Andrew pursed his lips and shook his head. “You say that you will, but when the time comes, I don’t think your body will obey you. You’ve formed too much of an attachment to her. Just as I feared, you’ve fallen in love with her.”
Cal scoffed but didn’t dare speak. Andrew was right of course. He had fallen, and fallen hard for Morgan. The thought of living his life without her was too much for him to bear.
“There’s no other way, Cal.” Andrew eyes softened with pity as he glanced from Cal to Kelly and then back to Cal. “We all have to make sacrifices. If she betrays the Order, she will have to die.”
“I thought that if I got close to her, if we loved each other, maybe she wouldn’t be susceptible. Maybe she could beat Lazarus.”
“Why? Because of your love for one another?” Andrew’s face twisted into a sneer. “Do you really believe that?”
Cal shrugged as he pushed himself away from the bed to resume his pacing. “Yes. I thought the idea had some merit. If she loves me, then she might be able to fend off his seductive trap.”
“Yeah, or she’ll twist the knife in your heart even worse.” Andrew’s tone was bitter.
Cal jerked his gaze to meet Andrew’s. “No, I can’t believe that.”
“What you’re telling me is that if she does succumb, you’re going to fall apart. Which is why I need to be there.”
“So that you can kill her when she fails.”
Andrew nodded. “It’s your job, your duty to deal with this, but if you can’t, or won’t, then someone else will have to. If Morgan betrays the Order, then she will have to die.”
There was a gasp from the door and both men froze. Cal slowly turned to find Morgan standing partially in the room, her hand still on the doorknob.
“I-I-I thought I would come and get y-y-you,” she stammered, her lips quivering. “And then I heard you talking. I heard my name. I didn’t realize…”
Cal moved toward her and she let him wrap his arms around her, crushing her to his chest as she broke down and sobbed. He shot an angry glare over her head at Andrew.
“I’m sorry, Cal, but it’s best that she knows,” Andrew said.
Cal glared for a moment longer, then pulled Morgan’s face away from his chest. “We have to talk.”
Morgan’s eyes swam with tears and she nodded, wiping at her nose. “Yeah, I’d say so.”
By the time they got back to their room, Morgan had gone from crying to seething. Cal could tell by the rigid way she held her shoulders and the fact that she refused to make eye contact with him. She was pissed, and he dreaded the conversation to come.
He closed the door behind them. She didn’t wait for him to completely turn to face her before she slammed her open palm across his cheek, knocking him back a step. His eyes watered instantly as the shock and sting of the slap resonated through his skull. Her eyes blazed with anger, her fists clenched as if she wanted to reel up and knock him flat on his back. And she had every right to.
“I’m sorry you found out that way, Morgan.” Cal moved toward her, his hands out in an attempt to touch her, but she backed away from him, one step for each of his.
“Explain yourself, Cal.” She raised her hand up to halt his movement. “And don’t even think about touching me.”
He scanned her face. Anger was burning brightly, as well as something else—something in the way that she looked from him to the door. His heart clenched. “Oh, god, Morgan, please don’t be scared of me.”
Morgan narrowed her eyes as she snapped them back to his. “Don’t be scared?” she scoffed. “I just walked in on two men, two warriors, talking about killing me! How could I not be scared?”
He raised his hand to rub his jaw, the sting of her slap still burning “You’re right. It was horrible timing that you walked in when you did, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that I should have told you all of this before today.”
Cal motioned for her to sit on the bed to which she gave a curt shake of her head. He sighed and seated himself, covering his eyes with his hand for a moment. When he looked back up at her, she was once again glancing toward the door. He reached out and snagged her hand, attempting to sooth her with a touch, but she yanked it away, her expression one of surprise as she crossed her arms.
“Seriously, Cal, I’m going to give you one more minute before I take off out of here. I’m feeling pretty vulnerable right now so you’d better explain yourself quick.”
“If it turns out that you are Lazarus’s bride, what do you think he’s going to do to you if…if you fail to kill him in battle?”
Morgan frowned, clearly not following his line of thinking. “I don’t know, have sex with me against my will, try to get his heir.”
Cal shook his head sadly. “No, not against your will. If you’re his bride, and you fail to kill him in battle it’ll be because you don’t want to kill him. It’ll be because you’d rather be with him than me. Everything you feel for me, you will feel for him. Loyalty, devotion, lust.”