“You’re insane, Malakai. Like, truly insane.” I stepped toward him, throwing the sword onto the grass at his side. “I’m done for today.”
As I turned on my heel, I could hear Malakai shuffling around. “Oh, come on, princess!” he called.
Then, as if the gods truly hated me, Tristan appeared from the patio and stared at the two of us in confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Nothing!” I stormed past him to make my way toward the stairs.
“Come back!” Malakai yelled. “Seriously?! Is this about the dreams?!”
I immediately stopped moving. “Excuse me?”
“Malakai, stop fucking speaking,” Tristan snapped.
With a quick turn, I stared at the two of them and felt my heart pounding in my chest. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Nothing,” Tristan answered. “Go get some rest. We can work on your fire in a little if you’d like?—”
“Stop dancing around the problem, Tristan.” Malakai poked him in his chest. “If you two would just be honest with each other, maybe I could have an actual sparring partner for once.”
“Honest about what?” I seethed. My palms were heated now, and my face burned with anger. “What fucking dreams?!”
Tristan bit his lip and placed a hand on his hip as he stared at Malakai like he wanted to rip his head off. Then, he turned his face toward me but kept his eyes on the ground. “You have to understand, Morrigan… It’s not something that we can control yet. I can’t always control it?—”
“Control what, Tristan?” I was marching toward him now, and I didn’t need to look down to know that my hand was engulfed with fire.
“I didn’t like it just as much as you didn’t?—”
“Liar,”Malakai snickered.
“Just spit it out, Tristan!”
“Youknowwhat dreams!” This time, he raised his voice, and his eyes met mine with an intensity that made me stop breathing. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, and I didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t have been talking aboutthosedreams. If he was…
“I’m going to go,” Malakai mumbled, stepping around us and disappearing behind me.
Then, against my own control, I felt my eyes stinging with shameful tears. The embarrassment extinguished the fire in my palms, and Tristan immediately reached for me, but I stepped back. “No, don’t be like this, Morrigan,” he pleaded. “You couldn’t control?—”
“Why?!” I yelled. “Why is this happening to me?! I don’t understand!” I smacked my hands over my face to hide myself. He had seen… He saw itall.
“Morrigan… it… They weren’t justyourdreams.” He pulled my hands from my face and placed his finger beneath my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “That first night, that dream was mine. I don’t know how, but you stumbled into it and… you weren’t supposed to…Fuck.”
He let go and turned around, running his hands through his hair.
“Tristan,” I said quietly. “Please. You have to tell me what’s going on. I’m going insane. I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore, and I’ve been furious with myself over it.”
When he turned around, his eyes were sad and hesitant. He looked almost as torn as I was. “There’s something I need to tell you, but I’m scared that, if I do, you’ll think I’m no different than your lords, and you’ll choose to leave.”
“I deserve the truth.”
He stared at me for a while, studying my face as he tried to come to a decision. But ultimately, he nodded. “Come with me first. There’s something I want to show you when I tell you.”
“Why can’t you just tellme?—”
“Morrigan,” he stopped me, “please. I will tell you everything I know if you just… humor me for a moment longer.”
My shoulders deflated in defeat, and I agreed, following him away. He led me through the trees, distancing ourselves from the castle, until we reached a hill with a little cave inside. Over it, hung the same black moss that Azrael and I hid behind.
“I designed these caves,” he said, pushing the moss to the side. “Only I can see them. I have a couple hidden everywhere from when I was a child. Whenever we would try to find a way for me to leave this place, we needed somewhere to stay—somewhere we would be safe. So, I designed little caves that would only reveal themselves tome. They’re warded with my magic.”
