Chapter 50
DEZ
Morrigan is…
“Let go of me!” I screamed as Cassius pulled me away.
“You have to calm down,” he hissed behind me. “I’ll take you back to her, just—”
He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence. I wriggled just enough to release my arm and slammed my elbow back into his face. He cursed as his head jerked back and his grip fell apart.
But he was wrong on one thing—it wasn’t Morrigan that I needed to go to right now. I surveyed the room, locating where Eris stared at Morrigan, inching closer with a dazed look, like he was still in that nightmare. But, past him was what I really wanted.
“You,” I growled. Tristan’s blue eyes found mine, and the tears that welled in them only fueled the anger that burned my own. “I’m going to fucking kill you!”
I stormed toward him as the doors to the throne room flew open. Just as I swiped the obsidian shard from the table, the little boy that the lycan had removed suddenly ran inside, making his way straight toward Morrigan.
His screams were behind me now, and he was sobbing—which tore on the strings of my heart. I didn’t know who the child was, or how he and Morrigan came to be so deeply bonded, but I couldn’t focus on his anguish right now. Not when the source of it stood merely feet away from me.
“One more step, lord, and I swear I will rip you apart!” the lycan yelled from somewhere nearby.
“It’s fine.” Tristan dismissed him, and that only enraged me further. I held the one thing in my hand that could kill him, and he didn’t even see me as a threat.
I wrapped my fists into his shirt and pushed him back until he hit the wall behind him. “You killed her!” I screamed in his face. “You fucking killed her—”
“I couldn’t stop her!” he yelled back. “She chose this!”
“She chose you, you bastard!” I brought my fist back, then slammed it into his nose, and watched another spurt of blood fall down his lips over the dried crimson that Eris had already put there. “Bring her back.”
“I can’t.”
I clutched the obsidian shard tight enough to feel it scratch my own skin, but I didn’t care if I went down with him. I raised it behind my head, ready for whatever came for me once I pierced it through his heart. “Your father is the god of death, Tristan! Bring. Her. Back!”
“Tristan!” the lycan screamed.
“Leave us!” Tristan kept his eyes on me as he barked his command to his wolf. He didn’t even look scared.
The string that clutched my chest so tightly was snapping. I tried clinging to it, to fuel it with the anger that boiled in my veins, because I couldn’t bear to feel what had begun to claw its way to the surface.
Morrigan…
“I can’t, Dez,” he whispered. Tears fell down his cheeks, sliding over the white scars where the black markings had been before the bonding.
“She did this for you…” I tightened my fist and took in my last breath. “If you can’t bring her back, then I have no choice but to—”
Thump.
My eyes snapped wide, and at the exact same time, so did Tristan’s.
“Did you hear that?” I whispered to him, not wanting to alert the others quite yet.
He nodded once.
Thump. Thump-thump.
I snapped my head to the side, where Kaiden still sat on the floor, holding Morrigan’s pale body. The thumping began again, each time like a pulse trying to start, but fading after a couple of beats.
“Gods…” I breathed out, dropping the obsidian shard and running to Kaiden. I dropped to my knees beside her. “Morrigan!”
“Dez, stop,” Kaiden pleaded, his face completely drained of any emotion. “She’s not—”
“Hey, princess,” I whispered, pulling her head toward me and caressing her cheeks. “I hear you. I hear you, sweetheart. Keep going.”
The pulse began again, pushing a little further than before.
“She’s still alive,” Tristan said nearby. I heard his footsteps grow closer, and the tension in the air thickened as he knelt down on my other side.
“That’s impossible,” Kaiden growled at him. “Her heart stopped beating. She isn’t breathing, and her skin is as cold as ice.”
“No.” I grabbed his hand and brought it back to her face, where the smallest bit of warmth had started to return. It was a gradual return, and easy to mistake for my own body heat, but the pink that eventually blossomed on her skin was the only confirmation Kaiden needed.
“Morrigan?” he called to her. He pulled her back, ripping her from my grasp, but I didn’t care. I could hear it, and he couldn’t. He needed to see it for himself. “Little dove,” he whispered in her ear, clutching her face to his. “Come back to me, little dove.”
“She’s going to be weak.” Tristan kept his voice low and reserved. “She needs fresh air… warmth… You need to get her out of here.”
Home, the thought came to my mind quickly. She needs home.
“Do you know the way out?” I asked him.
“I’ll lead you there—”
“You’re coming with us.” I interrupted him, standing and turning toward the white-haired lycan who looked about ready to rip my head off. “We don’t have time to wait for you to gather your wolves, though. We need to take her back now.”
“Dez!” Eris yelled. “You can’t be serious! We can’t let them come—”
“Morrigan made us promise,” Naaz reminded him.
“Here…” Tristan left my side and walked toward the table. He grabbed the dagger, slicing a clean cut on his palm before dripping blood into one of the chalices. Once he was done, he handed it to the wolf. “This will get you past the gate when you’re ready. I can’t leave—”
“Go with her,” the man said, placing a hand on Tristan’s shoulder. He smiled at him, brandishing his sharp canines. “But make sure to tell her not to milk this. Honestly, she’s incredibly dramatic sometimes.”
I turned away from them, staring down at Morrigan in Kaiden’s arms. Don’t worry, I whispered in the depths of my mind, hoping that our bond would carry my words to her. You’re going home, princess.