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EVANGELINE

I didn’t think—until this very moment—I’d ever fully accepted Ravok’s ability to see the future.

But now, being so neatly trapped, bound tight in Romulus’s shadowy magic, glimpsing the satisfied certainty on Ravok’s face, I knew he’d seen this moment play out a thousand times, only this time…

It was really happening.

Malachi’s bond yanked at me with desperate intensity, like a hook buried in my heart. Run, Evangeline. Run.

My knees had buckled at the sight of him, suspended before that gaping darkness, his arms stretched wide, bound with dark metal chains still glowing with red witch sigils. His head hung low, blond hair obscuring his face, but I saw the ragged rise and fall of his chest.

“Malachi, look at me,” I whispered, my voice breaking.

He lifted his head slowly, as if the effort required all his remaining strength. When his eyes found mine, they glistened with tears and fury and horror and I couldn’t fucking reach him, trapped in this web of Romulus’s writhing magic.

“Evie. No.” His voice was hoarse, barely audible. “You were supposed to run.”

But even if I wanted to escape, it was too late. I'd been so focused on Malachi that I'd failed to take in the rest of the chamber.

To notice Ravok’s trap.

Now that I did, my blood ran cold.

The circular room was carved directly into the mountain's heart, its walls so perfectly smooth they looked polished. A pool of still, black water dominated the center, reflecting nothing—not the torches that lined the walls, not the ornate ceiling covered in ancient symbols, and certainly not the tear in reality that hovered ten feet above the dark surface.

That portal pulsed with malevolent energy, a vertical gash in reality itself. Through that silvered opening, I saw nothing but swirling darkness, occasionally broken by flashes of crimson lightning. A faint spiral of magic floated up from the ground, feeding into that gaping hole, creating a magical dissonance that made my teeth ache.

“Evangeline.” Ravok inclined his head, greeting me like we were old friends. “Now we can begin.”

Movement to my left caught my eye. Romulus stepped around me, his face bright with awed reverence, holding a curved ceremonial blade that gleamed in the torchlight. I’d seen that bright silver blade before, both edges equally curved, except the last time I’d seen it…

The knife had been in Caine’s hands, pressed against Rhiannon’s throat.

“You knew she would come,” he murmured to Ravok, awed reverence glowing on his face. “The blood bond ensured her obedience and now the future you predicted arrives at last.”

A slow burning rage ignited, the kind that ate through everything else, until anger was the fuel that fed magic’s dark flames. They were going to kill him, and a shudder went through me.

I loved Malachi Draven.

That fact was carved on my soul, and these two power hungry fucks were not going to steal our future away from us.

“Let him go,” I demanded, my voice steadier than I felt. Even bound in Romulus’s shadows, even unable to move, the only way this was going to end was with these two assholes dead and Malachi and I walking out of here.

The ancient vampire laughed, the sound echoing off the stone walls. “Soon enough I will let him go, and the world will curse me for it.” He gestured toward Malachi with languid grace. “For as often as I have dreamed of this moment, nothing prepared me for the sheer…” His chest expanded with a mighty breath. “ Magnificence of what is about to happen here.”

“You can take your magnificence and shove it up your hairy ass, you fuck. You wanted me here, well, I’m here.” Romulus tapped the knife against his palm, tutting softly.

“Yes. You are.” Ravok’s glee turned into a glower, but I had that effect on people.

“Every step has been so carefully guided, from Aoife, to Rhiannon, to you, and Malachi’s consuming guilt over her death was a delight I hadn’t anticipated. Forgive me if I need a moment to revel in the fact all my planning has paid off.”

“Do me a favor and cut the villain speech short.” I snorted, and those shadows tightened warningly around my throat. “You’re boring me to tears and frankly, I don’t give a fuck.”

Romulus was now looking both stabby and deeply disapproving.

“Be that as it may, none of this has really been about me.” Ravok sounded rather snippy for someone who had the both of us bound up and captive.

Confusion rippled through me. “What are you talking about?”

“Your precious Malachi,” Ravok said, circling the pool slowly, as if he, too recognized the inherent danger in that too-still water, “is much more than he appears.” He stopped directly across from me, the portal pulsing nauseatingly behind him.

“Did you never wonder why I chose you on that battlefield? One soldier out of ten thousand identical, ordinary humans?”

Malachi managed to lift his head, eyes blazing. “How I wish you hadn’t.”

“Still…” Ravok shook his head. “What if I told you we were not there for Tyrell? What if I told you Caine came there for you? Only for you? What if I told you he had discovered something about your bloodline, something your family kept a secret?”

He leaned closer. “ Di inferi .”

Malachi struggled against his chains, the metal cutting into his wrists. “Don't listen to him, Evie.”

Ravok continued as if he hadn't spoken. “When I was an Elder, Caine hunted rare bloodlines, those possessing rare magicks and powers. But none were as elusive as yours. He already had his Thirteen by the time we found you, and while Caine could not add you to his collection, I saw your true potential.”

I could barely breathe, not because of the bullshit Ravok was spewing, but because of the waves of dread being telegraphed down the blood bond from Malachi.

“Now that your brother is gone, you are the last descendant of Orcus, punisher of broken oaths, a malicious god who tormented the evil dead. I saw what you might become, in the right hands, at the right moment, with the right confluence of power and blood.” His dark gaze slid to me.

“Two…no, three powerful bloodlines, and an endless supply of primordial magic. I will mold you into a monster, like the one who first spawned your bloodline and you will consume this world at my command. You will be my punishment, for any who stand against me.”

Malachi began to fight in earnest, blood streaming down into the pool at an alarming rate.

Stop, you’re only hurting yourself. Think. There has to be a way out of here. I have weapons, if I could break free of Romulus’s shadows, if I could reach you…

The pool is deadly. You need to stay away from the water. His gaze narrowed on Romulus, that gleaming, wicked knife he held. You can’t let him cut you, Evangeline. I can…manage one illusion. Only one, and not for long.

“You will be my first,” Ravok murmured, his eyes gleaming with fanatical light as he dragged a hand through the stream of magic, letting the sparkling essence fall slowly through his fingers like grains of sand.

“I will harness this unholy power to create my own Elders, bound to me, sworn to serve me. We shall become greater than Caine ever dreamed, a new species to reign over the humans, as we should have, from the beginning.”

Ravok dipped his head and Romulus stepped forward, the edge of that blade gleaming with a wicked hunger.

“With Silverwood blood, I will complete his transformation.”

“You can take your transformation bullshit and shove it right up your self-righteous ass,” I spat, gathering my magic, shoving against Romulus’s bonds, carving enough of a hole my flames responded, rising higher, ready to strike?—

Only to freeze in midair the second Ravok lifted his hand. My entire body seized, locked in place by invisible shackles even more powerful than those already holding me in place. And while my magic strained, this was like fighting inevitability.

“Your cooperation isn't required,” Ravok said mildly. “Only your blood.”

He nodded to Romulus, who approached with that terrible smile still in place. The blade in his hand caught the light as he raised it over his head and my breath caught in my throat. Then everything in the room froze.

Malachi’s blood stopped dripping, even the pulse of the portal ceased.

“The others.” Romulus’s eyes flew to the curved ceiling. “They made it past the traps.”

“Go.” Ravok held out his hand. “Take care of them. I will complete the ceremony myself.”

“But Master….” Romulus gripped the knife tighter. “It would be my honor to…” Ravok twitched his fingers and Romulus’s face fell, like a scolded shool boy.

He placed the blade in Ravok’s huge palm with such a look of sullen disappointment I had to grin. “Sucks, doesn’t it, getting cheated out of your moment of glory?” I hissed as he slipped past me.

Romulus would head off Riordan, Blake and Eldric and they were not going to know what hit them. I wiggled and squirmed inside those bindings, but they only drew tighter. There was a knife lying on the floor, forgotten, if I could only reach it…

Relax, Evangeline. The harder you fight, the tighter the containment spell binds you. Go limp.

I tried to follow Malachi’s direction, but Ravok was closing in, and that silver blade was fucking enormous. Big enough to take off my entire arm in one slice. And when he said my blood, did he mean ALL my blood?

One second, Ravok was looming over me, the next, the room was clogged with shimmering glamour, tendrils working beneath my bindings, releasing my arms, my legs. I flung myself forward, scooping that knife up off the floor and launching myself toward the last place I’d seen Ravok, throwing all my momentum behind one desperate strike.

Blinded by glamour, I didn’t see his thick arm swipe me out of the air, send me flying, the blade spinning out of my suddenly numb hand. I dropped to the floor, pulling two of my own blades, crouching low as something big and deadly whistled over my head in a flash of silver.

Motherfucker.

Run, Evangeline. Get out of here now. Once you’re in the outer corridor, dematerialize up to the Keep, then to the woods. Keep moving until Riordan and Blake catch up to you. Then find Brendan Thorne in Ireland. He will hide you.

I couldn’t see, but heard Ravok’s boots scrape slowly across the floor, the portal began to hum again, the magic-fogged air vibrating with that unsettling drone.

Go, Evangeline. You can’t save me, so save yourself . Go and help your mate and the others. I turned toward the doorway. Malachi was right. They didn’t know what Romulus was capable of, I had to warn them…then I stopped, like some invisible tether was yanking me back.

No. I’m not…I can’t leave you.

I turned, gripping my knives. Change of fucking plans. I’m getting you down, and we go after Romulus together.

Through the clearing haze of glamour, the Ancient was a shadowy target as I flung my knives, grinning when metal sunk into flesh with a solid whump followed by Ravok’s hiss of pain. I had one vial of silver nitrate left, but I’d have to get close, close enough for a personal blow and I leapt forward, my feet leaving the ground, raised arm already plunging down, down toward where I hoped his chest would be, once I broke through this haze.

I never made it.

There was an airy whisper as steel sliced through air, Ravok’s blade bit deep, and I hissed as pain lanced up my arm, blood gushing from the wound, soaking through my shirt sleeve. Rough hands grasped me by the hair and he dragged me like a rag doll to the edge of the black pool, then hoisted me up, letting my blood drip into the still water.

The effect was horrifying.

Every drop sent ripples of crimson spreading outward until the pool glowed from within, first dull red, then brighter, until the entire chamber was illuminated with light, igniting the runes on the ceiling like a galaxy of stars. The portal pulsed harder, in rhythm with those spreading ripples, the dark, throbbing tear widening incrementally with each thumping beat.

“What have you done?” I fought Ravok’s hold, the water moving unnaturally, reaching up to encase Malachi’s feet.

Ravok spread his arms wide, his face transfigured with terrible joy. “I’m answering destiny’s call. The future has shown me the way, and this untapped magic…this doorway…were put here for me to harness. Your blood and his flesh are the foundation I will build my new world upon.” He turned to Malachi. “And now, heir of Orcus, son of the Underworld, you shall claim your birthright.”

The chains binding Malachi disappeared, but he didn’t fall. Tendrils of crimson water rose from the pool, wrapping around his ankles, his legs, engulfing his torso in a hideous twist of red liquid, almost like it had come alive.

“ No ,” I screamed, slamming my palm against Ravok’s chest, over and over again. My fire responded to my panic, encasing me in a bone-shredding wreath of darkness and Ravok’s arms blistered beneath my dark flames, his hold loosening.

Malachi's eyes found mine across the chamber as the water enveloped him. There was no fear in them now, only a deep, abiding sorrow.

I’m sorry. You deserved so much and I gave you so little.

“Stop that. I'm going to save you,” I promised fiercely, tears streaming down my face as I strained against Ravok, searched for a way to stop this. “Just hold on, I’m getting us both out of here.”

A small, sad smile touched his lips. “Don't be afraid,” he said softly. “Even after I die, I will always be with you. In the shadows, where I will visit you in your dreams. I will never leave you, Evangeline. Never.”

Ravok's laughter cut through the moment like a knife. “How touching,” he mocked, dropping me on the floor beside the blood-red pool. “Promises are empty, but this transformation is forever. Once the change takes hold, the Malachi you knew will cease to exist. In his place will stand a vessel ready to do my bidding—and my dark bride will have no need for its affections.”

Dark bride…why did that sound so familiar?

The water had reached Malachi's throat now, glowing brighter where it touched his skin. His face contorted in pain, but he kept his eyes fixed on mine.

All I ever wanted was for you to live. Promise me you will.

Not without you. I searched the room wildly. There has to be some way…

“I saw my future, the moment that witch cursed Caine,” Ravok gloated. “Her prophecy was powerful, speaking of ravens and silver wood and a High Lord ruling over all his subjects. Once I heard my own destiny, it was a simple matter of waiting until everything fell into place.”

How I wish I had never shown you that memory , Malachi said sadly. Then you wouldn’t know what awaited us. I never wanted you to suffer, Evangeline, everything I’ve ever done was to prevent such a fate.

The green-eyed witch’s curse played through my head. “When silver wood rises and ravens take flight, a dark son returns, under cloak of midnight. Blood will combine to give birth to a king, a High Lord of Night, a future to bring. Crowned shadows awake, with his queen by his side, both claimed by darkness, illusion’s dark bride.”

There was a long pause, an emptiness in my head before he said, so soft I barely heard him whisper, Whatever monster I become, you need to kill me, Vicious. Forget everything between us except this. I would rather die than hurt you, I would rather you sink a blade into my heart than suffer for one second at my hands. Swear it, Vicious. Fucking promise me you won’t hesitate.

I won’t . All the air went out of my lungs, my body folding down over itself as if the last of my strength ebbed away. I’ll do what’s right, Malachi. I swear.

I went back over the witch’s words, spoken with such bitterness and hate. She hadn’t bestowed a destiny that day. She had cursed Caine and all his Elders, cursed them with every piece of her soul.

That prophecy wasn’t meant as a reward…but a punishment.

Magic is nothing without intent . Intent forms the magic, tells raw power what to become.

From the moment that curse was spoken, those words were meant to punish Ravok.

And I meant to ensure that he was.