Page 69 of Straw and Gold
My lungs were on fire as I rounded another corner, fast approaching the door to the library.
His name, his name, hisname.
He’d given me everything I needed and I thought that meant the language of Céaduah. I thought he meant I knew his name intimately because I was so quick to learn the language.
Morelli. Morella.
I yanked open the library door, half flying down the winding staircase.
Morelli. Morella.
Intimately. I knew itintimately.
The jagged stones of citrine crystals hummed in the barest light as dawn continued its approach. I ran through the cavern, ignoring the cuts opening again on my feet.
I knew it.I had to know it.
I reached the end of the tunnel and shifted into a raven, my golden wings alight just as the first break of orange rays hit the citrine in the cliffside, signaling Killian’s last chance at someone saving him from the death that called his name in secret.
Fighting the concoction that had sent me so deep into sleep, I urged on, soaring over the valley below, spotting the cliffside where my husband kneeled, waiting for his fate.
His fate.
Moh Dhóches.
It was the only name he’d given me that was in Céaduah. He couldn’t say his own name, so that wasn’t it. But the others…
He called me Morella. He called me Goldling.
The first, I’d known all my life. Intimately. The second I’d known since the moment our bargain was struck and I became the only hope he had left.
My Morella, My Goldling.
Morelli and ór.
Morelliór.
Golden Mushroom.
That day I’d shouted Morelli across the cliffs, he’d been so proud. He’d praised me over and over, telling me how smart I was because I’d been so close.
So fucking close.
I beat my wings faster, though they felt like they were lighting on fire, and ignored the protest of my lungs, nearing the cliff’s edge as he came more into view. The sun’s rays crept forward as he sat on the edge of the cliff, just waiting to meet his fate as if he’d already accepted death.
Well, I hadn’t and it was I who controlled his fate.
I shifted mid-air, the golden sun hitting my back as I shoved him. Hard.
We tangled together, rolling away from the cliff’s edge, but I was faster, pushing him back down as he began to rise.
I spread my wings tipped in gold, rushing to the very edge of the cliff and shielding the man I loved from a fate I would not allow.
“MORELLIÓR!” I screamed. The sound of his name echoed across the Citrine Cliffs, repeating over and over and shifting the wind that blew my hair across my face.
I repeated again and again the name I understood now was his.
“Morelliór! Morelliór! Morelliór!”
