No, Kaiden doesn’t hate me.
Overcome with sudden dizziness, I tried pulling back a little to deny her accusation, but she held me firm.
“Poor, poor child… Your own mother died trying to protect you. How do you live with that?”
I swallowed the guilt that was suddenly crushing my chest.
“Princess?” that voice said again, but it felt so far. Something was tugging at my hand, too, pulling against numb fingers I could no longer move.
“How could you forgive him, Morrigan? He sat there and watched that priestess murder your mother. He did nothing to stop her.”
A deep part of my heart twinged in rebellion.No. Hehelpedme. He carried me away. He…
“No more burdens, Morrigan.”Shae’s voice was no longer her own. It was agrowl, deep and terrifying.
“Princess!” It was Azrael.
My eyes snapped open, my brain clearing the hazy fog that blinded it. It was like I had left briefly, and had only just returned to this world. When I tried pulling away, I couldn’t move an inch. Not even my head would turn.Straining my eyes, I looked as far as I could to where I laid on Shae’s shoulder, before realizing my skin had been… glued to it. Like she was…absorbingme.
“Shae,” I whispered, my voice trembling with fear.
“Princess! We have to go!” Azrael pleaded, yanking my arm as hard as he could. “M-More! There’s m-more!”
That’s when I heard a strangled snarling sound from around us. “Shae,” I tried pulling free again, “let me go.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I… I have to…”
As Azrael tugged at my hand, trying to pull me away, I searched for the small flame that hid inside of me. It had been gone for so long… But after drinking Cain’s blood, it had added just enough fuel to light the fire deep in my chest.
“Shae,” I begged. “Please!”
She wouldn’t budge. I was sinking deeper and deeper. And I knew, if I didn’t stop this, Azrael would die as well.
And, at that moment, that little boy was the only thing I cared about. Iwouldkeep him safe, even if it fucking killed me.
“Princess!”
The sound of his cry made the heat in my arms a blazing fire, and I could feel the energy buzzing as my hand reached up to Shae’s face. “Forgive me,” I begged her, and let out a guttural scream as I pressed my palm into her skin and released my fury.
Within seconds, her entire body lit in flames, and Azrael cried out as he grabbed onto my waist. Black veins covered my skin where I had been stuck to her now-burning body, and I had to shove down the guilt as she fell to theground.
I’m sorry, Shae,I cried to myself as I picked Azrael up and held him tight against my chest.I’m so sorry.
“We have to go! There’s more! They’re coming!” he panted.
It was hard to focus on anything but Shae’s screeching as she convulsed on the ground, the fire consuming her body. Her lips began to move, trying to speak, but it came out in silent stutters.
With one final scream, I could make out the word clear as day. “Run!” Then, her body went limp.
The snarls around us grew louder, closing in on the clearing. I knew better by now. There was no time for sorrow or grief, not when Azrael’s life depended on it. I turned on my heel, andran.
We raced through the woods, trying to distance ourselves from thosecreatures. It all felt like a big loop—a never-ending pattern of trees, clearings, trees, clearings—and the snarls never got any quieter. I didn’t know how many there were. I didn’t know how close they could be. All I could think was to protect Azrael.
We could have been running for minutes or hours, and I wouldn’t have known. I didn’t stop until my feet touched stone, and I slid to a halt just before the edge of a cliff.
“What do we do?” Azrael asked me, clinging to my shoulders.
I spared a glance over the edge, and all I could see was black smoke—almost like a fire burned beneath it, releasing the ash into the air that fell like snow. “I don’t…” I breathed heavily. “I don’t know.”
