Page 15 of Awakened Destiny (The Dark Ascendant #3)

Brigid

I ’ ve been doing nothing but sleeping and eating in my room, and I need some air, need to walk and get some exercise. Rory and Tiernan want to come with me, but told them it was fine, they don ’ t need to babysit me. Callen and Lochan stopped by earlier, and while I understand and feel grateful for their concern, it ’ s all getting to be a bit suffocating. Lochan and I have a lot to talk about—eventually we will need some time alone. Later. For now, I just want to stretch my legs and feel normal again, even if just for a few minutes.

It feels so weird to be back at the academy, walking around as if nothing ’ s changed. As if I don ’ t have the goddess of chaos, fate, and death trapped inside me. I can feel her, she ’ s there, and she ’ s angry. She ’ d crack open the world if I were to let her out.

But for now, the Morrigan is a faint presence, like a vague memory, or déjà vu. It ’ s there, but I can ’ t quite focus on it, can ’ t quite grasp it.

A first-year druid girl freezes ahead, books clutched to her chest like pearls. Her eyes dart to mine before she pivots sharply into an alcove. Behind me, whispers shred the silence. People talking about the Council and stolen dark magic. I keep my shoulders rigid, chin up, but my nails bite crescents into my palms.

Let them gawk. Let them flinch. I ’ m still here. Still me.

A shadow peels from the wall ahead, lean and familiar, and Marius falls into step beside me without a word. This is the first time I ’ ve seen him since we ’ ve been back—he ’ s the only one who hasn ’ t hovered. Maybe it ’ s because he hasn ’ t been worried, but I don ’ t think that ’ s it. I think he was handling me how he would want to be handled—left alone, to heal. His shoulder brushes mine, and the Raven King ’ s power inside me hums, recognizing its old master. The tattoos sleeving his arms are blurred now, edges dissolving like smoke, and fainter. He doesn ’ t look at me. Doesn ’ t have to. The bond between us is there, taut as a bowstring.

Neither of us has spoken a single word as we turn into a disused staircase, the air stale with mildew. As we reach the third door on the left, Marius opens it, revealing a storage room choked with too many desks and moth-eaten drapes, and gestures with one arm for me to go ahead of him. Dust motes swirl in the weak light coming in through a grimy window. He closes the door and leans against the frame, arms crossed. “ They ’ re scared of you.”

“ Good.” The lie tastes bitter. I kick a desk leg, sending a spider skittering.

The shut door muffles any noise from the rest of the school, and it ’ s quiet enough to hear my own thoughts. I run a finger through the layer of dust on the desk. “ Did you ever wish you didn ’ t have it?”

Marius pushes off the door. His fingers skim my wrist, calloused and warm, and shadow magic sparks between us—a dark thread stitching our veins together. He knows I ’ m talking about shadow magic. “ No.” His thumb traces the jut of my bone.

My throat closes up and I can ’ t look at him. “ And you gave it to me.” I wonder what ’ s left of his power, what ’ s left for him.

“ Not all of it,” he whispers. “ Just enough.”

“ You ’ ve left yourself vulnerable.”

For me. He did that for me.

He chuckles. “ I ’ m far from defenseless, little bird. Let them come for me.”

“I ’ ll rip their heads off their bodies if they try.”

Something feral glints in his eyes. Approval. He takes three steps forward to cage me against the desk. “ There she is.”

He leans his head down towards my neck and his teeth graze my pulse point. I feel her—the Morrigan—responding, but not to Marius, to the king inside him. But it ’ s my hands that fist in his shirt, my mouth that finds his. He kisses me hard, his tongue relentless. Blood and danger. The shadows slither around us, alive, drinking the moan from my throat.

He breaks away, grips my chin. “ Mine,” he rasps.

The word isn ’ t gentle. It ’ s ownership. It ’ s a claim carved deep in my bones.

I am his, and he is mine.

"Yours," I breathe, and the word ignites something primal between us.

Marius lifts me onto the desk, hands gripping my thighs as he steps between them. His mouth crashes back to mine, hungry and demanding. I taste blood—his or mine, I'm not sure. The shadows are agitated, excited, all around us.

I feel the Morrigan stirring inside me, reaching for her king. The Raven King answers, an almost imperceptible emanation of power coming from Marius. Their connection spans ages, transcending time itself. It melds with our own fated connection, amplifying every touch, every emotion. This reunion is theirs as much as ours.

Marius breaks the kiss, trailing his lips down my neck. His kissing down to my collarbone and my breath catches as I arch into him, needing his body to be closer to me than it is. I can feel his heartbeat as if it's my own, feel the heat of his skin even through our clothes.

"I can feel you," I whisper, running my hands up his arms. "Everywhere. Inside me."

He groans against my skin, his hands roaming under my shirt. "I'm always inside you, little bird. In your blood, your bones."

I gasp as his fingers brush the underside of my breast. The Morrigan flutters within me, hungry for more.

"Show me," I demand, tugging at his shirt.

Marius steps back just long enough to yank it over his head, revealing the intricate faded tattoos across his chest and arms. I trace them with my fingertips, and the magic inside of me burns hot.

He captures my wrist, bringing it to his mouth, kissing the inside of it where my veins are close to the surface. "Your turn."

I strip off my top, baring myself to him. His eyes darken as they roam over me, and he crushes his mouth to mine again as his hands work at my bra. It falls away, and he palms my breasts roughly, thumbs circling my nipples. I moan into his mouth, pushing into his touch.

My hands fumble with his belt, desperate to feel more of him. Marius growls low in his throat as I finally get it undone and slip my hand inside. He's hard and hot against my palm. I stroke him slowly, savoring the way his breath hitches.

"Fuck, Brigid," he groans, hips rocking into my touch.

His fingers dig into my hips as he yanks me to the edge of the desk. In one swift motion, he tears my leggings down my legs. The cool air hits my bare skin and I shiver.

Then his hand is between my legs, fingers sliding through my wetness. I cry out as he pushes two fingers inside me, curling them just right. My head falls back and Marius attacks my exposed throat with his mouth. He pumps his fingers in and out, his thumb circling my clit. Pleasure builds rapidly, circling tight in my core.

"That's it, little bird," he murmurs. "Come for me."

The Morrigan responds deep within me, seeking him. I feel the answering pulse of the Raven King's power from Marius. Their connection is entwined with our own, heightening every feeling.

I come with a violence that steals my breath. I convulse around Marius's fingers, my vision flashing white. He works me through it, drawing out every last tremor until I'm limp and spent.

He withdraws his hand, bringing his fingers to his mouth. I watch, transfixed, as he licks them clean. The obscene sight makes me clench around nothing.

Marius chuckles darkly at my reaction. He kicks off his pants before settling between my thighs again. The head of his cock nudges against my entrance and I shudder.

"Are you ready?" he asks, voice rough with desire.

"Yes," I breathe, bracing my hands on the desk behind me. "Please, Marius."

He thrusts into me in one smooth stroke. I moan brokenly as he stretches me open, filling me completely. He starts to move, setting a hard and fast pace.

The shadows dance around us as Marius claims me over and over again. Our coupling is frenzied, desperate—two halves of a whole finally reunited. The Morrigan and Raven King meld with our own magic, this reunion centuries in the making.

I can feel every drag of his cock inside me, every press of his body against mine. It's too much, but not enough all at once. Sweat cools on my skin, dampening my hair and our harsh breathing mingles. Marius leans down to capture my mouth again, swallowing my cries of pleasure as he drives into me relentlessly.

I hook my legs around his waist, urging him impossibly deeper. He obliges with a low groan, angling his hips to hit that perfect spot inside me with every thrust. My moans rise in pitch as the pleasure mounts.

"That's it, little bird," Marius whispers against my lips. "Take what you need."

And I do. I surrender to the overwhelming sensations, to the dark magic binding us together. The Morrigan surges forward, reaching for her mate, and the Raven King responds in kind. Their archaic power and connection joins with our own, intensifying every sensation.

My climax crashes over me, obliterating all thoughts except Marius and the feeling of him pulsing deep inside me as he finds his own release. We cling to each other as the aftershocks fade, chests heaving.

Marius rests his forehead against mine, nose brushing my cheek. "Mine," he murmurs fiercely.

I cup his face in my hands, thumbing over his cheek. “ Mine,” I whisper back.