Morrigan (28 page)

“There really isn’t anything else left to
say,” she told him in a much softer voice. “I think it would be
best if you just left the castle. No one wants you here anymore,
least of all me.”

He shook his head. “I cannot leave you here
alone. It is not safe.”

Morrigan sighed. “I don’t need you to protect
me, Tiarn. It’s not your job anymore.”

“Still, I will not go. I must make you see
the truth. I must make you believe my feelings for you are
sincere.”

Tiarn reached out a hand to touch her arm,
but her hurt and anger had not completely surrendered their
control. She didn’t want to hear his explanations. She didn’t even
want him near her. In an instant, she lost the careful grip on her
emotions and her powers took control. The unspoken desire was
granted, and Tiarn went flying backward across the hall, landing
with a crash into a suit of arms. Yet, it did not deter him. He
struggled to his feet and started to move toward her again. His
persistence only infuriated Morrigan all the more.

“Danu, Dagda, get ready to attack!”

Behind them, one of the maids dropped her
tray and screamed when the cats transformed. They had never liked
Tiarn and were more than happy to let him know it. Morrigan should
have trusted their animal instincts. The pair snarled at Tiarn. He
took a few steps back, but still looked dumbfounded.

“You would treat me as an enemy? After all
that we have been through?”

“You are the enemy! And everything we went
through was a lie! I should have left you to die in that forest.”
He flinched, but she didn’t care. “Now leave the castle, Tiarn. Or
I swear I’ll have the cats rip you to pieces.”

He crossed his arms like a defiant child. “I
do not believe you would do it.”

“Oh yeah? Are you sure that’s a bet you want
to take?” She paused for just a moment and sneered. “After all,
you’re nothing but a baby killer.”

She saw him shatter, though he didn’t speak
or shed a tear. The pain of her words still glazed his emerald
green eyes. Tiarn took a tentative step toward her, but thought
better of it when the cats showed their long, sharp teeth. Finally,
looking utterly beaten, he turned his head and walked away without
another word.

Morrigan was left alone in the hall, except
for the idiot maids who were still trembling in their corner. She
ignored them and stomped back to her bed chamber. She hated that
she had to stay in the castle, but where else could she go? She had
no other home in Tír na NÓg, and besides, she imagined her mother
had made arrangements to keep her from escaping. After all, they
needed her until after the big ritual they kept talking about.

Once she was safely inside her room, Morrigan
bolted it shut from the inside. She moved from the chairs to the
bed, trying to get comfortable and trying even harder to still the
dizzying thoughts that tormented her. With her anger spent, she
felt defeated. The fire, which had seemed cozy before, made the
room stifling. She noticed there was a second set of doors that led
to a small balcony. She flung them open and enjoyed the cool, crisp
air against her burning cheeks.

The view from the balcony revealed a
picturesque landscape of lush green hills and valleys. A beautiful
patchwork of cottages and temples dotted the countryside, reaching
as far as she could see. She stood there for a long time, admiring
the vast beauty and trying to forget the reason she was there.
After a while, she was distracted by the sound of the main
drawbridge being lowered. A few seconds later, a lone man on
horseback rode through the gates at a full gallop. Even before she
saw the long dreadlocks blowing in the wind, she knew it was Tiarn.
She should have been glad. After all, she had demanded he leave.
Yet, seeing him flee without a backward glance was a little more
than she could stand. Her strong exterior shattered, Morrigan fell
to her knees and wept.

Never in her life had she felt so desperate
and heartbroken. She had left all she knew to find her long lost
mother, and all she found was a monster. Ceridwyn had even killed
her father, if Alden’s story was true. As if the betrayal of her
own mother were not devastating enough, she had given her heart to
a man who had used her. She had been lied to and betrayed by the
only people who had ever claimed to love her. Now she was alone in
a foreign world. Even Danu and Dagda could offer her no comfort.
She pushed them away when they tried to nuzzle her chin and
collapsed onto the floor of the balcony. She cried so hard she
thought she might be ill. She felt like an orphan all over again. A
part of her wished she was strong enough to take her own life,
forever putting Ceridwyn’s dark plans to an end.

“This, Princess Morrigan, is truly your
darkest hour.”

Startled, Morrigan jerked around. She had
thought she was alone; the door remained bolted. Even though her
eyes were bloodshot and swollen from crying, she could see a woman
with a cloud of mist at her feet watching from the shadows.

“Who . . . who’s there?” Morrigan asked, more
curious than afraid.

The woman stepped into the light, and
Morrigan immediately recognized her. The faery had sworn to return
when her need was the greatest, and Willow had kept her
promise.

Willow smiled sadly at Morrigan as she took
in her tear-streaked cheeks and red-rimmed eyes. “Poor little
princess. What horrors you will face if you stay in this castle
with your evil mother. Luckily, there is another way.” She reached
out a delicate hand. “Come with me. Become my sister, and you shall
live forever. You will spend the rest of eternity happy and
carefree.”

A swirl of white mists surrounded her as the
faery floated toward Morrigan. The same mists she had used as her
portal to and from the mortal world had carried her through time
and space to join Morrigan in her bedchamber. It seemed as though
she were gliding on a cloud as she crossed the balcony. Morrigan
watched her with a wary eye. The Moon Card had told her to proceed
with caution, but she had foolishly ignored its warnings. She had
to wonder what sinister plans might be hiding underneath the
faery’s innocent façade.

Willow sensed her apprehension. “You have no
reason to fear me, Princess Morrigan. I mean you no harm. I come
only to return a boon. You saved me from my prison. Now you
yourself are trapped in a prison of sorts. I have come to offer you
freedom. You have nowhere else to go. There is no one else in all
the worlds who you can turn to. All the people in Tír na NÓg will
dread and fear the daughter of Ceridwyn, and the land from whence
you came has always shunned you. I, Willow the Fey, am your only
salvation.”

Morrigan cast her eyes away, unwilling to
admit Willow was right. She wished the faery would leave her to her
misery. Willow seemed to have no intention of forgetting her
promise. Instead, she inched her way closer. When she was finally
at Morrigan’s side, she knelt beside her and cupped her face in her
hands. She kissed her delicately upon her lips. It was filled with
none of the deep passion of their first encounter, but still left
Morrigan feeling a little weak in the knees.

“You need not despair,” the faery whispered
as she stroked her hair. Then she stood and reached out a slender
brown hand. “Come with me, and you will find peace. You will be
immortal, and the cares of this world will no longer plague you. In
time, you will not even remember you had once been one of them.
Come, heal your heart and free your soul. Just look at what beauty
and magic awaits you in the world of the fey.”

Even before Morrigan’s lips had stopped
tingling from the kiss, a feeling of vertigo accosted her. The room
seemed to swirl and shift. When the world finally stopped swaying,
the doorway that led inside her room had vanished. Through a thin
veil of smoky fog, Morrigan saw her balcony led to a beautiful
forest blooming with fresh wild flowers.

In a small clearing a group of faeries danced
in a ring, some men and some women. They all had the same
translucent brown skin and lush green hair as Willow, and each was
dressed in little more than a blanket of leaves. Some of them
laughed and danced around the trees. Some of them plaited fresh
flowers into their hair. They were all as happy and carefree as
children playing on a lazy summer’s day. Morrigan longed for that
kind of simple happiness. She longed for the throbbing pain in her
heart to cease its relentless beat. Tiarn’s warnings to never trust
the fey were ringing in her head. Without taking the time to
consider the risks involved, she took Willow’s offered hand and
stepped through the swirling mist.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, the fog
cleared, and the full landscape of the fey world was revealed in
all its indescribable beauty. It instantly filled her heart with
warmth. It was a land untouched by man with no buildings or debris
to mar its perfection. A land where the earth and the sky were the
only home its inhabitants needed. Ancient trees towered over them,
ripe with fresh fruit. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun
beat down at just the right temperature. In the distance she could
see a large crystal lake that sparkled like liquid diamonds, with
more faeries enjoying a late afternoon swim. Even the gentle wind
was like a cradling embrace. It was truly paradise.

Morrigan barely had time to appreciate the
delicate beauty before she was surrounded by a swarm of smiling
faces. The faeries hugged and greeted her like family. Each one was
more beautiful than the next. The women were perfectly proportioned
with lush, thick tresses, and the men well-toned and muscular. She
noticed there were no children among them, though in many ways they
acted very childlike themselves.

One of the men took out a small flute made
from a hollowed branch, while another strummed a lute fashioned
from wood and vines. A few of the women tried to coax Morrigan out
into a clearing to dance with them, but the song reminded her of
when Tiarn had played his panpipe. The brief moment of happiness
passed as the memories surfaced. She felt a single tear sneak down
her cheek when she had been sure the well had run dry. Willow saw
the tear and wiped it from her cheek with the tip of her
finger.

“Do not weep, my sister. This is a place of
joy. Come.” She took Morrigan’s hand and guided her to a small
fruit tree. With a graceful flick of her arm, she plucked a piece
of fruit from the branches. “This is the food of the immortals.
Take but one bite, and you will become one of us forever. You will
forget all of your pain and know only ecstasy.”

Willow broke the fruit in two and handed one
half to Morrigan. It looked succulent. The outer shell was green
while the interior was a bright red filled with small seeds. The
inside looked similar to a pomegranate, though the color was bolder
and the scent much sweeter. As the intoxicating aroma drifted up,
her mouth began to water.

Morrigan suddenly realized she was famished.
She had eaten very little in the last few days. Though her stomach
rumbled as she admired nature’s delicacy, it was the promise within
it that held the greatest temptation. Just one bite and she would
never grow old. She would never know death or the fear that came
with it. The thought of losing her past seemed an even greater
blessing than eternal life. She longed to forget all she had
struggled through as she sought her real mother, only to discover
she was the spawn of an evil woman. Perhaps most tempting of all—to
forget the man she had dreamed of all her life and whom she had
been so sure was her soul mate. That same man had torn her heart to
pieces with his betrayal. Just one bite, and all that pain, all
that despair would vanish. How could she resist? Morrigan lifted
the forbidden fruit.

Beside her, Willow nodded eagerly. “That’s
right. Do it, Morrigan. Take a bite and let go of your pain. Let it
go and be free to soar!”

“Yes,” Morrigan whispered. “I just want to be
free. I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

“Just one bite. That is all it will take,”
Willow encouraged her.

Around them, the other faeries had fallen
into silence. Soon Morrigan would be one of them, and they were
waiting expectantly for her to join them in their never-ending
games. Having an audience made her nervous. Her hand trembled as
the fruit came closer to her lips. She felt the sticky juice
dripping onto her fingers. It was so close that the seeds tickled
her nose. As her hand rose higher, she noticed that her skin had
begun to take on the darker hue of the faeries. She was becoming
one of them.

“Yes!” Willow chanted. “Yes. Eat the fruit!
Become our sister!”

Willow’s warm breath was so close to her neck
that shivers ran down her spine. It brought back that strange
feeling of desire. The intoxicating scent of the fruit only added
to her euphoria. She closed her eyes and prepared to embrace it.
Just as she was on the verge of giving into temptation, an image of
Alden popped unbidden into her mind. Not the wise, gentle Alden who
had shared his home and his memories, but a beaten and broken old
man, taking his final breaths in a pile of filth on a dungeon
floor.

The image faded and another took its place.
She saw Brigid, the wise elder, standing in line at the gallows
after being convicted of treason. She saw Condon the Gatekeeper,
half-starved and chained, forced to open the portal whenever the
queen beckoned. She saw the little family she had admired in the
village, standing with tears in their eyes as they watched their
home burn to the ground. Scenes of murder and despair flashed
before her eyes. The visions horrified her; Morrigan instantly fell
to her knees and let out a heart wrenching cry. This was the world
that was in the making if she were to turn her back on Tír na NÓg.
This was what would happen if she gave into her own selfish desires
for freedom.