Fated In Secrets (Nocturne Vampire Clan #2)

Chapter 51

51

EVANGELINE

E very choking breath was heavy with the smell of scorched vines and bitter magic. My skin was a collection of gruesome, seeping wounds, but all that faded when I beheld the hatred in Lady Morvessa’s piercing gaze.

Even slumped against the wall, bound by crimson tendrils of Riordan’s magic, she was defiant, convinced she had the upper hand.

“You never deserved to be king. I told Tyrell from the beginning, but he insisted it would be best to let you believe you ruled over us,” she sneered, her eyes raking Riordan up and down. “A facade of power, and the only one who believed it was real was you.”

The flicker that passed over Riordan’s face was so slight she didn’t notice the change, but I did.

Hurt . Those words cut deeply, and I wondered if he somehow thought they were true.

Or if she’d simply bruised Ravok’s ego.

“Riordan is the greatest king this clan has ever known.” For some reason, my words rang louder than I’d intended in this ruined space. “He is not only deserving, he has earned that crown, which is more than I can say for a serpent like you.”

Beside me, Riordan stiffened, the weight of his red- tinged gaze falling on me, but I was too focused on Morvessa to care. I crossed my arms over my chest, smearing blood on my shirt. “So keep talking, see where that gets you.”

Reveal your plan so we can crush Malachi and finish this.

She chuckled, low and mirthless. “You think you can finish this ? Oh, child, you’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s coming.”

I cringed again. I was so weak, even my thoughts betrayed me.

“Then enlighten us,” Riordan urged, his voice sharper than I’d ever heard it. “Why did you betray me?”

Morvessa tilted her head, as if pondering whether to answer. “Because you’re not fit to rule. Because you’re not as strong as your sire and you never will be. You should be kneeling at our feet, serving us.” Her tone dripped with derision.

Power shivered through the air, but Morvessa didn’t even blink. If the Lady of Ebonshade knew who she was really talking to, she would shit her proverbial pants.

I glanced at a blank-faced Riordan, locked in some unseen battle with Ravok, suffering painted across his pained features. On instinct, I reached out and found his hand, wrapped my fingers around his and squeezed. I’m here. Don’t give up. Keep fighting. His jaw flexed, magic sparking dangerously around us before he squeezed back.

“Malachi,” she continued, drawing out his name. “And I share a vision of this clan restored to its former glory, untainted by your so-called reforms . And Collum shall be his right hand. Both are worthy successors; both will honor Lord Tyrell’s reign. No rules. No laws. No decrees.”

Her grin grew. “Blood and death and glorious anarchy. You would deny us our birthright. You would take away what it means to be vampire. We are not meant for rules ,’ she spat the word out like it tasted bad, “we are better than that.”

“You wish to return to the ways of the past?” Riordan’s silky tone send a shiver of fear down my spine. “You want to experience how we were in the beginning?”

The entire room bent inwards, a vacuum of power tightening around us like an imploding star, slashed with lightning and crushing howls that sounded like voices. Magic clawed my face, my exposed flesh, and when I tried to drop Riordan’s hand, he only gripped me tighter, binding me against him with strong, unrelenting arms.

“You will never rule,” Morvessa snapped. “You are too weak, too pathetic. Your entire life has been a sham, your sire should have killed you in the womb and been done with it. You assume one’s blood—” She nodded toward me. “—will give you the power to conquer us? You’re deluded. This clan has no place for half breeds, nor Turned Vampires. Though given the qualities of her blood, Valaine will put her to good use, I expect.”

Riordan didn’t flinch like I did. If anything, he seemed... still. Too still. The crimson light around him darkened, turning black at the edges. A cold dread settled in my stomach as I watched his face change, until it was looking at someone else.

My lungs hollowed out, my bones, too, as Riordan transformed into someone completely different.

Someone…wicked.

His scent—that chocolate cinnamon scent that always made my mouth water—became murkier, steeped in the embers of burning rage and ancient cruelty.

Ravok molded Riordan’s face into a brutish version of his chiseled, regal visage, still beautiful, but…darker, mo re terrifying. His jaw was thicker, his brow more pronounced, his eyes pitch black, flecked with dancing red light. His arrogance was the only thing that seemed unchanged, and somehow, I found that, of all things, comforting.

When his gaze dropped to mine, I smothered my gasp. His midnight eyes filled with the darkness of the universe, a void of light, beautiful in its emptiness, and I tumbled head first into that pitiless darkness.

Then he glanced away and I sagged in his arms against the shock, my chest aching as if someone had died.

“Morvessa Ebonshade,” even his voice was different, rougher, less cultured and unnervingly calm. “You don’t know who you’re talking to.”

Her smirk faltered. “I know exactly who?—”

“No,” he interrupted, setting me aside to take a step closer. “You think you’re speaking to Riordan Graves, your crowned king, who you swore fealty to, in an unbreakable oath, which you will honor. But you are mistaken about this, as you are mistaken about everything.”

Morvessa’s confidence cracked, her gaze flickering uncertainly. “Stop playing these games, Riordan?—”

“You want to go back to the beginning?” I lost my breath when Ravok bared his fangs, and even those seemed longer, sharper, deadlier than before. “I will take you there. I will make Tyrell’s reign look like a fucking tea party. I will bring you violence. I will bring you blood. I will crush you all down to your knees, where you belong.”

“Ravok,” I whispered, the name slipping out before I could stop myself. Riordan had disappeared, swallowed up in darkness.

I had no idea who Ravok was.

But horrified recognition dawned in Morvessa’s eyes, followed by terror. She crashed to her knees, her courage crumbling. “Ravok...” she breathed, her voice shaking. “This isn’t possible. It’s not .”

Riordan—or whatever part of him wasn’t Riordan anymore—smiled, slow and dangerous. “And now you see the truth. You chose the wrong side, Morvessa, the weak side. The losing side.”

Morvessa bowed her head, trembling. “My lord... forgive me. I didn’t?—”

“Spare me your groveling,” he snarled, the crimson aura flaring violently as he snared me by the wrist, dragged me back to his side. “You conspired against me. Against us . You deserve death.”

“Riordan, wait. ” I jerked free, stepping between them, my heart pounding. “Don’t kill her.”

His gaze snapped to mine, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure he even recognized me. The light in his pitch-dark eyes was feral, unbridled rage and every instinct in my body warned me to run. But I held my ground.

“She’s more valuable to us alive than dead. And she can’t warn Malachi if she’s locked up,” I pointed out, keeping my voice steady, my ruined feet in place.

“She surely can’t warn him if she’s dead.” Ravok countered, magic flickering like knives at his fingertips.

“True, but she’ll be more useful as a prisoner than a corpse.”

For a moment, I thought he’d dismiss me. The tension in the room turned suffocating, but then he relented, cunning replacing the rage, cold satisfaction turning his growl into a smile.

“Four sips. Four sips and I leave her alive.”

It took me a moment to make the connection, and when I did, I groaned. Fucking vampires and their fucking deals . “You lot are worse than the Fae.”

“Who do you think we learned from?” He countered, never taking his eyes off me, Morvessa completely forgotten. That stare devoured me from the inside out, sank its teeth in deeper and deeper until I shoved away.

“Fine. But from my wrist, there is no fucking way I’ll allow a monster at my throat.”

His gaze dragged slowly down my body and left me shaking, his intentions made clear, even before he murmured, “We’ll see where you want this monster, little slayer. But I can tell you one thing. Once you have me, you’ll never want another.”

I blew out a shaking breath, cursed myself for a fool, and offered my wrist to the devil.

For Riordan , I told myself.

To keep Riordan strong, so he could keep fighting. So he could win. But when hungering darkness peered up at me, I knew that was a lie.

Because that hungering darkness was wrapped in the flesh of a male I cared for. Because there was no distinction between where Riordan ended and Ravok began, not as he gently cradled my hand in his and turned it palm up, studied the delicate blue veins.

When he bent his dark head and touched his tongue to my skin, I couldn’t stop my shiver, my quick intake of breath.

And when his fangs sink in slow, as if he meant to savor every drop, I couldn’t stop my other hand from sliding through his hair, caressing that inky silk, and need surged hot and desperate inside me when his greedy lips sealed around the bite.

Every pull was like his clever, practiced lips were fastened around my clit, every flick of his tongue over the punctures fracturing my pleasure apart a little bit more until my fingers were gripping his hair tight enough to hurt as he drew exquisitely long pulls from my vein, as my head spun and spun, my body slowly imploding.

When Ravok pulled away, my limp fingers slid out of his hair, his dark gaze an abomination in Riordan’s beautiful face, his wicked smile sending a bolt of true fear through me.

“You taste as delectable as in his memories, little Silverwood. I cannot wait to make you mine.”