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I nodded. “Piers has more emotions than he wants to admit. He knows there’s only so much he can do to helpGilbert through this—and now Gilbert has you. It used to always be Piers and Gilbert, and that’s not the case anymore.” I shrugged. Somehow, I’d come to be fond of the more flamboyant twin, even if he ground my gears sometimes.
Abi hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah,” she said. “You’re right. Piers suddenly becoming thoughtful would weird anyone out.”
We laughed as we arrived at the Thalassa camp. The tension Piers had mentioned to Fenris was obvious right away. It felt like the entire coven was on a knife’s edge, though I couldn’t quite put my finger onwhy. Several witches were mingling, but fell quiet as we approached, watching us cautiously.
Abi was surely about to make some comment when I spied a familiar face. “Morgan!” I greeted the witch, pleased to see our friend in much better shape. “I’m so happy to see you.”
Though she smiled, her joy looked forced as she hurried over. “I’m happy to see you. Um, do you mind if we talk privately?”
“Of course!” I said, allowing her to steer us away to a quiet area of the woods, several yards away from the furthest blue tent.
After looking around three or four times, Morgan leaned in and whispered. “We can’t be overheard,” she said, biting her lip. The witch was usually a bit shy, yet I’d never seen her this antsy before. “So if you see anything, stop talking, okay?”
I nodded, and Abi flashed her a thumbs up.
Morgan took a deep breath before continuing. “I’ve been stuck in the Thalassa camp with my father keeping an eye overme. Seeing me like that really freaked him out, you know?” She shook her head. “I’ve been unable to leave and go find Cody, but I really need to speak to him.”
Abi frowned. “Why can’t you go talk to him?”
The witch sighed. “I was so afraid Cody and my dad were going to get in a fight before he stepped aside. I know Cody was just coming down off the fight, with all that adrenaline, but my father wasextremelytesty about it.” She paused for a moment and bit her lip. When she continued, her voice was even softer. “He must have thought I was unconscious when my dad was healing me, before we got here…he told my dad he was my fated mate.”
Abi and I sucked in sharp breaths. I’d warned Cody not to take it too fast, and for Morgan to hear it from Cody likethatinstead of him telling her directly?Oh, Cody…
I pressed my lips together. “Are you okay?” I asked after a moment. I couldn’t imagine how freaked out I’d have been to accidentally overhear Fenris telling Walter that.
“I…a lot of things about the way I feel made more sense,” Morgan said after a moment. “I’m…excited? Is that weird?”
“That’s not weird,” I assured her. “It’s also not weird to feel scared or unsure. I felt alotof different things about Fenris for some time.”
“Sometimes, you still do,” Abi remarked.
I rolled my eyes, but Morgan exhaled, looking slightly relieved. “I still want to talk to Cody about it,” she said, “but, uh, my dad did not take that announcement well. At all.” She sighed. “Cody’s lucky I was hurt, or my dad really might have blown his top. My dad was more focused on helping me than anything else, thank goodness.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Cody hasn’t been back since, though.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears as she looked between me and Abi, and she sniffled. I felt a pang in my chest and steppedcloser, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing. “It will work out,” I promised. “Everyone is tense with the eclipse, and I’m sure that’s bubbling over into everything else. Besides, your dad just saw his daughter hurt on the ground. He wasn’t in the best frame of mind.”
Morgan nodded and sniffled again as I stepped back. Abi offered her a warm smile. “We’ll kick the Solar Sovereign’s ass at the eclipse, everything will settle back down to normal, and we’ll make a game plan,” Abi said. “Cody is, like, aggravatingly charming, so I’m sure with time, your dad will come to see that, if that’s what you want.” She gave me a look, and I nodded. “In the meantime, we can go check on him and see if we can’t find a place the two of you can talk in private.”
“That would be really nice,” Morgan said. Though her smile was watery, this time, it was earnest.
“Speaking of tension…” I sighed. “There are rumors that the covens are getting really, um, short with each other. Have you noticed any of that?”
“Yes,” Morgan said with a grimace. “There are only a handful of Aurora witches in the encampment, and they haven’t exactly been friendly. And they’re gossip hounds.”
“Do tell,” Abi urged.
Morgan glanced around before continuing. “I’ve seen one of them in particular keep walking into our camp, and I swear every time she leaves, three of the Thalassa witches start railing about how the Vitalis coven is undermining their authority. Which makes no sense! But some of the oldest members of my coven are starting to listen to them, which, in turn, makes everyone else suspicious. Given there was an actual shouting match in the middle of camp yesterday with some Vitalis witch, I’d bet money that she’s also talking shit about us with some members of that coven.”
Oh, great.“Can we head back to camp, and you can point out the upset individuals to me?” I asked.
Morgan gave me an incredulous look. “Are you sure you want to play mediator right now?”
“I don’t see a good way around it,” I said.
She shrugged and nodded, leading us back to the heart of the Thalassa camp. As we returned, several witches were watching us openly. Before Morgan could point out the more restless individuals, two young women walked up to us.
“It’s true,” the first one whispered to me, her blue eyes shining like the sea. “You have the crescent birthmark!”
I blinked, reaching up to touch my neck. I often forgot the mark was there, and much more visible when I pulled my hair up in a ponytail.
