I hadn’t even registered the sound of my plate shattering until my mother let out a short gasp. “Morrigan!”
I shook my head and knelt down, quickly picking up the shards of ceramic and piling them together. My hands trembled, and as I picked up one of the larger pieces, it nicked my finger, making a small, clean cut. “Shit,” I cursed under my breath, surprised at how real the pain felt.
But as I brought my finger to my lips, a hand wrapped around my wrist. I knew whose hand it was… I could have guessed it with my eyes closed. I looked up to see Tristan kneeling in front of me.
It was him, but… not. There were no remnants of the markings on his face. No black ink on his neck, nor on what I could see of his chest. His eyes… They were as blue as I recalled, but the color was flat—lacking any sign of their usual glow.
“Always so clumsy,” he chuckled teasingly, bringing my hand to his mouth and wrapping his lips around my finger. He licked away the small drop of blood and smiled at me. “There. Let me worry about cleaning this up, alright?”
I stared in confusion as he began picking up the shards, and watched Harley walk around the table, stopping at my mother. “It smells delicious, Hun.” He leaned down, capturing her with a kiss, and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Discreetly, I noticed him lower one of his hands toward the biscuits, and as he got within mere inches of one, my mother pulled away and slapped his chest.
“Harley!” she yelled at him, but he only laughed in response, trying to pull her in for a kiss. “Gods… You and your daughter.”
“You and your daughter.”
Before I knew it, my eyes were stinging, and I turned my face away to wipe the tears before anyone could see them.
I couldn’t speak during dinner.
I just watched and observed as everyone spoke like they had known each other their entire lives. Tristan and Harley behaved as if they were best buds, making inside jokes that neither I, nor my mom, understood.
As my parents began clearing the table, I finally gathered enough courage to turn to Tristan. “What’s happening?” I asked him in a quiet whisper.
“What do you mean?” He pulled my hand into his, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of my palm causally, like it was something out of habit.
“Where are we? Where is Kaiden? Dez?”
His brows pulled together in a tight stitch. “LordKaiden and Dez?” he asked, clearly confused. “Probably at their castles… Why would they be here?”
“What do you mean why—” I stopped myself, sinking into my seat as I tried to understand what exactly was unfolding. Then, I faced him again. "Malakai?”
Tristan lifted his wine glass to his lips, taking a sip before responding. “Who’s that?”
So, Iamdreaming.
There was no world in which Tristan and Malakai wouldn’t be a pair. Which meant that all of this was… fake. But if Iwasdreaming, why wasn’teveryonehere? My heart squeezed a little as I thought of them. What were they doing? Would Dez be okay? I could still hear the echo of his scream…
Tristan turned in his seat and brought my face to his. “Morrigan,” he said softly. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but you can talk to me, okay? You look like something is troubling you. You’ve been quiet all night. It’s not like you. Tell me what’s wrong.”
The sound of singing paused our conversation, and both my mother and father approached us with a cake in their hand. They sang to Tristan as they set it down, and he beamed at them with the brightest smile I had ever seen on his face.
What began as sweet, cathartic closure, quickly became overwhelming as the guys’ faces all flashed before my eyes.I don’t want to be here without them,I thought to myself. And the more seconds that passed, the deeper the pit of loneliness seemed to burrow its way into my heart.
Once Tristan blew out his candle, I suddenly couldn’t handle it anymore. I could barely even breathe. I stood abruptly from my chair, and all eyes shot in my direction.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I… I need to take a walk.”
I heard my name being called behind me, but I stormed away from the house and rushed toward the first path I could find. When I was far enough away from everyone, I looked up at the sky, at the sun that had begun to set. “What is this?!” I yelled to the shadows that Iknewwere listening. “Why are you showing me this?!”
The further I walked, the more I lost myself. Darkness made its approach as the light of the sun disappeared, and I heard the faint sound of my name being called over the wind.
“Tell me what you want!” I yelled at the sky again, which had slowly turned into a splattered painting of stars, as purple and orange hues streaked across the night sky.
I backed up further, still staring at the flickering lights leering back at me, when my heel slid into an empty pocket on the ground. My arms went up, and my body fell back, splashing as I hit the water.
Chapter 49
