Chapter 29
DEZ
Iwas instantly awakened as I painfully tried to cough up what felt like dirt packed into my lungs.
My chest burned, and I quickly turned over, expelling everything into the grass. Grass? I paused, covering my mouth and forcing myself to take in a breath. I’m in… grass?
The last thing I remembered was the fire that consumed the seven of us.
But as I peered down at my hands, I didn’t feel any injuries.
What I did see was a grey substance smeared along my palms. Rubbing my thumb and forefinger together, I looked up to a cloudy, grey sky.
The particles falling from it resembled snowflakes, but I felt no chill—only heat.
Which meant that it was ash covering the ground in a blanket of off-white.
Around me, others began to cough, and I had almost forgotten that we were all here together.
I pushed myself up onto my feet, and swayed a little from the rush of blood in my head.
I needed to be careful. Until we found Morrigan, I would be weak.
But absolutely nothing would stop me from getting to her.
Even death could kiss my ass.
My vision hadn’t quite returned yet, but I ran to the nearest person I could find. Reaching an arm out to them, I clasped their hand and tried to pull them up to stand. But, the moment a specific, brown-haired-and-green-eyed face cleared before me, I sneered in disgust as I shoved him back down.
The next one I found was Dormius. Ash covered his blonde hair, completely packed on top of the strands, indicating we had been lying there for quite some time.
“What is this stuff?” he groaned, his voice raspy from still clearing his throat.
“Ash,” I answered. Once he stood stable enough on his feet, I continued moving across the grass to the others. “I don’t know where it’s coming from. I can’t smell a fire nearby,” I called over my shoulder. “But it’s definitely ash.”
He cracked his neck. “Let’s hope wherever the fire is, Morrigan is far from it.”
Once everyone finally stood, I found a nearby tree to lean against. I had to take a few deep breaths to steady myself, and pressed my palm against my forehead. So close, I thought. We are so close.
“What now?” Naaz asked. “We know nothing about this world. How are we supposed to find her?”
“We could split up,” Cass suggested. “We’d cover more land that way.”
“We would have no way of finding each other if we did that,” Dormius argued.
He was right. As Naaz had said, we knew nothing of this world. With no way to navigate it, we could easily lose ourselves. And I didn’t have the time to risk that. I needed to find her.
“We have to stick together,” I called out to them, feeling the weight of my sickness weighing me down to the floor.
“Can’t you just… track her or something?”
I turned to Kaiden with narrowed eyes, trying to understand why he would think that I could do that. “Track her?”
“Well, you said you could feel her,” he argued, shrugging his shoulders. “Where is she, then?”
“That’s not how it works, Kaiden.” I dropped myself down into a seated position, resting my back against the tree.
“Then how does it work, Dez?” he pressed, raising his voice.
“Calm down.” Naaz placed a hand on his shoulder. “We need a plan.”
“And how exactly are we supposed to plan anything here?” Eris stepped up to them, but I couldn’t really see him anymore.
My eyes were blurring again. I tried to distract myself by staring at the ground, tuning out their voices.
While Eris, Naaz, and Kaiden argued, I heard a soft pair of footsteps approaching.
“Dez?” Cass asked, his voice easily recognizable. “Hey, are you alright?”
“No, Cass,” I snapped, bringing my hand to my chest where a tightness was beginning to grow, wrapping around my insides. “I’m not. I’m…”
For a moment, it felt as if something was crawling inside my pants, wrapping around my legs. My limbs were beginning to feel numb, and I couldn’t tell if I was imagining it.
“I just… need…” My eyes grew heavy, and my body slumped over, thankfully into Cass’s shoulder.
“Guys!” he yelled beside me, the sound of his voice like a sharp nail driving into my ears. “What— What is that?!”
When I finally had enough energy to turn my head, I saw the ground that I was sitting on had turned black. My breaths came in heavy pants, and I lifted my hands as I felt the sensation wrap around my fingers. That’s when I noticed small, misty, black vines wrapping around them.
“Shit!” Dormius yelled. “It’s on me!”
“Get it off!” Cain screamed.
But at that point, my vision had almost completely blurred. As the black vines spread across my body, I suddenly felt myself being yanked away. Darkness consumed my line of sight, and my head spun as I lost consciousness.
My heart pounded in my chest so hard that I could hear its pulse in my ears.
When I found the will to open my eyes again, something felt… wrong. My brain… My memory… Everything just seemed foggy. I had forgotten something, something I knew was important, but it remained lodged at the back of my tongue like a bad aftertaste. What was I doing?
I recognized my bedroom, the sconces on the wall burning bright against the dark night outside. Then, the sound of giggles echoed from the bathing room, and I pulled my brows together in confusion. Only a couple of seconds later, two—very naked—bodies emerged from the doors.
Their giggles turned into laughter until their eyes landed on me, and the breath caught in their lungs. One of them stepped forward, and it took me a moment to realize who it was.
“My Lord,” she purred, her voice dripping in lustful venom as she stalked over with her hips swaying their sensual dance. “Did we wake you?”
Gwenyth stopped beside the bedpost, and the red-headed girl walked up behind her. She was a lot less confident in her strides, and a deep blush painted her cheeks as she stopped beside Gwen.
“I… No, I was just—” My words were once again frozen as I glanced at the door, like I expected someone else to walk in. “I don’t actually… know what I was doing,” I admitted.
Gwen cooed as she crawled onto the bed like a feline perching itself to attack. “Don’t worry, My Lord. We can tire you out again.”
The redhead giggled as Gwen reached a hand to her and invited the girl to join us on the bed.
Without another look my way, she pulled the girl in, pressing their lips together.
They both stood on their knees, hands roaming over each other’s waists, their hands reaching for their breasts with a gentle caress.
For a moment, that nagging feeling started to fade as blood rushed down my chest, replaced with a deep, gnawing need.
“Are we pleasing you, My Lord?” the redhead practically moaned, her voice soft and sweet, matching her bright smile as she turned away from Gwen to peer at me.
Then, Gwen’s fingers roamed down the girl’s waist, tracing her navel, and stopped just between her thighs. The minute Gwen’s fingers slid against her folds, the girl tossed her head back and cried out in pleasure.
“Lord Dez,” Gwenyth gasped. “She’s so wet for you.” She removed her fingers for a moment, reaching over and gently brushing my lips with glistening fingers. “Don’t you want a taste?”
I almost opened my mouth, but then that nagging feeling returned once more. What is wrong with me? I grabbed her wrist and stopped her. Missing… Something is missing…
In my peripheral vision, I could have sworn I saw the shadows flicker in the corner of the room. But then Gwenyth moved again, regaining my attention.
“My Lord,” Gwenyth begged with her bottom lip pushed out into a pout. “Won’t you join us? You used to love to play with us.”
Not something… Someone… She…
Black hair… not blonde… She had black hair…
“My Lord,” Gwenyth pressed on, a slight hiss in her voice that wasn’t there before. “Play with us.”
Blue eyes… Curly hair…
“Morrigan,” I said in an exhale.
The moment that name left my lips, Gwenyth threw the girl off the bed, and I watched in horror as the redhead’s body was consumed in black vines until she disappeared completely. “Wrong answer,” Gwenyth hissed.
In a flash, her nails grew into grotesque claws, and I barely moved away in time for her to swipe them at me.
“Where am I?!” I yelled.
This wasn’t real. Gwenyth was dead. And even if she wasn’t, I would never be in this bed with her again.
“Where is Morrigan?!”
“Far away from you.” Gwenyth’s voice had raised in pitch, close to what I think a snake would sound like if it spoke—distorted and bitter. “You can’t have her. He won’t let you.”
“Who won’t?”
Instead of answering, she swiped at me again, and I had just enough time to scramble back and race out of the room.
Looking over my shoulder, I could see her stagger outside, slamming into the opposing wall as her glowing, red eyes glared into me.
“You ssshould have ssstayed asssleep.”
I tried calling on my magic, but barely felt the flicker of light before it disappeared. The energy inside of me lay dormant, unreachable. I cursed when she ran at me, and turned around to race down the hall. “What is wrong with you?!” I screamed back to her.
“You did thisss!” she screeched, and I swore her voice left scratches along the painted walls, tearing them apart. “You’ll do thisss to her too!”
I made it down the stairs, bounding into the doors that led to the courtyard. When I turned, I saw her slide across the floor, gripping onto the railing behind me, and I felt my pulse quicken even faster, almost out of rhythm in my head.
“He’ll kill you all!” she shrilled. “You’ll never sssee your preciousss little blood whore again!”
Wait…
That isn’t my pulse
“Morrigan,” I whispered, feeling a sudden clarity that I hadn’t felt in weeks. Opening the door, I shoved myself through, and slammed it behind me. Outside, the sky was black, but beyond the darkness, a bright fire lit the horizon. She was here… Alive.
I’m coming, Morrigan.