"My beloved," she purrs. "You've come at last."
She moves with fluid grace, as if she’s not touching the ground at all. Her long dark hair seems to float around her, stirred by an unfelt wind. The hairs on my arms stand on end.
Marius steps forward. "Brigid," he growls, but there's a plea beneath the roughness.
The Morrigan tilts her head, studying him with a hunger that makes my stomach churn. "You've brought him to me," she says, addressing us but still focused on Marius.
She glides closer to him, her fingers outstretched to caress his face. The moment she touches him, her expression morphs from hunger to fury. She hisses, recoiling as if burned.
"What trickery is this?" The Morrigan's voice rises, echoing off the rusted metal walls. "You are here, my king, but you are not. How dare you deny me?" Her face contorts in rage. "What have you done?" she snarls, her voice a cacophony of Brigid's and the goddess's. "He cannot fully claim you!"
Marius is unmoving. I can see the conflict burning within him—the need to reach Brigid, warring with the struggle to keep the Raven King contained.
"Brigid," he grits out. "Fight her. Come back to us."
The Morrigan laughs, a sound like breaking glass. "Your little mortal is gone, vessel. I am all that remains."
But I catch a flicker in her eyes—a moment of not fear, but doubt. She’s bluffing.
Brigid is still there.
Chapter Nine
Marius
Tiernan is shaking on his knees, blood dripping from his nose, and Rory and Callen close ranks around me as I face down the Morrigan wearing Brigid's body like a stolen dress. Lochan tenses at my side.
Brigid's eyes flash with the Morrigan's eternal rage.
You... what have you done?" she snarls, her fingers curling into claws. The Morrigan's face contorts with fury as realization dawns. "Sirona," she spits the name like a curse. "That meddling fool. She's given you protection."
I meet her cold eyes, jaw tight, hands curled. The Raven King pounds against the inside of my skull, desperate to break free and reunite with his lover. I won't let them win. Once, this was what I wanted too, or what I was programmed to want. But at least I knew what I was getting in to, I was aware of what the consequences would be. Brigid is an innocent pawn in their selfish game, and I'll fight him and the Morrigan with every shred of will I have left.
The Morrigan reaches out with Brigid’s soft hand to delicately trace my cheek, the feeling a mockery of every time Brigid has touched me. "It doesn't have to be this way, Marius," she whispers, pressing Brigid’s soft curves against me. "Embrace your true nature. Let him in and claim the power that is your birthright. Together, you and I can remake this world however we wish."
Temptation shivers through me, the Raven King's sick yearning blending with my own darker impulses. Not to mention a couple of decades of conditioning and propaganda. Revenge. Domination. No more hiding what I am. No more hiding for anyone with shadow magic.
But the Morrigan lies. There is no me once I let him in. I cease to exist. And who would be left to mourn me? No one, if Brigid was gone.
No. I shake off the poisonous thoughts.
"Go screw yourself," I snarl, wrenching away from her touch. "I'll never stop fighting. I'll never give up on Brigid."
The Morrigan laughs, cold and mocking. "Brave words, little boy. But how long can you hope to resist? My beloved is far more powerful than you, a weakling of a descendant. He will never give up. And he always gets what he wants in the end."
She circles me like a shark scenting blood. Brigid's eyes, once so gentle, now gleam with malice. Her voice is a seductive purr in my ear. "We are inevitable, Marius. The prophecy will be fulfilled. Why deny yourself the glory of ruling by my side?"
I grit my teeth against the insidious pull of her words. The tattoos on my skin burn as the Raven King becomes frantic within, driven by his lover's proximity.
Lochan's gruff warning cuts through the haze. "Remember our deal. You let that bastard take control, I'll end you myself."
Inside my head, the Raven King laughs, a rasp that raises the hairs on my neck. "Foolish boy," he sneers. "You think you can resist us? I have waited centuries for this moment."
I feel his rage under my skin, in my veins, behind my eyes. His desperation to reunite with the Morrigan is a savage ache in my chest. He hammers at the walls of my mind, challenging for control.
I squeeze my eyes shut, muscles trembling with the strain.
The Morrigan laughs, trailing Brigid's fingers down my cheek in a perverse caress. "He cannot leave you, Marius. You are one and the same. Destiny demands you pay the price."
