Chapter 15
MORRIGAN
This was all so much to take in.
I stared at the black markings on his face, following them like thin threads sewn into his skin—a constant reminder of his father’s malevolent will. I understood it, then… the mask. It was no different than how I spent every day hiding my own scars. I finally made my way back to his eyes and saw them studying me, waiting for a reaction.
Alone… He’s been alone this whole time…
“What now?” I asked.
After a deep inhale, he dropped his hand from my face. “If it’s what you want, I will take you back to the bridge. I’ll make sure both you and Azrael cross safely, and you canleave all of this behind.”
My heart sped up, knowing freedom was only one word away. But it was the tether between us that seemed to slow down the excitement, and snuck in a seed of hesitancy. “Or?”
His fingers lightly grazed mine before he straightened his spine. “You can stay. Even… if just for a little while,” he added quickly. “Time works differently here. One day for them could be a week for us, amonth. Give me some time. We can figure out why it is that we have this connection. And… in the meantime, I can help get your fire under control. Show you how to defend yourself, so that if you—whenyou go back,” he swallowed after stumbling over his words, “no one can ever hurt you again.”
Naturally, my first answer should have been to go back home. Lyra and Eowyn were probably worried sick about me. The guys… They probably didn’t even know where I had been taken to.Kaiden.
But then I thought of Azrael. What would happen to him once we returned? Would the guys truly subject an innocentchildto an execution? Would they be willing to go against the law of the priests and priestesses just to protect him?
I felt a slight shudder when the answer that came to mind was “no.” If theywerewilling to do such a thing, they never would have allowed my mother to be slaughtered right before my eyes. And my mother washere. Right here.
What’s a few days, right? Perhaps I can stay and get just a little more time with her. Azrael will be safe. I can learn to use my fire.
“What if I choose to stay, but change my mind after?” I asked.
“The second you want to leave, Morrigan, I will show you the way out. I will not be another cage for you.”
Pressing my lips together, I considered it for a moment longer, then nodded. “I’ll stay,” I decided. “Just for a little while. Enough time to get these flames under control, and for us to figure out whatever,” I moved my fingers between the two of us, “thisis.”
A ghost of a smile pulled at his lips. “Just a little while,” he agreed.
Rest first, he had told me.
He insisted that I allow my body at least a few days of recovery before even attempting to train with my fire. With whatever power inside of me, he assumed it would speed up my recovery time— that and the amount of blood I had taken from Cain before I escaped. But I didn’t have time for rest.
I was in a new world filled with monsters at every turn, and I no longer had only myself to look out for. If anything happened to Azrael, I would never be able to forgive myself. How could I possiblyrest?
Azrael’s laughter made me blink back to reality as I realized that I had been staring at my mother sitting beside him. She whispered something to him that pulled a sweet giggle from his lips, causing a smile to tease at my own. I thanked the stars that I had her again. Ialreadydidn’t know what I was doing, but her? She was a natural.
For the past few days, she made sure to wake with him, taking him to breakfast while I slept. Each meal, I could eat a little more. Each day, I walked a little stronger. But it would take a lot longer to regain the darker parts of what I had lost.
What he took from me.
All the food and rest in the world wouldn’t fill the hollowness that dug its way into my core. The dreams filled with memories of how the iron bars of my cage felt pressed against my limbs as I tried to sleep. Even though the scars on my shoulders had faded into almost invisible white lines… they itched almost daily.
They would never be truly gone.
The scars that both Cain and Aamon left were too deep.
My food soured a little in my stomach at the thought of both of them. I still had no way of knowing if my father was okay.
“Are you alright?” Tristan asked across from me.
I turned to see him searching my face, like he was looking for any visible cues into my mind. Not that he needed it. He could easily read it if he really wanted to.
He did promise me that he wouldn’t,I reminded myself.
