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Because I grew distracted, I didn’t see when she swung her tail at me, sending me flying across the room to hit the far wall with my back. An unladylike sound left my lips right before I began wheezing for new breaths. Trying to stand up properly, Morrigan was already heading my way. Behind her, I could see my men filing in the room as they took in what was happening.
In a bellowing growl, Morrigan’s whole stomach began to glow as she geared up to spew her toxic magic at me through her mouth in a fiery way. Being cornered, I didn’t see a way to maneuver out of this and neither did the men at the door. Alasdair removed his bow and arrow from his back and shot directly at Morrigan’s head. We all saw how far the arrow pierced her scaly flesh, but all it did was seem to annoy her. Cian took a page from Alasdair’s book and readied his sword before flinging it forward to pierce Morrigan’s side. There was no denying that the blade had entered her fully because the handle was the only thing left showing. Though, Morrigan had become too powerful in ways we hadn’t been prepared for as her body began pushing out the weapons, healing herself in the process.
“You dare to think you can take my life?” her haunting voice echoed differently around the room because she was in her dragon form. Then she saw who it was the blade belonged to. Calculating as though she thought it was cute, Morrigan shifted back into her human body. She changed outfits to look more enticing to the men standing in black lingerie made of lace. Her black hair hung down to the rump of her butt, sitting perfectly straight in ways that were unnatural.
Pride flashed through me when I saw they didn’t react to her body being on display. She was equally as stunning as she was evil, so their respect for me settled more unease in my chest. They made my heart soar to new heights, remembering when Philip proved his love for me as well.
Morrigan used her power to pull Cian toward her. He tried fighting her magic by grabbing Bain’s hand, but it was futile to fight it. As the dark prince stood before her, she used her tendrils of darkness to swirl around him like rope to keep him from being able to move. Her hand traced around him as she walked in a slowly calculated circle to take him in, but his eyes never left mine as she did it.
“The dark prince,” she purred at the sight of him, knowing their magic was kindred in ways I hoped he could refrain from. “My, the stories don’t do you justice.”
“Oh?” Cian played along to see where she was going with this as he finally took her in. He let his eyes slowly drag up and down her body as though he was interested in her. He was giving us time to make a plan. “And what have these stories told you?”
“That you would be the only lover worthy of my touch,” she answered him before pressing her breasts into his side. “Are you, dark prince?”
“And what intrigues you about me?” He didn’t answer her question, demanding his own.
Morrigan liked that about him, sensing it came from his need to control and command. I could see her eyes swirling already as they formed with lust. All the other men had been slowly moving around the room for a better vantage point. When we were ready, we’d signal Cian to attack. I let my feet carry me to where Cullen hid behind a floral sofa.
Once I landed beside him, we could hear Morrigan going on about how she loved Cian’s ways of turning his back to the rest of us. She had no idea about the truth of the dark prince because it was only our group that he shared it with. Cullen tapped my shoulder to gain my attention away from them.
“Our weapons did nothing against her, Briar. I’m not sure what we can do besides run out of here and try not to get killed.” The defeat of this moment was written all over his face in a way that made him feel like he failed the rest of us. We still had a lot of tension between us from what had happened at the winter castle, but I would never let my mate feel like he failed me when he tried his best.
“Philip died trying to save me, Cullen.” Giving his hand a squeeze, I let him see my watery stare about how that hurt me. “A man gave his life to secure mine, but I was unable to return the favor.”
“Why are you bringing that up right now?” I could see the wheels turning behind his stare as though he thought I meant he needed to sacrifice himself for me, so I shook my head to the answer he was concluding to.
“He believed in something, and I know that came from his mother. If there’s one person I know I can believe in, it’s Áine. She must have said something to you when you visited her,” I reminded him of their expedition before retrieving me.
“She just said that you were a champion, and that the blade would be your weapon. She then gave me clues to the book on how to unlock our primal forms. She didn’t tell me how we defeated the monster, and I don’t think she realized how unkillable Morrigan has become.”
His last words made me ponder it, thinking back to what the blade had done. Removing the dagger from my hip, I let it sit on my lap to not let the light giveaway our position. This torpid dagger was the very reason we had hope for the animals and Faerie. If the magic was restored and the land could rejuvenate, then they might turn whole again. But what if that wasn’t at all what this blade was for?
“Or maybe she did,” I quipped back to him.
“What do you mean?” He turned more to see me touching my blade that was forged from the powers of the goddess.
“My dagger places people or creatures in a similar curse I suffered, forever stuck in rest. What if Áine didn’t give me this dagger to kill Morrigan with because she knew Morrigan couldn’t be killed.”
My thoughts dawned on him faster than I had planned as a light bulb went off behind his eyes. “The dagger can put her in a forever rest.”
Nodding my head, I touched all the individual jewels that represented the princes. “Morrigan has to actively stimulate her powers in order to draw from your core. If she is in a forever slumber, she cannot pull the magic anymore.”
“Nor could she keep what she has taken,” he murmured. “We’re gonna have to cover you in order for you to get close enough to pierce her with that dagger. I don’t think a nick to the leg will do it with how charged she is from our core.”
“Then we better get on with it,” I replied right before placing a chaste kiss to his lips. He was surprised by me doing so, but I could also see the relief in his stare that I was letting us grow from where we had been. We weren’t just a team for fighting, so I was telling him I was excited for what was to come. “The faster we do this, the faster you can properly court me.”
A future I was finally piecing together, one where vengeance no longer consumed my very being. “Thank you, Briar. I’d be honored to have your hand properly after this.”
With nothing less to discuss between us, Cullen lifted his head over the back of the couch to see Morrigan still trying to sway Cian. Never dropping his bitterness and rage toward the woman who gave him a nasty scar, Cian’s eyes finally met mine. Giving him a curt nod, he knew he could drop the act with the vile queen next to him.
“You know what?” Cian clicked his tongue. “I’m good. I already have a mate that my darkness craves.”
Hearing him say that was eye opening once again. He alluded to that fact when he came into the bedroom after the night we mated, but now he announced it. He announced he wanted me in return.
Morrigan wasn’t happy with that answer as she hissed in his face. “You only crave her because you couldn’t have her a hundred years ago. You only lust for her because your brother got her first.”
“I’d rather be with the woman who my brother loved than the one who slayed him.” This time, he didn’t quiet the rumbling within his chest as he growled at her.
