Just when I thought my headache couldn’t get any worse, another pair of footsteps entered through the bedroom doors. I rolled my eyes before he even had the chance to speak.
“I heard a bang.” Kaiden’s black eyes met mine as I approached my wardrobe. “Is everything alright?”
“I’m fi?—”
“Dez won’t feed again,” Lyra sopolitelyinterjected, like a child tattling to a damned parent.
“I can’t feed,” I reminded her with a glare, and lifted my drenched shirt over my head as I searched for a new one.
“You’re just scared of a little tummy ache.” She raised her voice to a condescending, childish pitch. “Do you want me to spoon feed it to you?”
“Shut up,” I growled.
“No. You need to stop pouting. We areallaffected by this, and you’re in here acting like a?—”
“I am notpouting! I amweak! I amin constant pain and I?—”
“Yes. Weak.”
I turned then, facing the cold, brown eyes that had once swam in shimmering honey. Now? They were made of charred oak, littered with cracks that haunted me every time I looked at her.
“Perhaps you should starve, Dez. Maybe then you’ll finally feel whatIdo, knowing you were the one to take me away from Morrigan that day?—”
“Lyra!” Kaiden snapped from the doorway.
There it is,I thought to myself.
“Eowyn is in the gardens,” he said to her in a commanding tone.
With a huff of anger, Lyra turned on her heel and left the room, murmuring something to herself in an indecent tone. I wished more than anything that I could blame her for her outburst, but, in truth, she was right. All of this—Cain taking Morrigan, the deaths that occurred that night—wasmyfault. I didn’t have nearly as much talent with my fire wielding as Lyra did, and that is why I had asked her to assist me in training the new recruits. But if I hadn’t…
“Dez,” Kaiden said quietly, making me blink away the fuzzy thoughts that my delirious mind continued to send me.
“I’m fine.” I quickly yanked a new shirt over my chest and tried to muster the courage to leave the room. “I have to shadow back to meet with my advisor to make sure things are running smoothly… sincesomeonedecided that I needed to behereinstead.”
As I took a step toward him to leave, I fumbled over my own foot and almost tripped in the process. Luckily, Kaiden moved faster. His arm shot out, catching me before my face could hit the floor, and he escorted me to a nearby chair.
With a loud sigh filled with frustration—and a tiny pinch of annoyance—Kaiden sat across from me. He flicked his hand, lighting the logs within the hearth, and quickly filled the room with the heat of the fire. I didn’t want toadmit just how good that warmth felt against the trembling ache that made my bones feel far too cold.
“I have something that might help.” He pulled a small pouch from his pocket, no bigger than the length of my finger. “I don’t know if it will work, but…” He stood, retrieving a chalice from the bedside table that hadn’t been there before.
“What is it?” I asked.
Sitting back down, he set the chalice down in front of us, and I leaned forward, examining the cup. It seemed to be filled with… blood. The scent of it touched my nose, sending a rolling cramp through my stomach. Hunger… That was all I felt anymore. Every fiber of my being wanted to snatch the chalice and drain its contents, but I knew what would follow shortly after. The blood lust twisted into nausea, and I leaned back against the cushion in defeat.
“You know that won’t work,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, well, we didn’t havethisbefore.” He pulled the string, opening the pouch before tipping it over the chalice, and poured out some kind of powder. I couldn’t quite decipher what it was, but it appeared to be a red substance.
“What… What is that?” I asked him just as the scent of it made its way to me.Morrigan. My body instantly perked up, like it couldfeelher as well. “Morrigan,” I breathed, trying to pull myself to stand. She… she was here… I had to?—
“It’s her blood,” Kaiden said, making me freeze. “When Morrigan was born, the priests and priestesses were…wary. They wanted to be sure—without a single doubt—that she was the chosen one. So, they took a tiny vial of her blood and poured it onto the scroll.”
I lowered myself slowly, eyes fixated on the chalice that smelled of everything perfect in a world built in darkness. That was her. Not in the literal sense, but… that washerblood.My Morrigan.
“Slowly, her blood formed a line between each symbol of the gods. Eventually, it created a seven-pointed star.” He let out a gruff laugh. “I guess that was proof enough.” After swirling the crimson a few times, he handed the chalice to me. “I don’t know if it will work, but hopefully it will be enough until we find her.”
I lifted my eyes to his, a small seed of doubt threatening to grow.
