Page 96 of Courting War
Chapter Twenty-Nine
KELLYN
Champion of Theoden
LOVE CAVES, CITY OF THE GODS
The lava-tube corridors of the place smelled earthy, like the woods after a light rain, but they tasted like tender tension. Kellyn and Morrigan walked silently, their hands swinging like pendulums, barely missing each other. But he felt the near misses like a poisoned Love arrow striking his heart—poisoned with desire. It was no longer easy to escape his growing feelings for her.
She was grumpy, arrogant, and impossible, but she was also supportive and understanding in a way he’d never experienced.
“Do you think Cecile might be in the Champion’s quarters?” Morrigan asked.
They were searching for Cecile in the underground caves of the palace. They’d scoured all the upper floors and couldn’t find her anywhere.
“No. When she gets upset, she hides in small dark places, burrowing deep within herself and her pain,” he said, “I think she has to be down here.”
“Alright, you know her better than I do.” Morrigan stumbled and caught herself with a hand against the jagged rocks.
Instinctively, his hands circled her waist to catch her, but she flinched at the contact and blood-soaked onto his fingertips. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, sucking in a breath. “Just a flesh wound.” She clutched her side, pain coating her face.
“You’re not okay.” He swept her into his arms and hunted for a place to attend to her wounds.
Gallagher hadn’t come to aid them. It became more apparent each day that Theodra had truly forsaken him completely. The only reason Gallagher helped them before was that Morrigan asked her to. It had nothing to do with goodwill or kindness, and nothing to do with War herself.
Clutching Morrigan close to his chest, he found a cavern with a rose garden designed for romance and midnight assignations. But it wasn’t the seductive mood of the cave that made it the perfect refuge. The grass grew along the rock beds, making it the ideal place to rest and check her wounds.
But the cave was designed for something far more scandalous. Glowworms and luminescent butterflies glittered throughout, creating a soft, seductive light. Cicadas and owls hummed sweet arias into the shadows, and dangling from the ceiling were two wooden swings, the ropes formed from rose vines. Farther in, a pool sparkled like a sea of diamonds, its surface tranquil but littered with unclaimed desires. It beckoned couples into its depths to complete their lustful acts. Rivulets of liquid fire poured into the waters and hissed, the sound mixing with the insects’ song and rejuvenating Kellyn’s hope.
The place was designed for love affairs but would have to do for a sick bed.
He gently rested Morrigan on the grass and slid open her dress—the deep plunging back making it easy—to find a deep, festering wound with teeth marks coiling down her side. More stretched across her shoulders and back.
Kellyn’s heart jolted. It was so much worse than he had guessed. How had she even managed to stand? To walk?
Kellyn ripped off a clean section of his tunic and dipped it intothe water. He needed to clean her wounds.
Morrigan gritted her teeth and pinched her eyes closed. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”
“I want to, Morrigan.”
Her eyes flashed open and sparked with surprise.
Unable to handle the growing tension, Kellyn placed his makeshift cloth on her gaping flesh, and she hissed in pain but didn’t take her eyes off him.
“What if I wanted to take care of you?” she whispered. “Would you let me?”
“Of course.”
She rested her head against the grass and stared at the cave ceiling. “I will get a chance to care for you one day.”
“I’m sure you will.” He ran a finger along the skin surrounding her wound, checking the severity and depth. “But it’s not a competition.”
She laughed and sucked in a pained breath. “I didn’t think it was.”
A flash of glittering blue light burst through the darkness and solidified into a ball beside Morrigan’s head. They both flinched as the magic settled between them before it dissolved, and in its place rested an ancient book with a leather-bound cover. It glittered with enchantment, and fire diamonds clawed at its spine, lacing the book in glory. Tucked into the pages was a folded letter. Kellyn carefully removed it and handed it over for Morrigan to read.
