Page 62 of The Fallen Kingdom

The Morrigan rips me out of Kiaran’s grasp and throws me violently across the water. I hit the surface, only inches away from smacking into the cave wall. I emerge, gasping for breath.

“Kam!” Kiaran dives for me, his strokes fast.

Something strikes him hard. Kiaran hits the wall with a rough jolt that makes him growl. He whirls, but the darkness is complete. I push myself through the water to reach him. His hands find mine in a crushing grip.

A laugh echoes around us and something flickers in the corner of my gaze, but it’s gone so fast. Then her voice is at my ear, claws grazing my neck softly. “What do you think? Does he love you enough, human?”

I take the risk. I draw on my powers, building them like a storm inside me and fighting through my blurring vision. But before I can defend myself, the Morrigan slashes her claws down my arm in a quick, painful swipe. My power dies, leaving behind a dull ache at my temples.

Kiaran’s harsh intake of breath fills my ears and he releases me.

“MacKay.” When I reach for him, I seize nothing but air.

“Don’t come near me. She’s doing this on purpose. She’s a water wraith.”

“What?”

It sounds as if his words are spoken through a grimace. “And she’s playing with us.”

I can’t remember his lessons. Not now. Not with the darkness pressing in, suffocating. My legs burn from treading water. “Water wraith?” I pant.

“They draw lovers together and turn them against one another. She’s using this form to find our weaknesses. Shewantsme to hurt you.”

The Morrigan’s laugh is in my ear. “Hurt you?” she whispers with a laugh. “He wants tokillyou.”

I lash out to slam my fist into the creature’s face, but she’s too fast. She’s already behind me, breathing cold, biting words into my ear. “He can’t hide his thoughts from me. I was the first Unseelie. His blood is my blood.”

I whirl, lashing out again.

She’s at my back, a devil filling my head with terrible doubts.Where is Kiaran?

As if she senses me looking for him, the hot cave mist clears just enough for me to see him in profile. He’s so still. Not moving. Listening?

“It’s in his nature to hunt your kind.” I feel her shift around me, pressing closer. “He can only resist my curse for so long before he gives in. He can’t help but want to feed on you.”

That’s when I know, unquestionably, that the Morrigan isn’t just speaking to me. She isn’t only at my ear.

She’s at his.

I say his name, low and urgent. And when he looks at me...Oh god.

I go still. Kiaran is looking up at me through his lashes, his gaze dark, hooded, and intense.

Are you Kiaran or Kadamach?

Something flickers in his eyes.I don’t know.

“Do you see the way he looks at you?” The Morrigan sounds like a victor on the battlefield, walking through the bodies. “Right now he can hardly breathe without being tempted by your blood. That’s my curse.” Her lips are close to my ear. “That’s the punishment of his lineage.”

Snarling, I turn to grab the Morrigan, but just when I think I’ve connected with something solid, she turns into mist, slipping away with a throaty laugh.

“MacKay.” I surge through the water toward him. “Listen to me,” I say sharply when I reach him. “Listen to my voice. You’re the Unseelie King. Now snap the hell out of it and help me. How do we kill her?”

Kiaran shakes his head once, but the darkness doesn’t leave his face. We swim to another set of boulders jutting out of the water; he’s as close as he can get without touching me.

His voice dips just low enough for me to hear, his words uneven, forced. “If she takes physical form, you might be able to overpower her and prevent her from going incorporeal again.”

“How do we make her take physical form?”

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