Page 81 of Summer's Seduction

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I ran as fast as I could, ignoring the dizziness of my fatiguing body as I raced back toward Persephone. I skidded to a halt, nearly colliding with the wall of dark ones actively battling gorgons. Their forked tongues lashed out, scenting the thick cloud of fear, relishing in their impending victory.

There was a snapping of wings behind me, the gust of wind tinged with leather and spice. Closing my eyes against what was to come, I withdrew my sword and turned.

Steel clashed as I swiped aside Morpheus’s thrust, the force of which caused me to stumble back. Before I had time to recover properly, he was there againand again, pressing me back.

I screamed as a gorgon’s talons raked across my back, splitting the skin between my shoulder blades. Morpheus withdrew a slim, silver dagger, flitting toward the gorgon whose talons were still scented with my blood, and sliced through its eyes, embedding the blade in its skull.

With my heart pounding in my ears, I searched his face for any sign of recognition. There was none.

“I will be the one to kill you,” he seethed, spitting the words.

I flinched as I scrambled back, knowing he was much better with a blade than I was. My legs shook, exhaustion catching up to me despite the surge of adrenaline.

Screams filled the air of the dying. I had no idea if it was us or them, but in my heart, I knew there would be no winning against Morpheus. Not if I didn’t change the rules of the game. If I could break whatever this was, he would return to me. He had to.

“Morpheus, stop!” I shouted the command, lacing every syllable with magic.

He slowed, his movements looking as if he were wading through tar. A snarl broke across his face as he bared his teeth, veins bulging under the strain it took to fight against my magic. And then it broke. Morpheus continued his slow prowl toward me, devoid of everything that made him the man I fell in love with.

My chest heaved as I felt the pieces of my newly mended heart wither under the loathing stare Morpheus pinned me with. I swayed, staggering back as I realized there would be no happy ending for us.

He was going to kill me. I wasn't afraid of death. Not for myself, but my dark prince would never forgive himself. The thought of him plagued by endless torment and self-loathing had bile burning the back of my throat.

“Stop,” I tried again, putting all the magic I had left into the command. He slowed, giving me a few more seconds to reach him.

“Please, Morpheus,” I bit out, tears streaking down my face. “I love you. You love me. This—all of this—isn't you.”

An animalistic scream tore from his throat as the last dregs of my magic failed.

“No,” I breathed, stumbling back, my blade scraping the ground. This was it. This was how I died.

“You spent the last of your magic on a failed curse, witch,” Morpheus growled, stalking toward me with his sword held firmly in his grasp. “There is nothing to stop me from claiming your blood.”

“You want my blood?” I whispered. Grasping on to the unfairness of it all, I met his hate-filled glare with my own stubborn wrath. “You’ve already had it. It runs in your veins.”

His eyes narrowed, but he took another menacing step forward.

“I gave it to you freely, just as I’ve given you everything else. My blood, my body, the battered remains of my soul.” My voice cracked as I blinked away the tears, clinging to anger, to how incredibly fucked up it was for the fates to show me a glimpse of love only to have it be my downfall.

“All of me is yours.” Tears rolled down my cheeks, but I stood my ground, holding my head up high. “If you demand my life… I will relinquish that as well.”

I searched for a flicker of confusion in his golden eyes, for a break in the flowery scent of magic that I smelled slithering all over him, but there was nothing.

The whole thing had started out so fucked, but for the first time in my miserable life, I’d finally found someone who understood me. Someone who saw the jagged, broken bits and didn’t flinch from the sharp edges. Who didn’t mind the way being with me sometimes left them bleeding. And now, he was lost.

“I love you.”

He tensed against the broken vow, still not understanding, as I raised my sword. Summing all the strength I had left, I lifted the blade to my neck.

“Whatever comes, my dark prince,” I breathed, feeling an unnatural calmness stealing through my body. I offered him one last smile, one small gesture that would let him know not to blame himself. And then I dragged the edge of the blade across my throat.

MORPHEUS

“No.”

No. No. No. No. No.

The word played over and over again in my mind, telling me this wasn’t real, begging my mind to wake from this nightmare. Because surely—surely—the fates wouldn’t be this cruel.

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