Page 79 of In the Dark

“In case there really is no going back.” She supplied the words he couldn’t say.

He nodded. “And to ask for your help.”

“My help?”

“When the time comes,” he began, “and we corner the vile thing inside of you, I need you to be ready. I need you to fight.”

Already she was shaking her head, taking a step back like a horse beaten one too many times. “I can’t, Morgan.”

“Yes, you can!” he insisted. Wanting her to believe she was strong enough. Needing to believe it himself if only to get through this. “If you fight, then together we can beat her.”

“I’m too weak to fight. Too tired.”

“I know you’re tired, and the road has been hard. There’s this one last bridge to cross and we can handle it from there.”

She sighed and crossed to the stones to sit cross-legged, motioning for him to join her. Morgan did as she asked. The ground immediately sapped him of warmth, his body heat seeping into the cracked and desiccated sand. At the very least, he could make things more comfortable for them.

A snap of his fingers, and sand turned to wind as they floated, cushioned in the arms of a warm summer breeze.

“Can we stay here?” Karsia asked Morgan again.

“Hmm?”

His mind had turned to mush along with the rest of him. Even his eyelids failed to move when she trailed her nails over the broad expanse of his shoulders.

“There must be a way. I know you said it was impossible, but you’re a god. In your time and your travels, you must have discovered a way. There has to be something we can do. Then we can stay here forever. The two of us.”

They lay together with his wings blanketing her, his fingers tickling her forearm. The constant contact of skin on skin was something he would not deny himself.

“I want to,” he admitted. “You don’t know how very much I want to.”

He couldn’t stop touching her. She was quiet, with her smooth legs thrown over his and one hand splayed across his chest. He drew her scent into him and it calmed the ferocious beating of his heart.

She drew up to stare down at him. “Why can’t we? Let’s forget about the eclipse and the Claddium and stay here. In dreams.”

Morgan shook his head, the tips of his horns grazing the ground. He very nearly moaned at her words, wanting more than anything what she offered. To have it be only the two of them, with no responsibilities tugging them apart. Something like that always came with a price. His arms knotted with tension for he knew the penalty better than any.

“If we stay, then our physical bodies will die.”

“You’re immortal,” Karsia said playfully. “You can never die.”

“No, but you can.”

The sobering thought had the smile evaporating. She opened her mouth to respond before snapping it closed and taking another moment to think. “What would happen to me?”

“Once the physical shell no longer supports life, then the mortal tether of the soul disappears. You would wither and return to the source. The world of ancient magicks. No, that is not the answer to our problems.”

Karsia snuggled deeper into him, refusing to be discouraged so easily. “Tell me, oh magnificent Morpheus. What do we do now?”

“Now we find a way.” Morgan tempered the deep roughness of his subconscious voice with a small grin. He brought his hands to the slope of shoulder and neck as Karsia sighed happily, moving beside him in contentment. “You’ll fight? Your sisters at this exact moment are preparing themselves for the binding spell.”

“They found a binding spell? Will it work?”

“We hope so. It’s worth a try.” He jumped at the chance to explain their plan to her, watch the play of emotions over her face as she listened to the intricacies and added her own opinions.

“Darkness can’t be contained, really. The best thing to do would be to get her back in the stone. It would take a stronger witch than any of us to force her out.”

Morgan wanted to strangle whatever evil entity had taken her over. Punish it again and again for the pain it caused her.

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