Chapter 30
MORRIGAN
Without any explanation, Mara darted toward the tree line with purpose, and Tristan stood still, shadows swirling in his eyes.
“Tristan?” I asked, quietly.
He didn’t answer at first. When the darkness dispersed from his eyes, he turned and marched back inside the castle.
“Tristan!” I yelled at his back, trying to keep up with him as we entered the throne room. “What promise, Tristan? Why— How are they even here?”
“The gate will open for anyone carrying the blood of a god,” he answered gruffly over his shoulder.
Kaiden.
I mean… This is a good thing, isn’t it? I was beginning to pant as I quickened my pace behind him. “We can get you out of here, you can lea—”
“I can’t leave, Morrigan!” He spun around so quickly, it stole the breath from my lungs.
His brows were pushed together in a tight crease.
“They are here for you, Morrigan. There is only one way that I can leave this place, and I can’t let you—” His eyes widened, and I recognized the distant glaze that passed over them. He was about to have another episode.
“Malakai!” I yelled, quickly wrapping my arms around Tristan as his entire body stiffened. “Okay, I’ve got you. Get down with me. I’m going to lay you down.”
He held onto his control just long enough for us to reach the floor, and I turned him on his side, facing me.
Slowly, the markings began creeping along his face, more vines spreading throughout his neck like poisoned branches of darkness.
I felt his panic as his hand gripped mine, squeezing it tight enough to hurt.
“I’ve got you, Tristan. It will pass just like before. You’re okay,” I tried assuring him. But this one was… It was different than before. The markings were starting to turn his skin red, like they were physically digging into him.
“I’m here!” Malakai heaved, sliding to a stop beside me on his knees as he removed his shirt and placed it under Tristan’s head. “I’m here, man. We’re both here.”
Tristan’s pants were becoming sharper and less frequent. I hadn’t really noticed it until I saw the faintest shade of blue on his lips.
“Tristan… Malakai, he’s… He can’t breathe.”
Malakai cursed and grabbed Tristan’s face. “Breathe, Tristan! You need to breathe!”
His veins swelled along his muscles, limbs stiff and frozen straight.
“Oh, Gods…” I whispered. “What do I… What do we…”
Then, I thought back to the first time I had experienced one of his episodes. He used my flames to somehow burn away the darkness until he could breathe again.
I quickly shoved Malakai to the side and laid beside Tristan, scooting as close as I could to his chest. His eyes followed me, the only part of his body that could still be moved by his own will.
When I called my flames, they responded in an instant.
Slowly, my veins began to glow until fire seeped from my skin and crawled onto Tristan’s face, where I cupped his cheeks.
The light connected with his markings and started to force their retreat, but they weren’t working as fast as they had before.
It wasn’t enough. That’s when I thought of the cave, and how we connected our light.
“Do you remember the stars? When you told me what we are to each other?” I asked him.
His head gave a slight jerk, resembling somewhat of a nod.
“Do what you did then,” I whispered. Closing my eyes, I tried to brighten the flame, searching for the source of its light, willing it to find his. When I opened them, the glow in my own eyes reflected brightly back at me through his. “Come on, Tristan. You can do it.”
I brought his hand to my cheek and felt him press against my skin, and I knew that he was trying. But as the seconds passed, his lips turned bluer, and his resolve was clearly beginning to weaken.
“You barely need to try, Tristan. Call to it. Feel my soul… your soul. We are just two halves, remember?”
The faintest light shimmered over his blue eye, but disappeared just as fast.
“You can do it,” I promised. “Don’t let him hurt you again, Tristan. Remember what you told me in the tunnels? They are just strings. Strings that he continues to pull, dangling you on this bridge of darkness. Let me be your light. Follow me back.”
The black vines appeared to stop moving, but they hadn’t begun to recede quite yet.
“You’re doing it, Mor,” Malakai said quietly. “Don’t stop. He isn’t breathing yet.”
Gently, I raised my lips toward his and felt their icy glaze as they pressed against mine. When I pulled back, Tristan’s eyes were closing slowly, and the smallest tear streaked down his cheek onto the cold, stone floor beneath us.
“Come back to me, Tristan.”
When his eyes finally opened back up, he sucked in a breath so quickly that it made me jump. His chest heaved up and down as the black markings began to retreat.
“He needs to rest,” Malakai said.
I nodded in agreement, slipping from Tristan’s hold so I could stand up. “I’ll help you walk him to his room.”
It usually took Tristan a little while to recuperate from a normal episode. This one… It would probably be a lot harder for him.
Carefully, Malakai and I lifted Tristan until his arms dangled over each of us. Still panting, his head slumped forward in exhaustion, he tried his best to walk with our assistance.
“It’s alright, Tristan,” I assured him. “You’ll feel better soon.”
“P—Promise…” he tried to say, his words coming out slurred and muffled. “Don’t… leave…”
I understood what he meant to say. They were here now, and he likely assumed that the first thing I would do is run back to them. Run back to him.
“They can wait.”
We finally made it to his room and got him in the bed.
He reached for me just as I knelt onto the mattress to join him. But then I heard distant yelling coming from the hallway.
“Morrigan!” my mother screamed.
I turned to Malakai, confused. After shrugging, he walked toward the bedroom door, and as her voice grew closer, I finally heard the agonizing panic in her voice. It formed a heavy, sickening knot in my stomach.
I pulled away from Tristan, but he gripped my wrist to stop me. That’s when my mom made it to the door, out of breath and frantically grabbing at Malakai’s arms.
“Whoa there, Lady G. What’s wrong?” he asked her.
Completely ignoring him, her eyes darted past his shoulder and straight at me. “It’s Azrael,” she breathed, shaking from fear. “He heard you all outside. He… He knows the lords are here.”
“That doesn’t seem like a reason to be so worked up,” Malakai chuckled lightly, though the laugh didn’t quite match the expression on his face. He appeared just as put off as I was.
“Cain… He thinks that Cain might be with them.”
I ripped my hand from Tristan’s grasp and stalked around the bead, heat burning in my veins. “Where is Azrael?” I demanded, though I had a feeling that I already knew the answer.
Tears were falling down her cheeks in heavy streams. “He s-said he wanted to protect you, Morrigan. He said he wouldn’t let him take you again.”
“Where is he?!” I yelled.
“I couldn’t stop him, baby,” she cried. “He ran through the courtyard, and I tried to follow after him, but I couldn’t get past the wards of the castle. I came straight here!”
I immediately stormed across the room, not needing to hear another word.
“Morrigan!” Tristan called behind me, his voice heavy with worry and fatigue. “You… said you… wouldn’t…”
“I’m going after him, Tristan!” Leaving the three of them behind me, my footsteps morphed into a run, which then turned into a full sprint.
I will never let Cain near Azrael again, I vowed. Never… again.