than steel, and for a moment, confusion rippled through their ranks as they struggled to breach something they couldn't see.

“Told you not to worry.” Malachi preened like a peacock. “One of these days, maybe you’ll listen.”

That moment was all we needed.

Fiona struck first, drawing fiery sigils in the air. Flames erupted in precise arcs, cutting down the front lines of thralls. The air filled with their inhuman shrieks as they burned, their bodies crumbling to ash. The smell was horrific, but no worse than the rotting reek.

Evie’s shadowy fire lashed out sporadically, most—not all—of her strikes going in the right direction. Everywhere her power touched, thralls froze solid, crumbled into piles of frosty ash, trampled into the mud by the horde of churning feet.

She was beautiful and terrible to watch, and for a heartbeat, I almost pitied those who faced her.

Almost.

Blake and I locked eyes for a fraction of a second, a plan forming without words. Together, we gathered our power, letting it build until a cloud of darkness loomed over us, riven with crackling bolts of white fire. The thralls between us and Ravok never stood a chance. Our combined power cut through them like butter, opening a clear path to their master.

Ravok's eyes widened slightly, the first hint of uncertainty I'd seen from him. Blake and I struck as one, our magic merging into a fiery spear that struck Ravok square in the chest. The impact drove him back several steps, his boots digging furrows in the earth.

But he didn't fall.

Instead, he laughed, a sound harsher than a screaming wind. “Is that all you have for me?” he asked, straightening his jacket with exaggerated care. “I expected more from the king and his loyal dog. Come now, Riordan, where is all that pent up rage? Has your courage been lost beneath all the self-doubt? Or did it never exist to begin with?”

“Don’t let him get to you, he’s fucking with your head,” Blake muttered. “Let’s shut him up.”

“Yes, let’s.” But there was a chink in my armor now, some of that doubt creeping in to poison my confidence, my snapping fiery creatures moving erratically before I got them back under control.

But not quickly enough to evade Ravok’s notice.

“So many memories of the weak son, hiding his true power because of the father he feared. You may have killed your sire and stolen his throne, but a true king would have risen up and taken what he wanted. I’ve tasted them all, you know,” Ravok crooned.

“I know your weaknesses better than you know yourself.” His gaze landed on Evangeline, and I fought the urge to throw myself between them.

“You don’t deserve her. In time, she would have grown tired of you, like you feared. Better to end this now, before she realizes what a weak, worthless male you truly are.”

More thralls poured in through the gaps in our defense, forcing us to divide our attention. They were a mixture of Silverwoods, of mercenaries, of Tyrell’s desiccated soldiers. Anyone, it seemed, Ravok could sink his fangs into.

Was that how he’d gotten so strong, so fast?

Had he drained…hundreds of people in a matter of days?

A vicious sweep of Fiona's flames wiped out most of their left flank, while Malachi's glamour continued to withstand Aria’s assault, veins of red pulsing over the surface, searching for a way inside. Blake’s shadows simply erased a charging group of ten, while my snapping creatures devoured a dozen more.

We were picking the enemy off, a few at a time.

But still, they kept coming, as if their numbers had no end.

“ Riordan. ” Evie's voice cut through the chaos. She was surrounded, a group of thralls clawing at the flimsy barrier between them, fingers raking gouges into the shimmering surface.

Some of them getting through.

“Malachi, reinforce your glamour before they reach her,” I growled, pointing, and he changed focus, sending a stream of glamour spilling out of his hands and up over the shield.

As one, the thralls screamed, a keening wail that set my teeth on edge.

I should be fighting beside her, but we were too spread out, each of us diverting our power to a different cause, fighting a hundred battles we could win…as more and more cropped up.

The vampire by Ravok’s side sent another wave of thralls racing toward us, and they obeyed his command as readily as they obeyed Ravok.

Who was he?

“You can't protect her forever,” Ravok said, his voice almost gentle, his power building around him like a storm. “She belongs in the darkness. With me.”

The rage that filled me was cold. Clarifying.

Evangeline was in charge of her own future, and of her own free will, she’d chosen me. She’d given me her whole heart, and in return, I’d given her mine and this fucker would never understand that kind of commitment. Never.

“She belongs in the light, with whomever she chooses,” I snarled, gathering my power for another strike. “And she chose us.”

He shook his head with the certainty of someone who could— and had —seen the future. “She will never choose you, you will never be king, and your precious, fragile kingdom, built on a lie,” he ran his tongue over his lips, “will belong to me. “

“Bullshit,” I muttered, more to myself than him, fury turning the blood in my veins thick. “We were made for each other, and you are going to die screaming in the dark.”