Page 133 of The Mourning Throne
The silence was absolute.
No footsteps, no creak of the hallway.
Just… nothing.
Nothing but Lex.
Lex, standing in the wreckage. Trembling. Ashen under the tan. Streaked with blood and bruises and something older—something bone-deep.
Lex, who’d always sworn he wasn’t the one to draw blood.
Lex, who had stabbed someone to protect him.
Morgan’s throat burned. “I should’ve killed him.”
Lex didn’t answer.
“I should’ve—” Morgan tried again, swallowing the bile rising in his chest. “You should’ve let me.”
Still nothing.
Morgan tipped his head back against the wall, blinking through the haze. “Hetouched you.”
I had one job. One. And I failed that, too.
Lex turned to face him, and dropped to his knees.
Not fast. Not dramatic. Just... down. Like the air had finally stopped holding him up.
“You’re still bleeding,” Lex said, brushing a shaking thumb across Morgan’s temple. His fingers were tacky with dried blood—Morgan’s or Noah’s, it didn’t matter. “You need stitches.”
“I need you,” Morgan murmured.
The words felt wrong in his mouth. Too fragile. Too real.
He clenched his teeth against the tremor.
“I need himdead.”
“You need to stop talking.”
Morgan tried to argue—but Lex leaned in and pressed two fingers to his lips. Gentle. Final.
“Just listen,” he said. “You don’t get the last word this time.”
Lex stayed quiet at first. He leaned their foreheads together, breath ghost light soft. His hands gripped Morgan like he was afraid if he let go, the rest of the world might fall apart too.
Then: “You could’ve died.”
Morgan didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
“You weren’t trying to survive,” Lex continued, voice frayed at the edges. “You weren’t trying tolive. You just wanted to win.”
Morgan let his shoulders drop. It never bode well for him when Lex made sense.
“You’re notinvincible,” Lex bit out, but it sounded quieter now. Cracked. “I need you.I need you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Morgan said, but even he heard how unsure it sounded.
