Nya.
The force of the nytfire increased, and he tried to speak aloud, only to cough violently. The thick, iron tang of blood filled his mouth, and he fell to his knees.
Morgen?
He inhaled raggedly and dug his fingers into the ashy soil.Nya, I need you to come back. I can’t hold on much longer.
It’s dark.
I know. Just follow my voice. It’s going to be alright.
The blaze dimmed behind his eyelids, just slightly.
Morgen?Her voice was small and pained as she said his name again, and his gut clenched with fear, not for himself but for her.
He choked on more blood.Right here. Just a little further, I promise.
I’m afraid. It knows I’m trying to?—
Agony lanced up his back, and a scream echoed across the valley, but the voice was not his.
All at once, the nytfire blaze disappeared into smoke, and he opened his eyes just in time to see Nya collapse, her scream still echoing down the pathway. He crawled across the ash-stained earth, ignoring the pain. When he reached her, she was curled up and trembling, tiny whimpers escaping her with each labored breath.
He was shaking just as hard, but he pulled her into his lap, pressing his lips to her brow. Her skin was so cold, and he willed the embers to heal him faster. He was too weak to do anything for her until his body repaired itself, and he hated it.
“Morgen,” she rasped. “I almost… I?—”
“I know,” he murmured. “But you’re alright. I came for you, just like I always do.”
He could hear footsteps behind them. Nyx, Thanatos, and Sora stood a few paces away when he glanced back, holding up a trembling hand in a pitiful attempt to stop them. Nya was fading, and he could feel his own consciousness slipping too.
“I’m about to—pass out,” he forced himself to say through gritted teeth. “Get… You need to make sure?—”
His vision tilted, and when he came to again, he found Sora kneeling next to him and Nya, her wide blue eyes glassy.
He jerked, and she shook her head. “It’s alright,” she said softly. “You can trust me with her, Morgen. I’m one of the few people you can.”
In a haze, he tried to nod, but instead, his head hit the ashy earth. Just before he lost consciousness completely, he slurred, “You looked like a newborn star when you died. I could never get…the image out of my head.”
The last thing he saw was a tear slip down Sora’s cheek, imbued with sparkling silver.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Sora told me of him today, the man she meets with in secret. I have never seen her so happy, and I have never been more afraid. Perhaps I should try to stop her from going to him. Or, perhaps, it is already too late.
—Anabeth, demi-god daughter of Juno, goddess of Fate
Nya laywide awake in an unfamiliar room. She’d only realized she was in Nyx’s house because she recognized the night blooming rose garden just outside the window behind her. She didn’t bother trying to leave and had a creeping feeling the door was locked anyways. In the hall beyond, angry, hushed voices raised every few minutes until someone scolded them to be quiet.
Mostly, it was her father arguing with Thanatos and another male voice she was fairly certain was Vulcan’s. Occasionally, Carus would interject, along with a feminine voice she recognized but could not place.
No one came into the room, but she tried to reach out to Morgen several times down the pathway.
He did not reply.
It had been several hours since she had woken here alone, and she was so terrified of facing the truth, she’d hardly moved. She had hazy memories of him pulling her close, his face covered in blood, his body shaking so hard, he’d barely been able to hold her. She couldn’t quite remember exactly what had happened, beyond piecing together the basics from the argument outside.
