Page 151 of Black Sea

He ended the kiss abruptly and forcefully turned my head to lick my tear- and blood-streaked cheek, causing me to emit a hoarse cry of pleasure.

“Don’t stop,” I panted, wishing he would clean up all the blood on my skin and then shower me with his own.

Mornon suddenly inhaled, freezing. “You’ve made your choice, Elf.” He straightened up, towering over me to his impressive height. His fingers remained in my hair as he looked down at me with such coldness that it unsettled me. “Now watch me burn these lands and all their inhabitants until you give me what I want.”

Black flames erupted from the ground beneath his feet, swathing him.

The next moment, I was alone, transfixed by the fear of what was going to happen.

83

Mornon

Let’s go away.

I couldn’t shake those words from my mind as I stood still at the edge of the Forest of Witches in the Kingdom of Men. My distant gaze was on the fir trees, but through our mental connection, I was actually watching the elf assist the citizens in moving the bodies of the witches, elders, and their queen to the village. Meanwhile, her father and brother carefully gathered the fallen soldiers and the red-haired elf.

Let’s go somewhere where we can be happy.

Why couldn’t I stop thinking about what she told me? About her pleading gaze? About us on that damn island?

About the anguish I had felt for a damned second while kissing her?

Hearing her scream in that excruciating way, as that Witch Queen whore tried to snatch her from me, had ignited a kind of anger I had never felt before.

And it had given me a shock of fear.

Fear, for fuck’s sake.

An emotion unknown to me. An emotion that should not have affected me at all.

I had been afraid of not being able to break down the witch gods’ defensive barriers in time. Of losing Nauriel.

My Nauriel.

Mine, mine, mine.

I’d told her she wouldn’t drown in my darkness, but I was the one going under. I was drowning in Nauriel, in the transcendental bond we shared.

I had deceived her from the beginning, controlled her like a puppet. I had bled for her.

And yet I was the one who was falling.

I couldn’t let that happen, damn it. I couldn’t.

Did the elf really think she could find a way to kill me? That she could succeed where even her grandmother had failed? Very well. Then I would utterly ruin her, inside and out. I would reduce her to nothing but a shadow of herself, and ultimately, she would give up.

She would give me that damn Crystal.

She would embrace my vision.

She would choose me.

As the dawn’s first light illuminated the evergreen needles on the branches, I regained control of my emotions and let the black fire engulf me.

* * *

I reappeared outside Leukós’ walls and traversed the surrounding countryside that reached the port in the gulf to the west. These cultivated areas were still unaffected by the disease that I had spread to the plantations and pastures of the outer villages.