His eyes glint.“You better hope that stays true.”
“Of course I fucking hope it does. I love her as much as you all do.”
Brigid gasps and we all freeze.
“Again,” she wheezes.“Say that again.”
“I love you,” I whisper.
Lochan’s composure cracks, just a split-second flinch.
Tiernan exhales hard through his nose.“Welcome back.”
“Didn’t go anywhere. Just got a little sidetracked.” Brigid’s voice is weak. "Marius?”
I lift my head to try to see her better.“Still alive, little bird."
Her mouth quirks, trying to smile.
Then her eyes roll back.
Chapter Eleven
Brigid
I hear Marius, and I try to speak to him, but then I’m pulled backwards, back into a fathomless chasm.
The Morrigan won’t give up that easily.
Darkness whirls around me, a roiling black sea threatening to swallow me whole. Her presence surges, her essence seeping into every crevice of my mind again and once more I'm drowning in her power, gasping for air that doesn't exist in this mental battlefield.
"You cannot resist me, child," the Morrigan's voice rings out, a sinister sound that reverberates through my skull. "You are nothing but a vessel. This is your destiny."
I push back against her onslaught and try to hang on to who I am, but my thoughts scatter like leaves in the wind, memories there, then gone again, as the Morrigan's influence threatens to erase me.
"I won't let you take me."
The goddess laughs, a vicious sound that chills me, paralyzes me. Her power presses down, crushing my identity. I'm losing myself, piece by piece. Even the Raven King’s magic isn’t enough to stop her.
No. I can't give in. I won't.
I reach out, grasping for something to anchor me. In the murkiness, five threads of light emerge—as fragile-looking as a spider’s web, but far stronger. Unbreakable. The fated mate bonds.
Rory. His unshakeable support and the way he’s always there for me. Callen, with his wicked smile that makes me weak in the knees. Tiernan, how he gives me such sweet relief from having to be strong and controlled. Marius, and how we see the darkness in each other and love not despite it, but because of it. And Lochan, his fierce loyalty inspires me while his passion has my heart.
I cling to these bonds, these tethers to reality. Each one has life, reminding me who I am. Who I belong to.
And it’s not her.
"They can't save you," the Morrigan hisses, her frustration palpable. "You will be mine."
"No," I growl, drawing strength from the bonds. "I'm theirs. And they're mine."
The threads of light grow brighter, weaving together into a rope that tows me towards them, towards reality and away from this purgatory-like state.
Smoke wafts at the edges of my vision. Reality bleeds through in uneven pieces—muffled voices, pressure against my palm, the taste of blood on my tongue. My body feels like a rag doll left out in a hurricane, but the bonds pull harder. Five distinct tugs. Five lifelines.
Rory’s voice slices through first, low and urgent.“Fight it, mo chroí. We’re right here.” The pad of his thumb strokes the inside of my wrist, rough and familiar. Tiernan’s laugh drifts in next, strained but anchoring.“We’re here, Brigid.” Callen’s touch skims my collarbone, deliberate, a spark of warmth.“Come back to us, darling.”
