Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Daniel woke to unfamiliar shadows and silk sheets. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was. Then it all crashed back. Caelen. The Barrier Keepers. The theater transforming around them.
How could he have gone to sleep after all that?
How long had he been out?
He sat up too quickly, head spinning. The space around him had changed. Where there had been an open corner of the transformed theater, dark walls now rose on all sides, closing him in. They looked almost like obsidian, but somehow less solid, as if shadows had crystallized into stone.
Daniel swallowed hard. Had he been kidnapped again?
No, he'd come willingly.
He wanted to be with Caelen.
If there was anything of Caelen left.
There had to be.
Daniel's chest tightened as he slid out of the massive four-poster bed.
A door had formed on one wall while he slept. Daniel approached it slowly, heart pounding. It would be locked, wouldn't it?
But the handle turned easily under his grip.
Daniel's breath caught in his throat at what he saw. The theater's transformation was complete. Where rows of seats had once stretched toward a silver screen, dark marble floors now gleamed beneath soaring columns of shadow-stone stretching into a starlit sky.
But what surprised Daniel most was the amount of people gathered in the hall.
They knelt in neat rows across the floor, their heads bowed in reverence. Daniel recognized the crisp blue uniforms of police officers scattered among the crowd. Behind them, professional camera equipment had been set up, news crews still manning their stations with the same glazed expression as everyone else.
On a dais at the far end of the chamber, where the movie screen had once hung, rose a throne that seemed to be made of living darkness. Shadows flowed and twisted across its frame. And there, lounging across it with casual grace, sat Caelen.
No. Not Caelen. Not entirely.
As Daniel watched, frozen in the doorway, Caelen—Morthul—lifted his hand. More shadows danced between his fingers, forming shapes that drew gasps of wonder from his audience. A woman near the front held up her phone as if livestreaming the event.
"You see?" Caelen's voice carried effortlessly through the chamber, familiar and foreign all at once. "Your world has forgotten what true power feels like. Let me remind you."
The shadows expanded, sweeping over the crowd. Where they touched, people shuddered in ecstasy, their eyes rolling back.
Daniel's stomach churned. He tried to step back, to retreat into his room, but Caelen's head snapped toward him. Their eyes met across the vast chamber, and everything else seemed to fall away.
A smile curved Caelen's lips. "Ah," he said, the single syllable somehow both warm and terrifying. "You're awake."
The crowd parted like a wave as Caelen stepped down from his throne, black eyes fixed on Daniel. "Come closer," he beckoned. "Let everyone see what I cherish most."
Daniel's feet remained frozen to the spot. A news camera swiveled toward him, its red recording light burning like an accusing eye. Behind it, the camerawoman stared with the same vacant worship as everyone else.
"I..." Daniel's throat constricted. He swallowed and tried again. "What have you done to these people?"
Caelen—Morthul—whoever he was now, descended the dais steps with languid grace. "I've given them purpose. Direction." His smile widened. "The same gift I'm offering you."
"This isn't a gift." Daniel gestured at the kneeling crowd. "They're not even conscious of what's happening."
"Aren't they?" Caelen stopped several feet away. "Watch."
He lifted his hand toward a young police officer in the front row. Shadows curled around the man's shoulders like a lover's caress. The officer's eyes cleared slightly, and he smiled up at Caelen with pure adoration.
"Tell Daniel how you feel, Harvey."
"I feel... complete," the officer said, his voice dreamy but coherent. "Like I finally understand what I was missing. The shadows show us truth."
Daniel's chest tightened. Where Caelen's green eyes had once sparked with hints of humanity, now there was only endless darkness. Like staring into the space between stars.
"You're controlling them."
"I'm freeing them." Caelen took another step closer. "Just as I'll free you from your doubts. Your hesitation." His expression softened. "Your fear of accepting what you truly want."
Daniel shook his head, taking a step back. "What I want? What I want is Caelen. The real Caelen." His voice grew stronger with each word. He raised an accusing finger at the creature before him. "What have you done with him, Morthul?"
A flicker of... something... passed across those black eyes. Irritation? Amusement? It was impossible to read expressions in those bottomless pools of darkness.
"Caelen chose me," he said, spreading his arms wide. "He chose this. He did not have the power to protect you. I do."
"I never wanted this." Daniel's hands clenched into fists. "He didn't either! You forced him. You've been manipulating him since he was a child. Since you corrupted his family and made him think you were his only choice."
"Such accusations." Caelen's voice took on a different timbre, deeper, older. "When I gave him everything. Power. Purpose." He cocked his head. "The ability to keep you safe."
"You didn't give him anything. You corrupted him so the prophecy couldn't be fulfilled."
Morthul huffed a laugh. "As if I could ever be threatened by a half-fae. The whole affair was preposterous."
"You will regret this."
"I will regret nothing." Morthul moved closer. "I control Caelen. I control you and everyone here, and control is the only true safety in any world. Caelen understands that now. Soon, you will too."
He reached for Daniel's face, but Daniel jerked away.
"I don't want your version of safety. I want him back."
"That's not possible." Morthul's voice held no emotion, contrasting with the excess of emotion Daniel felt. "Caelen is gone. Only his body remains."
"No!" The word burst from Daniel like a storm. His hands connected with Morthul's chest, shoving him back a step. "He's not gone! He can't be gone!"
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. Dozens of glazed eyes turned hostile, fixed on Daniel with the intensity of attack dogs watching an intruder. The police officers' hands twitched toward their holsters.
Morthul raised a hand at them, and the tension in the room eased like a puppet master loosening strings. "Now, now," he said, his black eyes never leaving Daniel's face. "Let's not make a scene in front of my followers." His lips curved in that familiar-yet-wrong smile. "I believe this conversation requires privacy."
Before Daniel could protest, shadows wrapped around his waist and pulled him backward, through the doorway he'd emerged from minutes ago. His feet stumbled over the threshold as Morthul followed, the door swinging shut behind them.
In the smaller space, with just the two of them, the air felt thick enough to choke on.
But Daniel refused to be intimidated. Morthul might be in control right now, but that didn't mean Caelen wasn't in there somewhere, fighting the dark god's influence even now. Daniel wouldn't abandon him to that struggle. Everything had gone wrong because of him, so he had to set things right.
He had to try, at least.
"Let me talk to Caelen," he demanded.
"You'll need to ask a different god if you want to talk to the dead."
"He's not dead. You're lying," Daniel said, backing away until his legs hit the edge of the bed. Fuck. This room was so damn small.
And Morthul was still following him, so Daniel could not put any distance between them. "It's only his body that's still alive, but even that is failing." Morthul gestured at himself, at Caelen's form. "Its original host is gone, and without you, it will deteriorate."
"No." Daniel shook his head violently.
Morthul continued as if Daniel hadn't spoken. "I need your energy to sustain it, little mate."
"I won't give you anything."
"So you would let Caelen die in truth?"
Daniel didn't know how to respond to that.
Morthul's lips twisted into a smile as if he enjoyed the indecision Daniel displayed, and then long fingers tangled in Daniel's hair, yanking his head back as Morthul's mouth crashed down on his. The kiss was brutal, possessive, stealing more than just breath.
Daniel struggled, his hands pushing against Morthul's chest. But the lips against his were achingly familiar. Caelen's lips, Caelen's touch. His body remembered this, wanted this, even as his mind screamed that it was wrong.
It's not him , Daniel reminded himself desperately. It's not Caelen .
With a surge of desperate anger, Daniel bit down hard on the lips claiming his. He tasted copper, but instead of retreating, Morthul growled . The sound vibrated through Daniel's chest. In one fluid motion, Morthul shoved him backward onto the silk sheets and followed him down, pinning Daniel beneath his weight.
Fuck, why did that feel good?
"You know you want this," Morthul murmured, looming over him. "You're in love with this shell."
Daniel hated that Morthul knew that, that he knew how to abuse that. He hated the way his pulse raced, the heat building under his skin. This wasn't what he wanted. But his treacherous body didn't seem to care that the creature wearing Caelen's face was a monster.
"Get off me," Daniel spat.
"No," Morthul said simply, one hand sliding possessively down Daniel's side. "Anything that's Caelen's is mine, including you."
His mouth claimed Daniel's again, brutal and demanding. Daniel tried to fight, to turn away, but Morthul's grip was too strong. Desperate, Daniel reached through that connection he'd always felt with Caelen, searching for any trace of him.
Caelen, please. I know you're in there somewhere. Please.
Nothing. Just that crushing darkness.
Caelen...
A knee shoved between his thighs, parting them, rubbing his groin.
Daniel reached harder.
Caelen, please.
Morthul's grip tightened painfully, and a tremor ran through his body. He jerked back with a harsh gasp, face contorting as if in pain.
"No," he snarled, but his voice sounded strange, like two voices fighting for control. "You can't!"
The darkness in Morthul's eyes rippled. Green bled into black, then black swallowed it again. Caelen's body shuddered violently.
"Daniel," he choked out, and for a moment those eyes were perfectly green, just as Daniel remembered them. "God, Daniel, I can't—" Black swirled back, then green again. "I can't hold him back for long."
"Caelen?" Daniel's heart thundered against his ribs. He was here! He was still alive! "Is it really you?"
"Yes." Caelen pressed their foreheads together, trembling with the effort of maintaining control. "I'm not dead, but I'm so weak. I need—" His voice broke. "I need your energy to keep fighting him. To get back to myself." He lowered his voice as if sharing a secret. "He thinks it'll make him stronger, but it'll make me stronger. You're my mate."
Hope flared in Daniel's chest. He'd known Caelen wasn't truly gone, couldn't be gone. "What do you need me to do?" he asked urgently.
"Kiss me."
Daniel didn't have to be told twice. He leaned up and captured Caelen's mouth with his own. This kiss was soft, sweet, so unlike what they'd been doing moments ago, and infinitely better. Because it was Caelen.
Caelen groaned against his mouth. "Yes. Give yourself to me." The hand that had grabbed his hair earlier loosened to cradle the back of his neck, drawing him closer.
Their bodies pressed together as they kissed, and Daniel felt Caelen's cock growing hard against him. His own erection strained against his jeans. God, he wanted this. Wanted Caelen. He'd thought he might never get this again.
Energy flowed freely through their connection, and Daniel let it.
Anything Caelen wanted, anything he needed, Daniel would give him.
"I'm so sorry," Caelen murmured against his lips. "For all of this, for dragging you into my nightmare."
Daniel shook his head, kissing his apology away. "You didn't do this." His hands slid under the shirt Caelen wore, stroking the warm skin there. It was such a relief to feel his heartbeat, his warmth. "I'll help you through this."
Caelen made a low noise in his throat as Daniel pushed up his shirt, baring more skin. He pulled back just long enough to pull it off over his head and toss it aside before leaning back in to capture Daniel's mouth.
Their bodies moved together, hips rutting, cocks sliding against one another through layers of clothing. It wasn't enough. Daniel needed skin on skin contact. He yanked at the button fly of Caelen's pants, popping it open. Caelen moaned against him, his own hands fumbling with the zipper on Daniel's jeans. When they both sprang free from their confines, they ground together, hot flesh rubbing against each other, sending sparks of pleasure racing through Daniel's entire body.
He gripped Caelen's hips, rocking up to meet him. His lips trailed over Caelen's jaw, sucking bruises down his throat. God, it felt so good to have him like this, alive and wanting, so much better than his dreams.
Caelen's breath came faster. He braced one hand beside Daniel's head, the other tangling in his hair, pulling just enough to hurt, in that delicious way that made Daniel's cock twitch.
He wanted to ask for more, but Caelen's lips were on his again, devouring him, tongue plundering his mouth as if desperate to claim every inch. Daniel didn't hold back. He opened his mouth wider, his fingers digging into Caelen's hips as they rocked together.
Daniel's eyes closed as he lost himself in the sensation. More energy flowed from him. Daniel didn't try to stop it.
"That's it," Caelen murmured. "Give everything to me." He brought a hand down between them, wrapping it around their cocks. Daniel gasped at the sensation.
Fuck, that was so good.
Caelen stroked them together, the pressure and friction of his hand making Daniel's balls draw up tight.
Caelen's lips brushed his cheekbone, his brow, his jawline. Each kiss, combined with each motion of Caelen's hand, sent shivers of pleasure racing over Daniel's skin. His hips jerked; he couldn't help it.
Caelen seemed pleased, though. "Yesss." He drew out the word. "Perfect. So good for me, little mate." His fingers slid into Daniel's hair again, and Daniel felt the pull of energy increase. His head spun, but not in a bad way—more like a dizzying rush, as if he were standing on top of a cliff looking down at the drop below.
And then Caelen tightened his grip on their cocks and pleasure coiled inside Daniel, winding tight, threatening to break loose. He dug his nails into Caelen's back, trying to anchor himself.
Caelen groaned, his rhythm speeding up. "Come for me," he commanded, and Daniel was helpless to obey. With a cry, he came, his seed spilling over Caelen's hand and their bellies as Caelen kept stroking them, prolonging the sensation until it was almost too much, until Daniel was whimpering with the pleasure-pain of it.
"Beautiful," Caelen whispered, flooding Daniel's consciousness with the warmth of his praise.
This was good. This was right. Even if he felt tired now. So tired. His energy... Caelen was still taking it.
Daniel tried to lift his head, tried to look Caelen in the face, but he could barely keep his eyes open. "Caelen?" he mumbled. "Is it... are you okay? Is Morthul...?"
He trailed off, unable to find the right questions in a mind that felt sluggish and slow.
"Shhh," Caelen murmured against his hair, one hand stroking down his spine. "Sleep."
Daniel didn't want to sleep. He wanted answers, but his strength left him. He gave it all to Caelen. Everything he was, everything he had.
"I love you," he spoke, the only words that remained in his mind. "Love you."
Caelen kissed his temple, and Daniel slipped into darkness once more.