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EVANGELINE

A strange, dull thudding stretched the room out, then contracted back down, my flames—and the sparkling magic—pulsing in tandem with every beat. There was so much power in this room my body ached, my bones groaning from the strain of simply existing.

Ravok was suffering as well, but didn’t notice, too engrossed in watching his precious destiny coming to life, right before his eyes.

Well, fuck him.

Fuck him and his delusions of grandeur, because I was about to sabotage his long-awaited plans.

I’d take his long awaited ‘destiny’ away and sure, I wasn’t thinking straight—not with so much hate in my heart—but if I couldn’t have my future, Ravok sure as hell wasn’t getting his.

This was horrifying, watching the red water encase Malachi like a living thing, knowing my own blood was the key to his downfall. Knowing that whatever emerged from this ritual would no longer be Malachi Draven.

That the male I loved would no longer exist.

I lurched to my feet, the toes of my boots grazing the edge of the pool as Malachi began convulsing in his gleaming red cocoon. My magic had been refilling at an astounding rate, something to do, I suspected, with the sheer amount of power clogging this room. I took another deep inhale, filling my lungs with primordial reek.

This magic tasted wild and untamed, yet filled with unexplored potential.

Like chaos, about to birth something that had never existed before.

Well, I was about to test that theory.

Ravok’s hands were clenched at his sides, so focused on these final seconds of Malachi’s transformation, I doubted anything could distract him.

I eased a small blade out of my belt, dragged the point across one palm, then the other, cutting deep enough I wouldn’t heal quickly. My blood-slicked hands fumbled the blade as I slipped it back in my pocket, fingers instantly weak from pain, but I didn’t need fine motor skills for what came next.

Before I second guessed myself, before Ravok could react, I launched myself off the dusty stone floor, flying across the space until I crashed into Malachi, banding my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist and hanging on tight. The red water was colder than anything I’d ever experienced, but the slippery fluid instantly encased me, too, crawling up my arms to my cut palms, as if called by my blood.

“No. No .” Ravok paced frantically along the edge of the pool, that silver blade clutched in his hand, his face transformed by rage. “You will not stop this. I’ve waited lifetimes, I saw my destiny ,” he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth as he searched the distance between us, looking for some way to drag me back down.

“You both belong to me. You are mine . Mine .”

But the water was wrapped around us too tightly.

Binding me so permanently to Malachi, if Ravok tried to drag me away, he’d be doing it in pieces. I shuddered at the thought, because he’d rip me apart, if that meant he ended up with all the power.

Something struck me in the middle of my back, and I smelled smoke.

Another blow slammed into me, then another. But pain was some far-off thing, smothered beneath the frozen embrace of the water, the sheer stress of so many forces trying to peel me apart, inside and out.

How far gone was Malachi? Was I too late?

Awful, coldness roared through me, biting and gnawing as I kept repeating the prophecy over and over again . Blood will combine to give birth to a king…with his queen by his side…illusion’s dark bride.”

Illusion’s dark bride… illusion’s dark bride… oh God, I must be insane to be attempting this.

Vicious. What are you doing?

Saving you, can’t you tell?

You’re going to die. Malachi’s sad, somber voice came from far away, like we were talking down a long hallway. You’re going to die and I can’t stop this.

I’m not asking you to stop this, I’m asking you to believe in the prophecy, to believe in us.

I love you.

There, I’d finally said the words I should have said so long ago.

I love you and I believe we were not meant to die here, because Ravok got the prophecy wrong. He got it wrong, Malachi.

That curse was meant to be his punishment.

We were meant to be Ravok’s reckoning.

But there was nothing but silence on the other end, a deep, quaking void that seemed to have no end. I wrapped my arms around him tighter and buried my face in his chest.

You are the High Lord of Night and the future is yours, as long as I’m by your side. So that’s what I’m doing. Staying with you and never letting you go.

* * *

I’d barely even thought the words when the world became a tangled, thorny hole where I was torn apart by some cold, cruel power, dragged deeper than the bowels of the mountain, into a hell of airless pain and crushing cold.

I held onto Malachi as we fell, kept my arms wrapped around his neck, my face buried into his chest, the red, creeping water binding us together tighter and tighter until I could no longer breathe.

He was so still I didn’t know if he was dead, didn’t know if I was still alive.

Something was coming undone at my center, I was unraveling into a million different pieces, fraying into the wind and that was before…before…before…

Evangeline.

Malachi’s fangs sank into my throat, gently, almost, his warm lips closing down on my skin as he began to drink. He became the only solid thing in my entire existence as everything disintegrated around us, and then the world tipped sideways and we were falling, still tangled together, his fangs in my throat and the velvet brush of his tongue the only thing that mattered.

We crashed back down to earth in the center of the pool, my arms still banded tight around his neck, his hands cradling my waist. Blood red water splashed across the floor, up along the walls, extinguishing the glowing red runes, until the only light in the room was from two pitiful torches, spitting out reeking black smoke.

My Evangeline.

Malachi’s deep voice was brimming with might, rich with seductive promise and it took every ounce of strength I had to lift my eyes to his face and look.

Oh, God . He was…impressive. Taller than he’d been. Broader.

More , in every way.

Still himself, and yet…not.

No, Malachi’s entire being sang with a primal energy not of this world, and my body responded, my marrow humming, my core contracting as I gazed up at him. This being still looked like Malachi, except his face glowed with power and his eyes…his eyes danced with stars, like he contained the power of the heavens.

And as the creature that had once been Malachi set me aside and rose naked from the pool, that celestial spark ignited when his attention snapped to Ravok, flattened against the wall, watching us in horror.

“No…this cannot be.” Ravok’s gaze bounced between us. “I was the one…you were supposed to…” His brow furrowed, shoulders straightening as he decided he could still salvage this situation. “Kneel and swear your fealty to me. I am your master. I created you and you serve me .”

The beast that tipped his head bore no resemblance to the male I loved. His slow, toothy grin was bloodcurdling, eyes burning with a fire that seemed to issue from the depths of hell.

“I do not serve you. I shall never serve you.”

I didn’t know if the words were spoken aloud, or echoing inside my soul, only that his fathomless voice thrummed with ungodly power, the sort that could send people crashing to their knees.

Freezing water lapped around my waist as I scooted away, writhing shadows crawling up his legs, carrying a trace of the sparkling magic still leaking up into the dark portal, which appeared to have gone dead.

Then the stars in Malachi's amber eyes began glowing, filling the room with brilliance as enormous claws extended from his hands, dripping black shadows into the pool of water as his body began to change, growing taller, broader, until he filled the entire room.

Toned shoulders turned bulky, bulging over with muscle, chest turning into solid slabs, an abdomen that was rock solid and bigger than I could fit my arms around. Trim thighs became tree trunks, flexing with strength, his jaw sharpening, gaze turning darker than the night sky.

He became something out of my nightmares, covered in thick, velvety skin, coated with a flickering shadow of my dark flames, his face a mask of bestial cunning and predatorial intent. Then there was nothing left of the Malachi I knew, and something entirely foreign stood before me.

Orcus.

My heart shattered into a thousand pieces. “Malachi,” I whispered, scooting to the opposite wall from Ravok, but the creature was focused wholly on his Maker, and I knew instinctually, I’d better stay out of the way.

The chamber shook violently as the beast—as Malachi—let out a roar that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The sound vibrated through my bones, through the very stone of the mountain. More debris crashed down from the ceiling, splashing into the pool, one chunk sucked into the portal.

And I swore, behind that still, suspended portal… something roared back.

Ravok wasn’t cowed. He approached the shadow creature with his arms spread wide, like he was going to tame the beast. “I Made you and you swore a blood oath of obedience to me . Now I have created you anew, and even if I have to force you to kneel, you will submit to my will.”

The creature watched him with those terrible eyes, massive form rippling with barely contained violence. Then it made a sound, a raspy creak that might have been a chuckle.

“I serve no one, you pitiful worm.” Those eyes skated across the walls, the pool, until they landed—with the weight of the entire world behind them—on me.

I serve only the one who bled for me. The one whose blood flows inside me. His thunderous voice echoed through my head, a long, pink tongue flicking out and tracing those full, shadowy lips. The one who tastes of desert storms and spice.

An illicit shiver went through me, ill-advised and definitely inappropriate, given the shitty timing. But damn, whatever Malachi had become, he was…breath taking, in every way.

“No,” Ravok hissed, glaring between us from across the pool. “Whatever this bullshit is, you will not thieve away my power. You will never take what is rightfully mine .”