“Now, feel the flame leave your fingers, but don’t let it go. Hold onto it. The fire does not controlyou, Morrigan. Youarethe fire. Feel it slide against your palms. Feel the flames licking your skin.”
The tingling increased until I felt the slight relief of heat release from my hands. My entire wrist suddenly felt warm as something moved along my fingers, circling my palms and beginning to crawl up my arms.
“Open your eyes,” he whispered to me.
When I did, a bright light shone from where our hands connected. Flames were dancing around us both, flicking and circling our arms like it was tying us together.
“You know,” he said quietly, staring down at the same thing I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes away from. “In some of my mother’s books, she would refer to our power aslight.” A sharp spark of energy burst through me as his thumb brushed my skin. “I think I understand that now.”
Beautiful.
Tristan’s voice came through just as it had the other night during his episode. A faraway whisper that made me jump back, extinguishing the flames in my hands and releasing Tristan’s grip.
His eyes shot up to mine with concern. “Are you alright?” he asked, taking a step toward me.
His voice is normal now.
Did I… Did I just hear his thoughts?
“Morrigan,” Tristan said, closing the distance between us again and lifting his hand to my face. “Shit… You’re bleeding again.”
Sure enough, I wiped beneath my nose and found fresh blood dripping slowly. “I’m fine.”
…not normal… thought this would happen…
His words were coming in short, incoherent segments, causing my head to thud. Before he could say, or think, anything else, I turned on my heel and hurried back to the castle.
“Morrigan!” he yelled behind me, but I ignored him.
What the fuck is happening to me?!
Chapter 18
MORRIGAN
Azrael laughed from the balcony of my mother’s room as I sat with Tristan in the garden.
Instead of having him just enter my mind immediately, he decided to implement a “meditation time” to practice building my mental walls first. He insinuated that the more I understoodmyself, the more control I would have. So, we sat across from each other, quiet and calm, with our eyes closed. Well, withmyeyes closed.
I didn’t know how he expected me to actually focus when I could feel his eyes from a mile away. Even without being able to see him, I sensed him. First, my nose would get the slightest tingle. Then, the tiny hairs on the backof my neck would begin to rise. It was similar to the feeling I would get when he’d talk to me through my mind.
But today, I was able to distract myself with the sound of Azrael’s voice—the happiest I had ever heard it. I think it made my mother happy as well, being able to take care of a young child again. I didn’t know what I would have done without her this whole time. I had never taken care of anyone but myself, and now I was suddenly responsible for another person’s life. If anything happened to him…
“You’re not focusing,” Tristan drawled, chastising me.
I opened one eye to glare at him before shutting it again and straightening my back. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t help when you keepstaringat me.”
“Do you not like being looked at?” he asked, half of him seemingly curious, the other obviously teasing me.
“Not particularly.”
Do I make you nervous?
I jumped and opened my eyes from hearing his voice without him actuallyspeaking. “Tristan! You said you wouldn’t?—”
My words paused when I looked at him—lips parted wide in a smile. Seeing him laugh wasn’t what stopped me, but it was the boyish glint in his eyes that made him look so…. human. This man—who had been ripped from his family, his world, raised in a land filled with rot and death— was also just a boy.
“Tristan,” I said, tilting my head to the side as the thought formed. “If Rosina never came back, who took care of you? You were just a baby. Someone had to have?—”
