Page 9 of Awakened Destiny (The Dark Ascendant #3)

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."

Smoke curls behind my eyelids when I blink. Not real smoke - memory-smoke, battlefield ash clinging to armor made from raven feathers. My armor. Not mine. His.

The vision slams into me like a blade between the ribs.

A woman with Brigid ’ s face stands atop a mound of corpses, a crown of bones gleaming wet. The Raven King ’ s hands—my hands, but thicker, scarred—reach for her. Their mouths meet over a dead man ’ s shield. Her fingers dig into his throat hard enough to bruise. The kiss tastes like copper and conquest.

“ You see?” The Raven King ’ s voice grates through my skull. “ This is what you deny us. What we were. What we are.”

Brigid ’ s body presses against mine in the present. The Morrigan ’ s lips brush my jaw, then my mouth. “ Let him rise. Let us love.”

My fingers tighten on her waist. The Raven King surges forward, hungry. His desire crashes over me, his instinctual hunger merging with my own until I can no longer tell where he ends and I begin. My skin burns, every nerve ending on fire.

Our lips meet in a bruising clash. It's not gentle or loving, but uninhibited and desperate, centuries of longing unleashed. Her teeth scrape my lower lip, drawing blood. The coppery taste mingles on our tongues as I plunge deeper, devouring her mouth.

My hands roam Brigid's body, now possessed by the Morrigan. I cup her breasts roughly, feeling her nipples harden beneath my palms. She arches into me, a low moan escaping her throat. Her nails rake down my back, leaving trails of fire in their wake.

I ’ m vaguely aware of Lochan stepping towards me, his blade out. My palm flattens against his sternum instead, shoving him back with enough force to make him stumble.

We break apart, panting. The Morrigan's eyes flash with triumph and lust. "Yes," she hisses. "Let go. Give in to us."

Then I see it. The briefest of flashes. A plea for help, in the Brigid ’ s eyes. It ’ s gone in an instant. But it ’ s enough. I push the Raven King ’ s memories back. I push him back.

“ Fuck your divine prophecy.” Blood drips from my lip. “ I ’ d rather let that asshole kill me.” I nod in Lochan ’ s direction.

The Morrigan stumbles. Brigid ’ s stolen face twists.

Lochan barks a laugh behind me. “ That ’ s it, Marius. Piss off the death goddess. Solid strategy.”

The Raven King howls through my nervous system, claws scrabbling at the cage of my ribs. He shows me more—a bedchamber draped in shadows, the Morrigan laughing as she pins his wrists with silk chains. A twilight grove where they carved their initials into each other ’ s thighs with daggers. Centuries of obsession distilled into perfect, fucked-up clarity.

I dig fingernails into my palms until the skin splits. “ You ’ re pathetic,” I spit, unsure who I ’ m addressing. “ Both of you. Grabbing at children because you ’ re too weak to rot alone.”

Brigid ’ s eyes flicker again. Just a tremor, but I catch it—the barest flutter of lashes. The Morrigan grabs her own wrist, nails drawing blood.

“ Enough.” The goddess ’ s voice shakes the warehouse walls. “ Your defiance is tedious. I ’ ll peel your mind apart joint by—”

“ Little bird.”

The nickname slips out, whispered, unplanned.

Brigid ’ s head snaps sideways like I slapped her. The Morrigan ’ s snarl cuts off mid-word.

“ That ’ s right.” I step into her space, heedless of the dark energy crackling around us. My thumb swipes the blood staining her lips, Brigid ’ s lips. My blood.

Brigid ’ s mouth moves. Not the Morrigan ’ s sneer. Hers. A choked sound emerges, half sob, half scream. The goddess reels back like I shoved a stake through her chest.

“ You—” Her stolen voice cracks. Shadows boil up from the concrete floor, tendrils lashing at my ankles. “ Impudent maggot. You think pet names unravel eons? Change fate?”

The Raven King surges against my spine in a silent roar. His rage permeates my bones. He wants to carve through muscle and sinew, puppet my limbs into embracing her. I let him push. Let him strain. Then slam the mental gates shut.

Lochan ’ s knife presses cold against my lower back. A reminder. A promise.

The Raven King claws at my diaphragm. She is ours, he snarls inside my skull. Ours to claim.

I swipe sweat from my eyes. Lochan ’ s blade bites deeper. Good. Keeps me sharp. “ You ’ re nothing but ghosts.”

The Morrigan freezes. Brigid ’ s gray eyes widen—panic. A twitch. A fracture.

Tiernan coughs wetly from the corner. “ Is now a bad time to suggest exorcism?”

The shadows strike.

Brigid ’ s body blurs. One second she ’ s ten feet away, the next her fingers close around my throat. The Morrigan rams my skull against the wall. Dust and metal shavings rain down.

“ Your persistence amuses,” she purrs, Brigid ’ s lips brushing my ear. “ Shall I make you watch while I unspool your companions ’ entrails? Let you count each scream?”

The Raven King thrashes, howling. I lock eyes with the Morrigan, ignoring the crushing pressure on my windpipe. "Do your worst," I rasp. "But if I die, so does he. There is no other vessel prepared to hold him." The tattoos all over my body ensure the Raven King ’ s survival in a vessel. I was to be the last one. Am the last one.

A spasm of uncertainty crosses her face and the Morrigan's grip falters for a split second.

I seize the moment, slipping out of her hands and slipping into the shadows on the other side of the space. "Brigid," I say urgently, "I know you're in there. Fight her."

The Morrigan snarls. "Fool! She is mine now. Your pathetic love cannot—"

Her words cut off in a choked gasp. Brigid's eyes roll back, her body going rigid. When they open again, they're clear. Terrified.

"Marius," Brigid whispers, her true voice emerging. "Help me. I can't—"

Then she's gone again, the Morrigan's cold rage twisting her features.