“Iwill break if you die, Morrigan!” Dez cried out, the rims of his eyes beginning to flush a deep shade of red. “Morrigan, when Cain took you, I—” his voice cracked with heavy emotion, and I lowered back into my chair. “I thought I was going mad. I can’t… I can’t lose you, Morrigan. I love you.”
Hearing those words from him warmed my heart in an almost painful way. The truth was Icoulddie. It was a verysmallpossibility, but a chance I would be taking, nonetheless. But if I didn’t do this,neitherTristan nor I would survive.
“If Idon’tdo this, I’ll die anyway, Dez. I have to do it. It will be fine,” I swore to him, though the potential lie in my words tasted bitter as they left my lips.
“Is he forcing you to do this, Morrigan?” Cassius asked nervously as he looked between me and Tristan.
“I have never forced her to do anything,little lord. With me, she has always had a choice,” Tristan sneered back at him.
“No one is forcing my hand. This ismydecision. And after the soul bond is complete, we will bring Tristan back with us. He never belonged here. He’s been trapped, and it’s time for him to come home.”
A sense of unease seemed to trickle throughout the room.
Several beats of silence passed before Naaz spoke up. “This is going to change everything, Morrigan,” he whispered. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
“I think a change is exactly what Andonia needs. No more secrets. No more lies.” I lifted my head in confidence. “They deserve the truth.”
Kaiden stormed out of the dining hall, slamming the doors behind him with a loud bang that reverberated throughout the room, but everyone else remained in their seats. They seemed to mull over the idea of it all, and while I could sense their trepidation, none of them appeared inherentlyagainstthe idea.
“Princess,” Dez whispered beside me. “I don’t like this.”
I leaned toward him, bringing my lips close enough to brush against his. “I’ll be okay, Dez. I promise.” I kissed him gently, not caring who was in the room.
And as he returned it, I silently prayed to every star in the sky for that to be the truth.
We all needed a good night’s rest before the ritual, and I had a lot to think about.
Regardless of the outcome of the soul bond, this would be the last time I saw my mother. I wanted her to find peace, and with the power that Tristan and I shared, we thought it might be possible to help her do just that. I discussed it with Tristan first, then with my mother, and though she was hesitant, she reluctantly agreed, and I needed it done as soon as possible.
Ifthings were to go wrong, I couldn’t let her see it. She’d never be able to move on from that. So, we decided to do itbeforethe ritual
Tristan had given each of the guys their own room, and I took the time to feed Cass, Eris, and Naaz just enough to return their strength. If somethingdidhappen, I wanted them to be safe enough until they returned home.
When I finally made it back to my room, Kaiden waited for me at the edge of my bed. His eyes were on the floor, and his fingers gripped the end of the mattress so hard I thought the fabric would tear.
“I should have told you,” he whispered. “I can’t take that back.” When he looked up at me, all of the anger he had been wearing all day melted into a sadness I had never seen in his eyes before. “But you have to believe me, little dove. I meant what I said that day. I. Choose. You.”
“How can you be so sure of that?” I asked, staying in place, almost afraid to move. I was afraid that if I approached him, I would choose to ignore all of the alarms ringing in my head just to touch him again—to tell him the real reason the truth hurt me so badly.
When he stood from the bed, my heart fluttered rapidly in my chest. “I will always love Mara; I can’t help that. She was the first person I truly opened myself up to, and she will always have a small piece of me because of that. But, Morrigan…” He approached me until we stood only a few feet away. “You brought me back to life. You gave me a reason to live again, and I don’t want to lose that. You own every breath that I breathe, and are all I see when I close my eyes. Ineedyou.”
“And what if I needmore?” I didn’t expect my voice to sound so… small… so fragile. “Dez… Cassius—even if I want to strangle him sometimes. Even Eris and Naaz. We are all tied together for a reason. I can’t stop what I feel, and, eventually, Iwillforgive them for what they’ve done.”
“I can—” Kaiden sucked in a long breath, steadying himself. “I can accept that. I can learn to…share, in some capacity. It may take me longer with some of them, but Dez and I have come together since you’ve been gone. I can do it foryou.”
“And Tristan?”
His lips pulled back in an almost sneer. “He’s my brother, Morrigan. You can’t expect me to?—”
“I love you,” I blurted out. My words silenced him, and his lips parted as he gazed at me with wide eyes. In just a few steps, he was mere inches from me, and I placed both of my hands on his chest to prevent him from closing the distance. “But Tristanalsohas a piece ofme. We’re two halves of the same soul. And I… I don’t want to give that up.”
His expression grew colder as he looked down at me. “And if that’s where I draw the line?”
A single tear slipped down my cheek, but I bit back the rest of them. “I’m sorry.”
Without another word, Kaiden moved around me and walked toward the door. He left in silence, and my entire body stiffened even as I felt everything inside of me beginning to crumble.
Tomorrow, I would complete the soul bond with Tristan.But in order to do that, I might have to loseeverythingin the process.A soul for a soul.
