“She has Tristan’s light inside of her,” Malakai explained, and I could hear the coldness in his tone. I had just killed one of his only friends.
Why isn’t the guilt hitting me? Why am I not feeling any remorse?
“Why the fuck does she have Tristan’s?—”
“Morrigan,” Tristan said out loud. Though his voice was loud, it carried so much peace with it. “She’s gone. The threat is gone.”
I felt him move toward me, and my flames perked up—like they could no longer determine whom to trust.
But as I felt his power reach out to me once more, my conscience seemed to roll back in with it. “I—” I whispered, blood rushing to my head as I felt warm liquid sliding down my neck from my ears, “I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay,” Tristan answered. He stepped closer again, and, though my flames remained on guard, they didn’t hurt him. “Let me help you, Morrigan. Let me help you, just as you helped me.”
He tried moving again, but the light inside of me seemed to think that he was close enough. A burst of light erupted from my body, and I felt every inch of it as it exploded with energy that seemed to rake through my limbs. A sudden tearing sensation stretched along my skin.
“Morrigan!” Kaiden yelled, but the sound of his voice only seemed to further enrage the simmering heat in my chest.
“Would you shut the fuck up?!” Malakai yelled at him. “Let Tristan handle this before you get us all killed!”
Morrigan, please,Tristan begged.You’re hurting yourself. Just let me in.
I started losing feeling in my limbs. It began in my toes, tingling as it crept up my legs. Then, my fingers… my arms… “I don’t feel…” I mumbled through slurred words. “Tristan…” As his name left my lips, my knees buckled, and I fell to the floor. A hand caught my head, but I couldn’t tell who held me. As my light began to fade, my body started to jerk involuntarily. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. All Icoulddo was lay there as convulsions took over my body.
Blurry figures stepped into view and knelt down. “What’s happening to her?” It sounded like Kaiden.
“Morrigan,” Malakai whispered, trying to get my attention. “Tristan, help her! Can’t you do what she did earlier?!”
“I’mtrying, Mal!”
But as I felt the slight presence of Tristan’s light calling to mine, everything faded to black.
Chapter 39
MORRIGAN
Looking around, I searched for something to tie around the handles.
A leather belt had been conveniently lying beside my dresser. I used my foot to drag it toward the door before wrapping it tight enough to prevent him, or anyone else for that matter, from coming inside.
“Are you ready to listen, Morrigan?”heasked from somewhere behind me.
Turning slowly, I found himstanding at the center of my room, face covered with his mask. I nodded, pressing my back against the door vibrating from Eris’s pounding.
“Okay…” My voice shook with uncertainty. “I’ll listen.”
Moving his hands behind his back, he straightened his spine and took a couple of steps forward.“That diary of yours,”he said quietly, “do you know who wrote it?”
I swallowed nervously, remaining close to the door. “I have my suspicions.”
He chuckled as he looked down at his feet, continuing to move closer to me. “I think my mother would have liked you.”
My mouth instantly fell open.He couldn’t have meant… He couldn’t be…“You’re the baby…”
“I am.”
“Then… youarereal.” The realization felt like someone had knocked me in the head with a brick. The back of my eyes pulsed with a headache as I tried to wrap my brain around this. He was their son… He was a… agod. “I don’t understand. The gods all ascended together. Why are you here?Whereare you, and why do I keep seeing you…hearingyou?”
He laughed again, and I didn’t like the butterflies that awoke in my stomach at the sound of it. When he finally reached me, he lifted a finger to my hair and moved a stray curl back behind my ear. “I couldn’t ascend even if I wanted to.”
