And where was Morgan?
A claw came at me and I ducked, feeling the whoosh of air above my head. Once I straightened my back, I kicked the demon in its stomach, sending it back. Another pair of arms appeared by my side, talons ready to cut. I lifted my sword and parried its attack. The first one lunged at me, but I stepped back and used that opening to pierce my sword through the middle of its back. Buzzing with adrenaline, I stepped over the body and jumped, flying to the second monster. It readied its claws, but I struck them with my blade, sending them to the side while cutting him, then spun to the other side. While it recovered its balance, I slashed its throat.
They fell back revealing Morgan behind them.
I half-smiled. “You had me worried.”
With hooded eyes, Morgan pulled the Crimson Dagger from behind his back. “You don’t have to worry about me,” he said, his tone cold. “My Lord is here now.”
I glanced at the dagger in his hand. “Oh, Morgan, no.”
Snarling, he pounced at me. I jumped back, trying to avoid him and bumped into Micah.
“Hey,” he said between grunts and groans. He was still fighting two demons.
I remained close to him. “Morgan, I don’t want to hurt you. Please, stay away.”
Morgan swiped the dagger at me, and I blocked it with my sword, pushing him back.
“You’re a good girl, Nadine,” Morgan said, devoid of any emotion. “I’m sorry it has come to this.”
“I’m sorry too,” I whispered, tears building behind my eyes. No, this couldn’t be true. Morgan couldn’t have turned to Omi. He couldn’t have betrayed us. “It was you who told Omi where we would be?”
He came at me again. I ducked under his arm, and careful not to hurt him too much, kicked him in the hip, causing him to stagger back.
“Yes. The forest and here.”
“And NYC?”
“No. I wasn’t committed to Lord Omi then. I only joined them after you survived Lord Omi and Lady Imha’s tortures.” He flashed me an evil smile and I cringed. This wasn’t the Morgan I knew, and it broke my heart. “New York was the demons. They sensed a stronger aura in the city. That’s why the population of bats grew within the city and why they attacked people outside the hospital, because they could sense you there. When Lord Levi showed up to see you, the demons sensed his stronger aura with yours and that’s all Lord Omi needed to know the girl Brock had imprisoned was in the city.”
Morgan took a step forward and thrust the Crimson Dagger at me. I waited until the last second to duck under it, then pushed him aside with my shoulder.
I retreated a few steps and turned back to face him. “But … how did Omi know about me? About me being a girl? I thought Brock was dead.”
“He is dead, but Lord Omi had already been summoned and he appeared there right after we left. Brock had a few of your things in the school, mainly a bag with clothes and girly accessories you bought during our trip. Unmistakably feminine,” he said, swirling the dagger in his hand. “Anyway, I didn’t tell Lord Omi about the meeting with the Death Lords because I was hurt and stayed out of that, though I was able to disenchant Keisha’s armor before you left.”
I gasped. “You did that? How?”
He had an evil grin on. “I would have disenchanted all of your armor if Lord Levi hadn’t interrupted me. Good thing I was quick to tell him a lie, and he believed me. I almost made him take me to the Death Lords’ meeting, even hurt. But that went well with Deven, Eklan, and Chael there.”
I gasped. “Holy shit, you helped them when they were in the shelter.”
“Yes. But we had to maintain appearances in case Lord Mitrus and Lord Levi weren’t killed that night. I continued to pretend to be on your side and left with you.”
“I can’t believe this,” I whispered, feeling his betrayal weighing on my chest.
Micah stabbed a demon, pulled his sword out of its body, and whirled around to us, a mask of rage over his face. “Me neither.”
He raised his sword, ready to strike Morgan, but I got in his way. “No!” I held his arm. “No. He’s still in there. He has to be.”
Watching Morgan and the dagger, Micah shook his head. “Once a human is touched by the power of our allegiance objects, there is no coming back. The Morgan you knew is gone.”
I refused to believe that. However, I remembered Morgan saying something similar about Brock. Still, this was Morgan, not Brock. Morgan was a better man. He could get out of this, couldn’t he?
Morgan charged us again. I spun around and deflected his blow.
Micah was about to strike him again—and this time I wasn’t sure if I could stop him—when a demon showed up behind him and clawed his back. Groaning, he whirled and engaged his attacker, leaving Morgan to me.
Oh, God.
“Surrender, Nadine,” Morgan said. “Surrender and they might let you live.”
I almost laughed. Almost. If only he knew about the Soul Oath, he wouldn’t be offering me such a deal.
But I didn’t laugh. Instead new tears surged up. “Please, Morgan. Focus. You’re not like this. You dedicated your entire life to The Everlasting Circle.”
“Exactly!” He smiled. “Lady Imha and Lord Omi are the essence of the new Everlasting Circle. And I’m helping them.”
He thrust that dagger at me, and I jumped to the side. “Stop!”
“Only when you surrender. Or when you’re dead.” He jumped forward, raising his weapon. I parried it, calculating in my head how I could disarm him without actually hurting him, and that meant hard kicks or punches.
He, on the other hand, didn’t have such qualms.
When I ducked from the dagger, Morgan kneed my chest. My torso flew up, the air rushing out of me, and I staggered back, dizzy. I blinked in time to see his fist coming at me. My head whipped to the side, and pain exploded on my chin, spreading through my jaw and down my neck. I tripped on a stone and fell on my side, my vision darkening.
“Nadine!” Micah yelled.
Dear God, that hurt!
I blinked several times. Morgan stood above me, his feet straddling my legs. “One last chance. Surrender!”
I would have spat in his face if I wouldn’t have made a fool of myself and drooled. Instead I held his gaze. “Never.” I drew my knees toward my chest, and then kicked his shins. Cursing, he clambered back.
Taking advantage of the moment, I propped myself up on my elbows and reached for my sword.
“Bitch!” Morgan cried. He jumped at me and raised his dagger as the mountain roared and shook.
The dagger pierced my side, just above the hip bone. I yelled. Micah yelled. Everyone was yelling. And shaking. And fading.
My vision blackened, and my cheek grazed the stone under me.
“I’ll kill you,” Micah spat.
“No, Lord Mitrus, I’ll have the honor of killing you and delivering your scepter to Lord Omi.”
No, no, no. I pushed against the darkness in my mind, concentrated on the spots of light dancing in my vision, and willed them to grow and spread. A long breath in, a long breath out. Again.