Page 101 of The Mourning Throne
Lex hesitated.
This was where Ollie was supposed to die.
Was Morgan just finished with him?
No.
No, no, no.
Not like this.
“Now.”
Lex finally dipped his toe in, and he sucked in a breath trying to jerk back. Too hot.Too fucking hot.
But Morgan steadied him with both hands, guiding him until his knees bent and his body sank into the water.
Lex bit his lip so hard he tasted blood.
Morgan didn’t flinch. Didn’t ask. He just eased Lex the rest of the way down, one hand at the back of his neck, the other at his chest, applying just enough pressure to say:stay here. Stay with me.
Lex sat, barely breathing, steam curling up around his face. The room pulsed. The walls shifted. His vision tunneled in and out, like a camera losing focus.
One second it was just the tile and thedamnhot water in front of him.
The next it was Morgan. Still in that suit, expensive enough to rent a life.
“I’m going to count your breaths,” Morgan said. “You’ll breathe when I say. You’ll hold it when I tell you. You don’t think. You don’t speak. You just follow.”
Who got into a bathwith clothes on?
“Lex. You need tolisten. Tell me you heard me.”
Lex nodded, too quickly.
“Breathe in,” Morgan said. “Now hold it.”
Lex inhaled, lungs expanding painfully. His ribs screamed in protest.
Then, Morgan’s hand again—firm, unwavering—and Lex went under.
He counted the seconds in his head. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Sev—
What came after seven?
He couldn’t hold his breath this long. He couldn’t.
Morgan was going to let himfucking drown—
Lex surfaced with a gasp that burned like hell. He flailed, grasping for the edge, for Morgan, for anything that would tell him he was still here. Still real.
That was—fuck.Easilythe scariest thing Morgan had ever done. And that was saying something.
But Morgan didn’t give him a second tobreathe. He caught Lex’s wrists midair, dragged them to his chest and pinned them there.
“Again,” Morgan whispered, too quiet and too loud all at once. “You’re still thinking. Stop. What did I say? What do you need to do?”
Listen. I heard you the first fourtimes.
