Page 11 of A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience
“Aprayer?” Morningford snorted. “Like what? The Lord’s Prayer? Or?—”
“Margaret,” said her husband, moving forward with intent.
But with her academic reputation on the line, Margaret had no time for even the most appealing of distractions. “Anything!” she told Morningford. “Any prayer from the heart would have sufficed. It wasnotmy work at fault in your failure!”
“Oh, holy God, let this work for me!” Morningford groaned—and then, as Margaret blinked in surprise, he launched into the very words she had worked for so many years to uncover. “Ouvre-moi ton cœur, pierre précieuse, et accorde-moi une merveille!”
“No!” Lord Riven bellowed.
An explosion of pressure burst through the air, knocking Margaret back as it billowed out from the stone that still lay on the floor, shooting out glorious red rays of light across the room. Its powers had unlockedexactlyas Margaret had always known they would with that ritual.
It was so utterly glorious, she could hardly breathe with wonder.
It was so academically satisfying, she could have floated up into the air with glee...
And then she heard Morningford’s next words, hoarse with triumph:“Make me new monsters!”
“What?”Margaret spun around, horror like a splash of icy water to douse her victory. “No.Stop! What are youthinking?”
“I’ve finally won!” Morningford’s bloodshot eyes were alight as he grinned manically past her at the radiant Rose of Normandy. “I’llbe the one in the history books now! After all those years watching you take everything that should have been mine,I’llbe the one remembered.”
“But...that was what you took from all of your own years of study?” Margaret stared at him in disbelief. “Don’t yourecall what happened the last time someone tried this? The horrors that resulted? All thedeaths?”
“People are still talking about it hundreds of years later.” His grin peeled his stained lips so wide, he looked feral with hunger. “I’llbe the most famous Morningford from now on. People will think this college was named after me!”
“There are principles more important than fame,” Margaret gritted. “There are even...”Oh, God!She grimaced, her chest compressing with agony as realization slotted into place. “Issuesso muchmore important than winning or being right.Damnation!” As the air thickened around them with the condensing power of the Rose, she looked past her victorious rival and saw the bleak expression on her husband’s face...her husband, who had tried so hard to stop her from committing her own fatal mistake.
“I swear, I’ll step down from academia if you want,” she promised Morningford in a desperate rush as her husband doubled over, no doubt in despair at her folly. “I’ll never challenge any of your theories again, no matter how misguided or foolish they might be. I’ll even tell everyone you were right about everything. Just stop this madness, now!”
Morningford snorted down at her. “Who’s going to make me? You? You couldn’t knock over a fly.”
“Luckily, Lady Riven has a husband now, to deal with the heavy work.” Apparently, Lord Riven had actually been leaning over, not to despair but to scoop up a heavy book. He slammed it into the back of Morningford’s head with a painful-soundingthumpthat sent Margaret’s rival crashing safely to the ground.
She spun immediately back to the Rose of Normandy...whose deep red glow did not diminish. Instead, it began to pulse with unmistakably gathering momentum.
“Do you know how to stop it?” her husband asked urgently.
“Only its caster can stop it,” she whispered numbly. “But as he utterly refused...oh, God, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I did this!”
“No.” Lord Riven’s warm, steadying hand landed on her back as eerie white light began to mingle with the pulsing red glow before them. “This was not your fault. The fact that that pathetic weakling chose fame over honor was his failure, not yours. Whatever comes next, you werenot to blame.”
“How can you say that?” Margaret turned in his embrace, taking in his dear, familiar features as if for the first time. “You tried to stop me just now. If I’d only listened, if I hadn’t been so determined to prove myself...”
“You have nothing to prove to me,” he said quietly. “Notever. You’re by far the most brilliant person I’ve ever known—and more. You saved me from my self-imposed prison after centuries of pain. Without you, I would never have worked out the trick played upon me to steal the Rose, much less been given any chance to regain my honor. You woke me up from my stupor and brought me back to life after I had given up all hope. I willneverbe anything but grateful to have become your husband, no matter what horrors may befall us.”
As white and red translucent, heat-less flames lit the air around them, Margaret gazed up into her husband’s red-rimmed gaze, alight with sincere respect, trust, and affection...
And she realized that he wasn’t the only one who had been changed by their time together. There was one person in the world, now, more important to her thananythingelse, even the most fascinating of scholarly pursuits...and one piece of information that she still knew about allgarnets, even those with ancient, magical powers.
They were among the most fragile of gemstones.
Margaret lunged forward to yank the burning Rose from the floor. As unbearable pain scalded her hands, she lifted the near-mythic object of all her years of study as high above her head as she could—and then shesmashedthe priceless gem to the ground, grabbed a poker from the fireplace to hammer at its first, telltale lines of fracture, and finally stomped on top of it herself, digging in hard with the tall, thick heel of her right boot to grind it into dust.
The final shards of the gem exploded under her foot with a sonicboomthat sent her flying through new flames that were no longer metaphysical but scorchingly real...
And blackness overcame her.
When she awoke,she was surrounded by a warm glow. The world rocked around her as she lay, her cheek pressed against a warm, firm surface that rose and fell with long, steady breaths. A deep ache emanated from the palms of her hands, which were wrapped in soft, thick coverings, but two strong arms cradled her body and held her wonderfully close. As the now-familiar scent of cloves and cinnamon filled her senses, she gave a sigh of deep relief and instinctively nestled even closer to that source of warmth and comfort.
