Chapter 70
70
EVANGELINE
H oly fucking shit.
Even trapped by Malachi’s compulsion, forced to become a welcome mat for our enemies, horror gripped me as Blake decimated soldier after soldier like they were nothing.
My mate.
Or…the male I hoped was still my mate.
Surrounded by a shadowy, seething wave of death, Blake left a trail of broken bodies strewn across the bloodied grass. His face was a monstrous twist of rage, eyes so wholly black they consumed the brilliant flashes of Riordan’s fire.
Ice trickled down my spine. Blake was a creature born to rend and ruin, no matter how much I wanted to pretend otherwise.
How many had he killed?
Fifty? A hundred? Every lash of magic was accompanied by that ruthless smile, utterly devoid of any humanity. His power buzzed against my skin, rattled my bones, made my hair stand on end. Moving across the battlefield like death impersonated, Blake’s shadows were a scythe of ruination, his expression too cruel to belong to the male I loved.
And when he turned that empty smile on me across the carnage, a shiver shredded my spine in two. He changed direction, his shadows decimating everything that stood between us.
Decimating the enemies I was letting inside the ward. Oh God, was he coming to kill me?
Evangeline . Blake mouthed, and there was a corresponding tug in my chest, hard enough to hurt. Stop .
I want to . Tears flooded my cheeks, my body an inferno of pain from holding this portal open, fighting Malachi’s overriding control.
I’ve been trying but I can’t. Please help me. I wailed.
Evangeline…my love…stop . Now that sounded more like my Blake, his eyes warming to chocolate brown as he drew close enough for me to see that he was unharmed, beneath the blood and gore.
Concentrate on my voice, Evie. Focus on the mating bond, on that place beneath your heart. You and me are all that matters. Nothing else. I closed my eyes, swaying on my shaking legs.
Good girl. Now let everything else drift away, except for the sound of my voice. That’s it. Now drop your hands, Evie, drop them. His arms went around me, my face crashing against his blood-soaked chest, and then I was wrapped up in him, a sobbing, shaking ruin.
“Oh God, I’m sorry. I couldn’t make it stop…I couldn’t… I’m so sorry.”
I couldn’t breathe, my insides wrecked when reality rushed in, filled with screams and explosions and the metallic reek of too much blood. Everything was covered in red, Blake, me, and…and…
Before us, the open portal spun in slow, lazy turns, but behind that sheen of silvery light, more shapes moved. Big ones. Fuck, fuck, fuck . I had to close this, but I didn’t know how, didn’t know the words, or the motions, nothing .
“Get behind me, Evie.” Blake moved me aside when the air around us heated, warmth pushing against my face.
“You are in my way. Move.” Fiona snapped irritably, appearing out of nowhere, her hair a wild tangle of red as she sent a plume of fire roaring into the opening. Behind the veil, beasts roared, males screamed, and then the silvery light broke apart into wisps of pale gray.
Riordan appeared at my side a split second later, eyes wild, a terrifying grin on his face.
Oh God, he was alive. There was so much blood . But he’s alive. The thought barely hit me and he crushed me against him, pressed his face into the crook of my neck. “Not mine. Collum’s.” He burrowed in deeper, voice raw and aching. “Are you okay? I couldn’t get to you, they cut you off. Neither of us could reach you. Are you hurt?”
“I’m…okay.” And other than my aching shoulders and burned fingers, I was, impossibly alive. “This was all Malachi. There’s a room…we need to…”
I never got the rest out because the world broke.
Cracked.
Another portal appeared, this one bigger, rimmed with blue, crackling fire. Witch magic .
A grinning Aria stepped from the maelstrom.
“Look at you.” she crooned softly. “All in the same spot. I couldn’t have planned this any better. I’m killing you both and taking my toy home with me. We have big, big plans for her.”
The witch’s gaze drifted past us, to the burning castle. “But first…” A flick of her wrist, a flash of searing light, and stone shattered, ancient timbers splintering when the front of the castle crumbled, sending a plume of dust and flame across the dead.
Angel was in there .
Bex…Eldric, still somewhere down in the crypt.
Blake shoved me toward the destruction. “Go find your sister. Get everyone out before Aria brings that building down. We’ll hold her off, but you have to move, Evie.”
A wall of Blake’s shadows spread before us, cutting Aria off, deep, thudding sounds echoing as she tried to break through. “We’ll hold her as long as we can. Get going, Evangeline.” Riordan roared as veins of white fire threaded through that black shield.
I turned on my heel and ran.
I climbed through the blocked front entrance, over broken stone and wood into what used to be the Hall of Mirrors. Broken palm trees and glass littered the floor, part of the roof was gone, but there…
Angel raced toward me, blond hair slipping from her ponytail, soot streaking her beautiful face, but that fierce grin made my heart sing as we slammed together in a tangle of arms and legs.
“Where the fuck have you been?” She pulled back, paling when she peered at my face closer. “Holy God, were you outside in the middle of…that?”
I was the cause of that .
I swallowed down a sour gulp of guilt. “We have to get everyone out. A witch is here and she means to bring this entire castle down. If there’s anyone left inside…” I frantically searched the dusty wreckage for signs of life.
“Bex and I cleared every floor,” Angel said, with a note of pride as staff members disappeared through the rear exit. “I came back to make a final sweep.” We crouched low as an explosion echoed overhead, the entire castle rocking beneath the impact.
“Go out the back, then move everyone to a safe distance.” I pulled my sweater up over my nose as another plume of dust swept out of the west wing and swallowed us up.
“You’re coming with me, aren’t you?” Angel grasped my wrist and tugged. “Come on Evie, this is no time to be a hero.”
If Angel only knew…I was anything but.
I’d put all these people in danger, even my own sister. I needed to atone for my sins, but Eldric was still in the basement, probably still unconscious, and he was going to die tonight if I didn’t get him out.
“I’m needed out front. Riordan and Blake are waiting.” I lied. “I have to move and so do you.” I pushed her toward the rear exit, praying she’d listen. “Bex needs your help, everyone has to be away from this castle if these walls collapse.”
“And after this is over?”
“I’ll find you.” I yanked her against me for another hug. “Promise.”
The second she disappeared, I raced for the lower levels.
By the time I reached the dungeons, the entire castle was rocked by deep booms, and I didn’t let myself imagine being buried under tons of rock and wood, dying while being crushed to death .
At least, I tried not to imagine it too much.
I held my torch higher and headed for that glowing outline of blue magic. When the stones disappeared, I plunged into that hole, racing down and around until I smelled the reek of cold iron.
The scent of freshly spilled blood.
And when I beheld Silas and Uncle Dante hoisting a skeletal Ravok from his iron tomb, a bright smear of red from his mouth over one gaunt, hollowed out cheek, there was only one thing to do.