20. Awakening in Sapphire

The night was young, and every one of their guests were cheery-eyed and a bit flushed. Morgan made solo appearances amongst the masses, shaking hands and smiling wide. He had almost circled his way around the entire ballroom when he noticed the Cranely Coven sitting together around a small table in the far corner.

Reginald was squished into a suit too small for him with a cummerbund, and he had taken his mask off to fan himself. Missus Cranely, Denise, Morgan recalled from the invitations, was a petite, blonde woman wearing a simple, blue frock and holding a beaded mask on a stick. Their two children were younger, still adolescents, and both wore button-down dress shirts and slacks with black masks. Mister Cranely jumped in his seat at Morgan’s approach while the rest of them stared uncertainly.

“Ah, the Cranelys!” Morgan gave them his best, false enthusiasm. “Lovely to meet you!” He extended his arm to Missus Cranely, and she giggled as Morgan kissed the back of her hand, making Reginald’s face even redder.

“Fell,” Mister Cranley grumbled, “Nice place you got here.”

“Why, thank you! I designed and constructed it myself.”

Missus Cranely’s eyes bulged. “Oh, my! Lavish parties, exquisite taste, and a knack for architecture? What can’t you do, Mister Fell?”

As Morgan was about to make his exit, not wishing to stare at Mister Cranely’s sour face any longer, a small, blonde girl in a frilly, blue dress of cotton and lace came running to fill an empty seat at the table. She glanced up at Morgan, and a look of awe crossed her tiny face with a squeal.

“Lena, darling, this is Mister Fell,” Missus Cranely cooed, “Can you tell him thank you for your invitation?”

Lena turned pink and dropped her face. Missus Cranely sighed. “Our apologies, Mister Fell, Lena’s become very shy over the past few years since-”

Mister Cranely cut her off with a sharp clear of his throat. Morgan rounded the table to kneel beside Lena, ignoring her surly father. “Hi there, Lena. I’m Morgan.”

“Hullo,” she mumbled, not meeting his eyes and clicking the toes of her black, strapped shoes together, “I liked your magic.”

Morgan gave her a sweet smile. A warm hand caressed his back, and he glanced over his shoulder to find Aaron at his side, offering a slight bow to the other Cranelys.

“Did you? I’m so glad.” He spun his hand through the air in front of the girl, and a single, glittering, white rose appeared between his fingers.

Her eyes popped in her little head as he held it out to her. She took it gingerly, brushing the petals with her fingertips. “I wish I could do that,” she whispered.

“One day, with practice, you can. Conjuring a living thing takes a lot of study, but you can do it.”

“I can’t.” Lena shook her head, blushing again. “My magic’s br-broken.”

Morgan tilted his head at the statement before looking back to her parents with an inquiring stare.

Missus Cranely sighed. “She had so much potential. She was even beginning to understand the basics of glamours. At only seven years old!”

“That’s enough, Denise!” Mister Cranely snapped, “That is no one’s business but ours!”

“Oh, shut up, Reginald!” She gave him a dismissive wave. “If anyone can help her...” She turned back to Morgan. “She was out playing by herself in the park near our home one afternoon. It’s always been safe, enclosed. We had a spyglass to watch over her, but... it went dark. I raced out and found her sitting in the dirt, holding her arm and crying. When we asked her what happened, she just shook her head and said she didn’t know. She hasn’t even been able to create a stable beacon since.”

Denise touched a handkerchief to the corners of her eyes. Reginald was beet-red with his stubby arms crossed. Morgan turned to Aaron with sadness in his eyes, relatively certain of what had occurred to stunt Lena’s magic, begging him to understand without words. Aaron looked at Lena and then back to Morgan. His face filled with remorse, slamming his eyes shut.

“Lena, honey.” Morgan reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small, metal shard. “Can I see your arm? The one that hurt on the day your mum mentioned?”

Lena squirmed in her seat uncomfortably, but she lifted her right arm. Morgan traced a single finger up her forearm, searching for the link. When he reached the crook of her elbow, he found a sudden cold at his fingertip—a small hole where her energy was being siphoned away. His fingertips shimmered violet as he numbed the skin. “This won’t hurt at all, okay?”

Morgan turned back to the Cranelys. “She’s been tapped. I can break the link with iron and the right spellwork, but it will take at least a week for her magic to stabilize.”

Mister Cranely’s jaw dropped, and he looked to Missus Cranely. The woman nodded rapidly through the tears on her cheeks.

Morgan turned back to Lena, inclining his head to meet her eyes. “Don’t look. Promise me?”

She nodded and turned her head. Aaron quickly moved to her side to distract her. “Hey, Lena. My name is Aaron.”

She gave him a smile too big for her small face. “I saw you dancing with Morgan.” She giggled. “Do you love him?”

Morgan tossed Aaron a sideways grin as he worked. While he may have already been privy to the man’s true feelings for him, those words hadn’t yet left Aaron’s lips—not completely, at least. Until they did, he would protect that knowledge.

Aaron’s face lit up at the innocence in her question, returning Morgan’s smile. “Well... he’svery precious to me, Lena.” Morgan’s heart fluttered as his boyfriend continued, knowing these words were more than just a show for the girl. “We’ve really only known each other a short time, but I would do anything to keep him safe. And he does the same for me. He helped me, just like he’s helping you.”

“Did he fix your magic?” she asked.

Aaron shook his head with a chuckle. “No, but he did fix me. I had a big hole in my tummy, right here-” He placed his hand on the spot where the shrapnel had run him through. “I’m all better now, though.”

“And now-” Morgan said, finishing his task, “So are you, Lena.” He ran his hand over the girl’s arm to heal the damage fast enough that she wouldn’t notice.

Lena laughed gleefully, leaping from the chair to hug Morgan around the neck. “Thanks, Morgan!”

Morgan stood with a smile while Lena jumped at Aaron next. Missus Cranely sobbed happily while Mister Cranely sputtered for words. They both thanked him repeatedly—at least he assumed that’s what Reginald’s inability to form words meant—and he gave them his contact information should they have any questions or concerns.

“I wanted so badly to think you were lying,” Aaron said grimly as they strode away from the Cranely’s table, “Even after everything Daphne told me...”

Morgan took his hand. “I know. I shouldn’t have made you feel like you were responsible, though. You couldn’t have known. You needed something to believe in.”

Aaron pulled him backwards onto the dance floor as it shimmered with soft white sparkles, holding him close around the waist and taking one hand in his own. The way his eyes seemed to hold the stars as he stared into Morgan’s—he didn’t need to tell him that he had something so much more to believe in.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“For what?” Morgan asked.

“Everything. Saving me. Letting me in and telling me your secrets. Meeting me halfway to give us a chance.” Aaron looked upon him with so much adoration that Morgan thought his heart might burst. “And for... looking out for my mom.”

Morgan shook his head gently. “I wish I could take some credit, but it was all Daphne.”

“It wasn’t, though,” Aaron spoke sweetly, “Yeah, she used it to scheme on our behalf, and I’m so glad she did, but she knew you were already thinking about it from your notes. And the time and research to figure out what they needed? That was all you.”

“I-” Morgan choked, “I would give anything to have my mom back, even if I can’t remember her face. You’re important to me, that makes her important to me, Aaron. I care about you.”

Those words aren’t nearly enough...

“I know. I... care about you too.” Aaron held the side of his face, running a thumb along his jaw, sending chills from his neck to his toes. “So very much, Morgan.”

The weight in those words gripped his heart and held it tight, like it was a treasure beyond worth, like it was water in the desert and air in his lungs. Morgan knew there was something so much deeper that he was holding back for fear of saying it too soon.

Is it too soon?

Whatever this was between them, words such as care and boyfriend didn’t come close. They had found one another from across time. Their very centers of gravity had pulled them together like stars colliding in devastating, cosmic beauty amidst destruction and chaos. Here, in this moment, Morgan was certain that whatever he may learn of his past, nothing and no one could have ever claimed such a place in his heart as Aaron Jones had.

The dance floor pulsed beneath them, fueled by the emotion they sparked in one another. Bright ripples of brilliant blues and violets resonated across the marble with every step. The air filled with gasps around them, but they didn’t notice.

The world had become a very small place—all of it contained here, within their arms.

“I wish I could take that night back, Aaron,” Morgan whispered.

Aaron cocked his head. “So... do it.”

“What?”

“Change the story.” He grinned. “What would you have done differently?”

“Up until the things I said on the boardwalk... nothing.”

“Okay, so...” Aaron’s brow pressed together as he thought back. “I think it went to shit when I said that you make a difference here. That you gave me hope.”

“I would-” Morgan’s throat bobbed with a nervous swallow. “I would say, ‘I wish I had the kind of hope that you do. I wish I could believe in people like you do.’”

Aaron nodded, whispering softly to him, “And I would say, ‘If I can believe in you, Morgan Fell… moody, prickly, don’t-fuck-with-me Morgan Fell-’”

Morgan gasped a small laugh.

“‘Then I have to believe... that you can find a way to believe in them.’”

He rested his head on Aaron’s shoulder, such a peace washing over him wrapped up in the embrace. “Then I would tell you the truth about why I took the job from Lexi. Why I ran off to find you like I did.”

“What’s that?” Aaron’s breath tickled his ear.

“When I tried to scare her off,” he began with a deep inhale, “She didn’t give up. I was such an ass, but she kept going. She said this city needed you, that your mom needed you. She told me how hard you fought to do good in spite of everything you’ve been through. Then she handed me your picture…”

He remembered that moment, standing in the doorway to Daphne’s office, fighting with his own heart to hold on to a version of himself that he couldn’t even recognize now. Everything Morgan had been feeling for weeks as he wrestled with a past unknown and a present that he no longer wanted came rising to the surface.

“And in your eyes, I saw the world spin backward. I felt gravity break, and I left the earth, just for a moment, before all that I knew went spiraling away. When my feet touched the ground again… everything had changed. And I dared, only for the whisper of an instant to reach out and touch the light in that smile of yours.”

“That light you see…” Aaron whispered, “That’s you. You put that there.”

Morgan sputtered a laugh. “You may as well accuse me of hanging the sun in the sky.”

Aaron leaned down, resting their foreheads together. “I wouldn’t put it past you.”

Morgan chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Wherever it comes from… I knew right then and there that I had to protect it with my life.”

“And you did.”

“I always will… for as long as you let me.”

Aaron nodded gently against him.

Morgan was certain that every eye in the room was on them. The magic of the dance floor was resonating with their emotions as it swirled up, circling around their legs. His eyes flitted between Aaron’s adoring gaze and his pillowy, soft lips as they descended toward his own.

“You are so beautiful, Aaron Oliver Jones. Inside... and out.”

Warm breath caressed his lips. He parted them slowly in anticipation. His heart fluttered wildly.

Aaron released a heated laugh against his skin, eyes sparkling right above his face. “Said the stars unto the moon.”

“Said the stars...”

Morgan’s entire body tensed. The words slipped into place—spoken in a voice he knew. From a memory he knew. His vision pulsed. Sudden whispers sounded from the depths of his mind. The ballroom shattered around them in an instant as words and images filled his head like sunbeams piercing a dark sky.

“...unto the moon... “

The world shifted in and out—rolling, green hills on horseback as he held tight to the one holding the reins, the sun bright and warm on their faces. Dawn-lit mornings, wrapped up together in nothing but white sheets.

“I will never let him touch you again.”

Swords clashing together in a field of dirt, falling to the ground atop one another as they laughed. Blushing vibrantly as he eyed the man in the barracks, stifling a grin.

“Then I shall strike him down and take the throne MYSELF!”

Dancing side by side in battle as one. Magic and steel flashing in tandem. A strong hand in his as they stood from raised seats in a chamber of stone, the crowd clapping and cheering with pride.

“Where will you go?”

All of this, washing away the world around them as one face remained the same—a bright smile and crystal blue eyes filled with unquestionable love.

“I love you, Morgan le Fay—my heart, my home, my every sunrise—with all that I am.”

Truth struck Morgan like lightning. The memories flooded his mind in a chaotic storm. Sharp pain pierced his heart as a vision from the past gripped his thoughts—a vision of death, and everything he held dear laid to ruin.

“Morgan! Your eyes!”

The ballroom returned in a haze. Morgan clutched his chest. The pain remained, growing stronger and stronger as the visions passed, crippling him from within. His loss, his long-forgotten despair was laid bare, forcing him to face it after centuries without, threatening to swallow him whole.

“NO!” he gasped, pulling back from Aaron with a hand clenched over his heart, “I can’t! Please, no!”

Footsteps echoed across the marble. Voices demanded people move as he stumbled backward.

“Morgan!”

He grasped behind him at the wall, whirling around as he sought a way out. His reflection stared back at him from a gold vase holding a floral arrangement, and he ripped away his mask, tossing it away to reveal solid voids as black veins encircled his eyes. He grabbed hold of a tapestry and threw it aside, sending magic pulsing through the fabric as he stepped behind it.

Aaron and Daphne reached the tapestry, pulling it back to reveal nothing but solid wall.

Morgan stumbled out onto the roof, falling to the cold cement as the torment brought on by his encroaching memories shredded him apart from the inside.

“You are not ready...”

His past hammered in his head like the sea itself, set loose against a feeble wooden barricade as he screamed. It was drowning him; water in his lungs, burning as he gasped for air. He roared into the night, fumbling his way to the edge.

“No man could be...”

“Please... please make it stop. Make it stop!” he sobbed, tearing at his chest beneath the black coat. Ripping his jacket away, he threw it across the roof. He clawed at his own heart, wanting nothing more than to pull it out and be rid of this unrelenting agony, drawing blood through his white undershirt. He collapsed in on himself, leaning against the parapet, fighting for breath as the tears on his face grew cold in the night air. His eyes crept open enough to see the streets below.

He could make it stop. A few inches further and this unbearable pain could end.

The access door opened with a screech and a cluster of footsteps came running, calling his name. Morgan inched closer to the edge, shaking.

“Morgan!” a voice called from amidst the chaos inside him, and the storm within faltered. Hurried feet ran toward him. Someone dropped to their knees beside him as he reached over the ledge. “Morgan, stop!”

A pair of strong arms wrapped around his middle, hoisting him away from the edge. As they fell, Morgan recoiled, his hope of relief replaced with ever increasing torment.

“No, please!” he cried out through aching breaths, “Just make it stop... make it stop...” Morgan held himself tightly on the cement, clutching his chest and trembling uncontrollably.

“What’s happening to him?” Aaron called back from his side.

“I don’t... I don’t know...” Daphne sobbed from the doorway.

“His heart,” Frey choked, their hands over their chest, “It’s... it’s breaking. Over and over and over!” They turned to Daphne, tears drenching their face as they felt his turmoil. “Daphne, it will kill him!No one can handle this kind of pain! Not even Morgan!”

“What do we do?” Shane cried, “Is there a spell... anything?”

“I don’t...” Daphne stuttered, her face contorted in fear.

“Aaron.” Lexi took a step forward, certainty fixed in her eyes—those three fingers over her chest. “He needs you.”

“Me?” Aaron gasped, turning to the heap of aching cries that was Morgan, “What can I do?”

Lexi looked between them, turning back to Aaron’s face full of panic and heartache for the man she knew he loved. “He’s hurting,Aaron, like no one has ever hurt before. He needs to face it. He needs to know that he has something to fight for. Help him.”

Aaron looked away from her with rattled breaths. He slowly crawled to Morgan. His hands shook as he reached down, afraid of causing him more pain. “Morgan... tell me what to do. Just tell me. Please. Please let me help you.” Aaron’s uncertain hands wrapped around him, pulling him in.

“I can’t.I can’t, Aaron, please... please.”

“Morgan, talk to me,” Aaron choked, tears filling his eyes as he held him close. Something in the touch seemed to calm him. “Why... why is your heart so broken, my sweet boy?”

“No more tears, my sweet boy...”

“I...” Morgan drew in a tense breath, a modicum of clarity shining through, “I remember.”

Aaron’s eyes grew wide. Daphne inhaled sharply, falling to her knees as she listened on. Aaron pushed through his concern, tightening his grip. “Tell me... tell me everything, Morgan. I’m here.”

“I’m here now, fy cariad. I’ve got you.”

Morgan took shaking breaths, trying to ground himself in Aaron’s touch. “The day... the day I fell asleep,” he choked, “That was the day that I...” He shut his eyes tight, tears cascading down his face across the blackened veins and into Aaron’s lap. “I lost him.”

Aaron winced at the ache in his words.

“Who, Morgan?” Daphne called over, asking the question that Aaron was likely too scared to ask himself, “Who did you lose?”

“My best... friend. My everything,” Morgan sobbed, trying to make them understand, but the words tore through his throat like knives he was trying to cough free, “My Arthur...”

Silence swelled through the space. Daphne gasped, raising a hand over her mouth, and Morgan felt Aaron tense around him. He had to press on. He had to explain.

“Keep him talking, Aaron!” Frey called, “It’s helping! I feel... something else. There’s more than pain now!”

“Morgan...” Aaron struggled for words above him, “It’s okay. We knew this could be a possibility if your memories came back. It’s okay. I’m... I’m not going anywhere.”

“No,” Morgan choked, trying to upright himself, his hands pressed against the cold concrete, “You don’t understand...”

“Tell me. Help me understand, Morgan,” Aaron pleaded.

“It was me.” He shook, pulling back as Aaron shifted, refusing to let him go. “I... I created the spell to bring him back! It wasn’t some prophecy! It wasn’t destiny! I made him the Once and Future King!”

The expression in Aaron’s gaze shifted. Fear, not of being replaced by some ages-old love. Fear at the strength with which Morgan stared into his soul, trying to make him see. Something clicked. The wheels in Aaron’s mind were turning. Understanding took hold as he searched Morgan’s face, begging him to continue without words.

“I loved him.” More tears fell from Morgan’s darkened eyes, the light of the full moon in their reflections. “And he loved me... completely. I couldn’t bear to live in a world without him! I broke all the laws of magic! I defied every single rule I was sworn to uphold! It shouldn’t have worked...” He swallowed heavily. “...but itdid.”

Aaron leaned in, but Morgan turned away. Shame filled him now as he fought against the darkness raging in his heart.

“And when I woke up...” Morgan swallowed again, weakly, steeling himself before he faced Aaron once more, his dark eyes pleading with him for forgiveness. “I couldn’t even rememberyour face.”

Aaron bit down a sob. His eyes grew tight, alight beneath clenched brows as tears crashed to the ground, running along his cheeks, and lining his jaw. He gripped Morgan longingly as he stared into the voids overtaking his face.

“I’m so sorry…” Morgan cried, looking away again, “I forgot you! And after everything I did to get you back... I nearly lost you all over again!”

Aaron shifted forward, tucking their knees together as he cradled the back of Morgan’s head with one hand. With the other he lightly cupped the side of his face, urging him to turn back. Their labored breaths filled the space between them as Aaron sweetly ushered his chin upward, forcing him to meet his eyes.

“You listen to me, Morgan le Fay,” Aaron whispered raggedly, “Don’t you dare apologize to me. There is nothing...” He closed the distance, speaking against Morgan’s lips. “...to forgive.”

Aaron’s lips crashed into Morgan’s—claiming him and reclaiming him all at once—and the space lit like a newborn star in the night.

A pulse swept the roof. Brilliant, cobalt blue pierced the black sky, shining clear across the city. Morgan gasped against the possessive kiss as the pain inside him writhed, twisted, and then shattered. His fingers tangled in Aaron’s hair, clinging to him as if his very life depended on their connection.

As they pressed into one another, truths Morgan had forgotten made themselves known. Moments of his lost memory wove themselves through the air, playing like recordings amidst the swell of light. Images and voices rang out, singing a song of vindication. A song to remind him that he was home, safe in the arms of the only man he had ever loved.

The scenes played out around them as he held tight to Aaron, unable to pull away if he wanted to. Their friends gasped and laughed in awe—somewhere beyond their kiss that was the only thing tethering them to the earth.

The moment Morgan arrived at Castle Pendragon, hardly older than a toddler as he clung tightly to a robed man. “I will teach him, Uther, but the debt to be paid is your burden. You are to look after the boy.”

Young Arthur and Morgan chasing each other through stone halls as they laughed and played. “Father says you’re a witch! You know what happens to witches in Camelot, right?”

Their teenage years training in the field beneath the summer sun. “Come on then, Your Highness! I thought you were going to teach me something!”

The two of them on a riverbank beneath the stars as Arthur, a face familiar to all those witnessing the moment, begged him not to leave for fear of Uther. “Morgan, please! I don’t want to imagine this life without you! I need you by my side! I... I love you!”

And a celebration proclaiming their love as they stood on a high balcony, overlooking the entire kingdom. “Gone are the days of my father’s reign! Forevermore, this shall be a land of peace and shelter! A land where none shall live in fear because of who they are!”

Aaron and Morgan held firmly to the part of them they had lost, vowing never to let it go. The sadness in Morgan’s heart, that deep darkness, had gone. Light and warmth filled him full to bursting as he pressed further into the kiss. He could feel the smile that took shape in Aaron’s lips, and he knew that the same light lived there as well.

They trembled, slowly pulling apart to look upon one another. The storm of blue light faded. Aaron’s gaze was wide, swelling at the sight of Morgan’s eyes glistening silver once again in the moonlight. Morgan raised a shaking hand to stroke his face, and Aaron leaned into the touch with a look of endless longing.

“Hi,” Morgan whispered, still shaking.

“Hey there, beautiful.” Aaron pressed another kiss to his lips. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Morgan trembled. “It’s gone. The pain is gone.” He held a hand to his chest, looking back to Aaron. “Are you okay? That was... not how I would’ve chosen to drop that on you.”

“I don’t... I don’t feel any different.” Aaron’s eyes sparkled through reddened lids. He rested his forehead against Morgan’s. “But I saw… everything. That was us. You and me. I know it’s the truth. I can feel that. I’ve always been yours, Morgan.”

“And I, yours.” Morgan laughed weakly, drawing him in for another kiss. His heart could barely contain the joy at the touch of his lips and the warmth of his embrace.

“Hey, hey... we have an audience,” Aaron whispered, immediately stealing another kiss.

“I don’t care,” Morgan breathed against him.

They broke into laughter, leaning against one another for balance as they huddled close on the cold cement. Their hearty laughs spread across the rooftop to their friends, all of whom whooped and cheered, running toward them. Daphne reached them first with an ecstatic squeal, wrapping her arms tightly around them both. She blocked Morgan’s vision as he chuckled, pinned between her and Aaron. He felt a thump, followed by another hand at his back. And another, as his coven, his family surrounded him and the man who was once, and forever, his everything.

“This is incredible!” Daphne sobbed, “I never… never would have thought-”

“Morgan would bone his way to the throne?” Shane chortled.

“I swear to the gods, when I get out of this tangle of arms, McMillan,” Morgan growled.

“Quick!” Shane yelled, “Hug them tighter!”

They all laughed wildly, squeezing harder. A choking giggle echoed across the roof suddenly, and Aaron’s grip on Morgan loosened. “Lex?”

The others pulled away, staring out to where Lexi held herself up with one hand, the other firmly over her chest. A deep, aching fit of coughs took her over, barely allowing her a moment to breathe.

“Lex!” Aaron darted over to her. “Where’s your inhaler? Did you leave it in the ballroom?”

She shook her head wearily, fighting to speak, “Won’t… help…” She forced her eyes up with great effort, staring past Aaron to lock eyes with Morgan, pleading with every wince.

Morgan looked her over, trying to understand the question she was asking without words when his gaze caught sight of the hand held over her chest. Three fingers.

Her deep stare in the hallway the day she’d come to beg for his help finding Aaron filled his mind. “It’s really you.”

“Morgan…” she rasped, choking on every word, “Please… see me.”

The hospital. The way she’d fought to protect Aaron from his behavior, all the while insisting they were meant to be. “I’ve always thought the two of you sort of… belong together.”

Morgan stood, breathing heavily as he approached the struggling woman. The air surrounding her grew visibly thick, laden with a deep, threatening aura as if something was trying to squeeze the life out of her. An aura of menacing green.

“Aaron, stand back,” Morgan said, raising a hand.

Aaron hesitantly took a step away. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I’m sorry…” Lexi panted, “I’m so… sorry, Aaron.”

“She’s dying…” Morgan whispered, coiling his fist in the air, causing the faint hue of the magic surrounding Lexi to flare brightly in opposition, “She’s been cursed.”

“What?” Aaron gasped, “Cursed how? Can you help her?”

“Alexandra Queen…” Morgan said, gazing deep into her eyes. Eyes the wrong color. Hair the wrong color. Skin too dark and voice too deep. “There are only thirteen people in history that would know that sign, our sign, a shared gesture between the Knights…”

“The…” Aaron cast his eyes between Morgan and Lexi, “The Knights?”

“Of the Round Table,” Morgan said, latching onto the curse with both hands, causing it to screech as he used a power he rarely dared, bending it to his will, “And only one of them is stubborn enough—brazen enough to spit in the face of a curse that would take your very life for speaking words, revealing secrets it doesn’t want you to tell.”

“Morgan…” A single tear ran down Lexi’s cheek as her eyes fought to smile through her anguish.

“You’ve been fighting for us all along, haven’t you? All this time, and we had no idea. Still, you tried so hard.” Morgan’s eyes welled over. He roared, tightening his hold on the powerful magic that clung to Lexi with a murderous grip. “I see you… Guinevere.”