Page 67 of Claws for Celebration
"Is it?" Malphas gestured elegantly, and the air around them shimmered with visions that looked disturbingly real. "Seraphina came to me willingly, you know. Sought out the knowledge that would elevate her beyond the petty squabbles of human and fae politics. She learned to reshape reality with a thought, to command the very elements with casual gestures."
In the magical visions, Lucien saw a woman who looked remarkably like Moira working impossible spells alongside afigure that could only be Malphas in his uncorrupted form. They moved together with the fluid synchronization of true partners, their combined magic capable of feats that defied natural law.
"She betrayed you," Moira said, but her magical output continued to waver as she watched the seductive images play out around them.
"She feared what she was becoming," Malphas corrected with gentle sadness. "The power we discovered together was beyond anything she'd imagined possible. But fear of change, fear of transcending her mortal origins, made her choose imprisonment over evolution."
Lucien felt their mate bond growing thinner with each word the fae lord spoke. Whatever influence Malphas was exerting, it was specifically designed to weaken connections that might anchor Moira to her current reality.
"The binding she created was never meant to be permanent," Malphas continued, his purple eyes holding Moira's gaze with hypnotic intensity. "It was meant to preserve me until her descendant was ready to complete what we began. Until you arrived to claim your true inheritance."
"My inheritance," Moira repeated, and Lucien heard something dangerous in her voice. Something that sounded too much like hunger.
"Unlimited magical power. The ability to reshape civilization according to your will. Immortality that will let you protect everyone you love for centuries to come." Malphas's smile was pure temptation wrapped in sincere concern. "Why settle for being guardian of one small town when you could become a goddess who protects all magical beings everywhere?"
The visions shifted, showing Moira as she could be with unlimited power flowing through her veins. She stood at the center of magical workings that spanned continents, her enhanced abilities creating barriers that protected everysupernatural community on Earth. Witches, shifters, fae, all of them safe under her benevolent rule.
"Think of what you could accomplish," Malphas whispered, and his voice seemed to come from inside her head rather than the ritual circle. "No more hiding from human persecution. No more careful concealment of abilities. A world where magic is not just accepted but celebrated, with you as its rightful queen."
Lucien watched in horror as Moira's posture shifted, her shoulders straightening with something that looked dangerously like royal bearing. The golden magic flowing from her hands began to take on darker undertones, shadow threading through the light like corruption spreading through pure water.
"You could save everyone," Malphas continued, his form growing more solid as Moira's resistance weakened. "Your mate, your adopted community, every supernatural being who faces extinction at human hands."
"Moira, no," Lucien said, but his voice sounded distant even to his own ears. Their mate bond was stretching to the breaking point, overwhelmed by the psychic pressure Malphas was exerting.
"The shifter fears losing you to your destiny," the fae lord observed with cruel accuracy. "He would rather keep you small and manageable than see you achieve your full potential. Is that the kind of love worth preserving?"
In the magical visions, Lucien saw himself aging and dying while Moira remained powerful and eternal, their brief mortal connection nothing more than a footnote in her immortal existence. The images were designed to make their bond seem not just temporary but actively limiting to her growth.
"I could make you immortal too," Malphas added, apparently reading her thoughts. "Both of you, eternal and powerful beyond mortal comprehension. The choice is yours, child. Transcendence or the slow decay of ordinary existence."
Lucien felt the exact moment when Moira's resolve began to crack. Through their weakening bond, he sensed the war raging in her mind between duty and ambition, between love and the promise of unlimited power. The part of her that had always craved recognition, that had built her academic career on being the smartest person in the room, was responding to Malphas's seductive offers with terrifying enthusiasm.
"Think carefully," the corrupted fae lord said, his form now almost completely solid as the binding circle continued to weaken. "This opportunity will not come again. Choose wisely, Moira Shadowheart. Choose your true destiny."
The banishment ritual hung in the balance, its energy patterns flickering like a candle in a hurricane. Moira stood frozen at the center of the circle, golden magic and creeping shadows warring around her as she wrestled with the most important decision of her life.
And Lucien realized with crystalline horror that they had catastrophically underestimated Malphas's power of persuasion. The entity wasn't just offering temptation. He was rewriting Moira's understanding of reality itself, making corruption look like enlightenment and imprisonment sound like liberation.
Through their fading mate bond, Lucien felt Moira's hesitation growing stronger with each passing second. The woman he loved, the witch who had become his entire world, was slipping away from him one seductive promise at a time.
And there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop it.
40
MOIRA
The visions Malphas wove around her were more seductive than any temptation Moira had ever faced. They didn't just promise power—they promised purpose on a scale that made her current responsibilities feel like playing house. In the swirling magical images, she saw herself standing at the center of a transformed world where supernatural beings no longer hid in fear.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Malphas's voice was silk and honey, wrapping around her consciousness like a warm embrace. "No more Council politics. No more careful hiding from human authorities. Just pure magical will reshaping reality according to your vision."
The part of her that had spent years fighting for recognition in academic circles, that had always hungered to be more than just another researcher buried in dusty archives, responded to the visions with shameful eagerness. Here was everything she'd ever wanted: respect, knowledge, the power to make a real difference in the world.
"I could protect everyone," she whispered, watching herself in the magical visions as she wove continent-spanning barriersthat would keep supernatural communities safe forever. "No more persecution. No more fear."
"Exactly, dear child. You understand what your ancestor was too frightened to embrace." Malphas's form grew more solid as her resolve wavered, his purple eyes holding depths that seemed to contain centuries of accumulated wisdom. "Power is not corruption when wielded by those wise enough to use it properly."
But even as she spoke the words, Moira felt a warning chill. She'd heard that justification before, in history books that chronicled the rise and fall of dictators who'd convinced themselves that their tyranny was benevolent.
