Chapter 20 #2
Instinctively, my eyes followed his, and I gasped when I saw the ceiling above us. All of the shimmering lights in the water reflected upward, causing the false image of stars twinkling above us. “Gods…” I whispered. “You… You made this?”
“You used to think about the stars a lot when Maeryn moved you to the attic. So, I asked Mara about them. After she told me, I came here and tried my best to recreate it.”
I looked down at him, watching him stare at the stars. The light glimmered against his face, making him look otherworldly, and even more breathtaking than he already was.
“Sometimes, you would daydream as you stared out of your window, counting the stars. So, when I would feel your presence, I would come out here, too. I wanted to know what you were searching for.”
“A choice, Tristan,” I told him, and his eyes lowered to mine. “I wanted a choice. Tell me why I stumbled into your dream. Why you were about to talk to me, show me things. Why I… Why I’ve started hearing some of your thoughts as well.”
He pressed his lips together at that. “Yeah… I’ve caught that a few times. I wasn’t surprised. Ever since you arrived, everything just feels… heightened. Out of control.”
He turned his entire body to face me, and the anticipation was killing me. It couldn’t be that bad. It couldn’t be worse than being created as a blood whore for seven men. Actually, scratch that. Please don’t be worse than that.
“The night my father came for me, he tried to kill me. He thought he killed me, but something happened. Call it fate; call it whatever you want, but that light—that soul… All he did was break it. It split into two halves that night.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“I don’t know how it happened. I suspect Minerva may have had something to do with it when creating the prophecy, but… that other half…” He lifted his hand slowly until it brushed my cheek, sending a wave of shivers down my spine. “May I?”
I nodded, afraid that if I said anything, he might hear the nerves in my voice.
When his skin touched mine, I felt a strange rush of energy course through me.
His eyes began to glow brighter, and then I felt heat crawling down my arms. I looked down to find that my veins had begun to glow a bright orange hue, like liquid fire.
The moment the lines of light met his face, the black markings on his skin started to…
retreat. Slowly, they crawled away from his face, and the clouds in his other eye cleared away, revealing a beautiful blue shade that matched the other one.
“How are you—”
“I’m not,” he answered. “You have the other half, Morrigan. I don’t know why, but my light chose you. That’s why we can see each other’s dreams… hear each other’s thoughts…”
It hadn’t quite hit me yet, and I wasn’t sure that I understood what it meant. “Can I not give it back to you?”
His laugh was light, but it didn’t meet his eyes. “No, you can’t. And if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t want you to. Morrigan, you don’t understand.” His other hand cupped my cheek as he leaned closer to my face. “My light chose you. You quite literally hold a piece of my soul.”
My stomach fluttered at his words. But… why? The other half of my fears were… Kaiden. If I was tied to Tristan in a similar fashion, how was Kaiden going to react to that? Would he be angry? Would Dez accept it? Did I want it?
The tether warmed in my chest, like I could actually feel the string that bound us.
It pulled, begging for me to step closer, and I tried to fight it.
But as I thought of the dreams, and I thought of the way I felt hearing him say my name, I wondered if this battle was a lost cause.
What would it feel like if I didn’t fight it?
“What if I don’t choose this? What if I want to go back home and forget everything you just said?”
He closed his eyes but kept his hands on my cheeks. “Then, I’d respect that. It’s your right. Just because you have this piece of me doesn’t mean I own you, Morrigan. You are your own person.”
I contemplated doing just that. Walking back to the castle, taking Azrael, and demanding that he bring us home. But the tether screamed at me, pleading—like it was trying to convince me that doing so would be a mistake.
“And… what if…” I struggled with my words, scared to let them fall from my lips. “What if I want to… understand the connection… better?”
His lashes rose, and his deep blue eyes bore into mine. “I don’t want to pressure you into something you don’t want. I’m not them, Morrigan. I won’t use you. If you want to leave, I’ll take you right back—”
The leap of faith took every ounce of my courage, but I closed the distance between us and pressed my lips to his.
I didn’t know why I did it, but the moment our lips touched, the energy in the room exploded.
My skin buzzed, and my mind quieted into a peaceful silence.
Somehow, every ounce of my anxiety poured out of me, and the tether hummed in pure ecstasy.
Pull away, Morrigan. Just stop. It’s not too late.
But I didn’t. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, falling into a void of pleasure that melted every part of me.
After a couple of seconds, Tristan pulled away, both of us catching our breath.
As my light began to dim, the black lines reemerged onto his face, dimming the light in his injured eye.
Then, he pressed his forehead against mine and allowed his own power to recede as well. “Give me time,” he whispered. “Give me a little time to prove myself. I know you’ve given pieces of your heart away already… I’m just asking that you save one for me.”