2. Morelle

2

MORELLE

A s Brandon carried Morelle into his home, their home now, she rested her head on his chest, and when he headed straight for the master bedroom, she expected him to put her down on the bed. Instead, he settled onto the couch in the seating area, keeping her cradled in his lap.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Morelle lifted her head and smiled apologetically. "This wasn't the way I wanted to spend our first night together in our home." Losing the fight against the waves of exhaustion that threatened to pull her under, she put her head down again. "I'm completely drained. I don't even have the energy to take a shower, let alone do anything else."

She'd wanted tonight to be special and had planned to seduce Brandon properly to celebrate this important step in their relationship. Instead, she felt like her limbs were as limp as noodles and her eyelids as heavy as the curtains in the Mother's temple.

To perform such a powerful feat of telekinesis she'd pulled energy from everyone present, probably mostly from Annani, but a significant portion had come from her, and what was left was barely enough to keep her alive.

Or at least it felt like that.

Could expending too much energy kill her?

Drain her of her life force?

Or did she have a safety mechanism that stopped the process when it reached a critical level?

It was also possible that she didn't have enough power of her own to affect physical objects. Perhaps she could only do it by stealing power from others.

But wait. Physical objects were not the only things she could affect. Her so-called nullifying gift wasn't really the ability to block others' paranormal talents. She simply drained them of their ability, rendering them temporarily inert.

She didn't know that for sure, but it made sense to her that the two abilities were actually one. Still, without further testing it was all speculation at this point.

Had Annani noticed the drain on her power?

The thought made Morelle's stomach clench. Thank the Mother that her sister had been there. The combined energy from the other immortals might not have been enough on its own to move that heavy piece of stone.

"I will gladly help you in the shower, but if you don't even have the energy for that, I will just undress you and tuck you under the covers." Brandon pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "As I've said many times before, I will be overjoyed to just have the privilege of having you in my bed and holding you in my arms."

Guilt crashed through Morelle at his words. He was so loving and devoted, and yet she couldn't bring herself to trust him completely.

They had something special going on, but Brandon had known her for mere days, while he'd been part of the clan for centuries, and he was a councilman. Of course, he would side with the clan and not with her.

He wouldn't keep her ability secret if he thought that it could potentially endanger Annani.

Morelle comforted herself with the thought that the energy drain hadn't seemed to harm her sister, but what if it had diminished her abilities somehow?

Then again, when she had blocked Jin earlier, the female's tethering ability returned as soon as she left the room, which indicated that the effects were temporary. The same had also been true of the others she had tested her power on.

"I know that you haven't fallen asleep." Brandon rubbed soothing circles on her back. "Are you so quiet because you are still bothered by your foiled plans for tonight?"

Morelle chuckled without opening her eyes. "I'm upset by that, but it's not why I'm quiet. I'm trying to process everything that occurred. I'm still shaken by what might have happened if that power hadn't manifested out of nowhere."

His arms tightened around her. "You saved Darius's life, and no one will ever forget that, especially his parents, but you are exhausted and should go to sleep. We can brainstorm what happened tomorrow over a cup of coffee."

He was so good to her. Too good. Too trusting.

Didn't he realize what she'd done?

"I moved without thinking," she murmured. "Pure instinct. I sensed the flaw in the stone, and it was like I knew that something was going to happen. I braced for action, and when the stone started falling, I reacted as if I'd done something like that many times before, but I haven't. I didn't know I could do it."

Brandon's chest rose and fell with a deep breath. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Morelle opened her eyes. "I used to be a skeptic who believed the universe was pure chaos and that there was no divine intervention in anything, but then my mother appeared in my dream and told me so many things I couldn't have known. She was proof that the afterlife exists. "

Her mother had also told her about her father, about the head priestess being her sister, and that the head priestess had been reborn almost immediately after dying. Curiously, her mother hadn't mentioned Ahn reincarnating, and she hadn't said anything about him being with her in the Fields of the Brave either. But she had said that even though they hadn't been fated for each other, as Ahn had believed, they were bound together in life and death by the two wonderful children they had produced.

"Bonds of love never die," her mother had said, perhaps to encourage her to wake up and find love.

Morelle lifted her hand and cupped Brandon's cheek. "My mother told me that life was worth living. She told me to listen, and I did. That was when I heard you talking to me."

He dipped his head and kissed her forehead. "I should thank your mother. Is there a ritual in your religion for thanking ancestors for their guidance?"

"Not that I know of. I wasn't a very good acolyte. But I guess you can offer a prayer to the Mother of All Life and ask her to convey a message to my mother." Morelle regretted her suggestion as soon as she voiced it. "On second thought, maybe that's not such a great idea. The Mother might not appreciate being asked for favors."

"Good point. From what I've heard about the Kra-ell deity, she's not the kind and forgiving type."

Morelle nodded. "She's both kind and harsh, but she's not forgiving, that's for sure. The Mother of All Life doesn't offer second chances, and the only redemption she accepts is through the ultimate sacrifice of one's life. Still, she gave me the ability to save Darius, and I'm grateful to her for that."

"Maybe the gift was always there," Brandon said. "The reason I asked whether you believed in reincarnation was that you might have possessed the ability in a previous life, and perhaps it has lain dormant until a life-or-death emergency forced it to the surface."

His words resonated with her.

"I've always felt there was something more inside me, waiting to emerge," Morelle admitted. "It felt like something big, but I dismissed it as wishful thinking."

Brandon nodded. "I suspect we've only scratched the surface of what you're capable of."

If he only knew. Morelle suppressed a shiver.

"Are you cold?" He shifted as if prepared to stand. "I'll get you a blanket."

The only warmth she wanted was that emitted by his body. "Just hold me. Please."

His expression softened. "Always."

They sat in silence for a while, Brandon's steady breathing and warm embrace almost lulling Morelle to sleep, but the questions that kept circling in her mind prevented her from truly relaxing.

"Brandon?" she murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever keep secrets from the clan?"

His hand stilled on her back. "What do you mean?"

If she didn't want him to guess her motive for the question, she had to be careful with how she worded it.

"Let's say you knew that a good friend of yours thralled someone they were not supposed to, but it was for a good cause and not for their own benefit. Would you report the transgression?"

He was quiet for a long moment, and Morelle held her breath, waiting for his answer.

"That's a complex question," he said finally. "It would depend on the situation and the potential consequences." He shifted slightly to look down at her. "Why are you asking?"

It seemed to her like he was evading a straight answer, which led her to believe that he had transgressed before and hadn't told anyone about it.

"So basically, what you are telling me is that if the unauthorized thralling results in a positive outcome, you approve of bending the rules?"

He chuckled. "You are a smart lady, Princess Morelle, and if you can detect my deflection even while half asleep with exhaustion, I need to be very careful about what I say around you."

Morelle took that as an answer to her question that didn't necessitate his admission of guilt. She also took it as proof that he trusted her but not enough to give her a straightforward answer that could implicate him.

"You are a smart male, Councilman Brandon," she mimicked his response. "And I too should remember to be careful about what I say around you." She shifted in his arms so that her head was higher, and their eyes were level.

His lips lifted in a half smile. "We make a great pair. So, why the sudden concern with my ethics? Are you afraid that you have moved in with a scoundrel?"

"I'm still learning about clan dynamics." She rested her head on his chest again. "As a new member, I should be aware of the rules, which ones are set in stone and which are bendable. I also need to know what the rules are between mates. If I know of your minor transgressions, am I obligated to report them? Or are mates excused from such obligation?"

He regarded her for a long moment, his eyes calculating. "Everyone knows that mates do not keep secrets from one another unless the secret can endanger someone's life. My first loyalty is to you, Morelle, and unless your transgression might cause someone's death, your secret is safe with me."