Chapter 67: Signs Don’t Show
Your Biggest Mistake; Ellie Goulding
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If she insisted on being back there, she could use to be a little quieter about it. Ra never did like her, but she was useful, at least, most of the time. Presently, she was being more of a thorn in the side than Ra would prefer she was, but no one asked him. It was likely for the best.
Well, her prized vampire warrior was currently a pile of sand, it was no wonder she was bothering him. Ra’s magic was the subtle kind, though Ra himself wasn’t a necromancer. It was… a gift, if you would, from a necromancer Ra had met a long time ago.
Ra would wonder how he was doing, but that man had likely died a long time ago.
“Can’t you do this any faster?” Aine asked.
Ra glanced at her, pouring Sarnai’s ashes across the table. “I could,” he answered, “if you want a half-formed goblin, instead of your prized vampire warrior. Life and death cannot be rushed.”
“How about if I threaten to kill you, will it go a little faster then?” Aine asked, her now-glowing eyes narrowing.
“If you kill me,” Ra answered, “you’ll never get her back. And besides, I think you’ll find that a difficult endeavour.”
“Killing you?” Aine asked. “That’s quite easy. Anything that lives can die.”
“Ah,” Ra said softly. He thought he understood now, why she was having so much trouble with the Embers. She was trying to kill something that couldn’t die. Well, that wasn’t his problem, and truthfully, it wasn’t Sarnai’s, either.
Or, perhaps more accurately, it wouldn’t remain her problem for very long.
“Mureti otsixe,” Ra murmured, “sare madnouq.”
Ra’s eyes turned that signature necromancy green, swirls of black smoke skipping over the sand. And slowly but surely, the smoke bound to the sand, pulling the granules back together. Only a little bit more… Ra’s magic flared, and the smoke swirled faster. Then, Sarnai drew a great sudden breath in, almost sitting upright, and then laid back down.
“Easy does it,” Ra murmured, moving around to wrap his arms around her.
Sarnai closed her eyes, breathing steadily, readjusting to being in a body again. “What happened?” she asked.
“They threw a potion at you,” Ra answered. “It seemed to be some kind of light magic, I’m not entirely certain how they did it. It doesn’t matter. You’re back now.”
Sarnai drew another heavy breath in, and then slid down onto the floor, half falling into Ra’s grasp. “So we are,” she said, and then shifted around and kissed him.
“Oh ew,” Aine scoffed, and then turned around and left.
Sarnai smiled into the kiss. Ra settled down on the floor, and Sarnai found a place in his lap easily enough, and when they separated, she laid her head on his shoulder.
“You don’t like her hanging around very long,” Ra said, smirking.
“She’s going to be the end of us both,” Sarnai answered. “We’re too tired to deal with her right now.”
Aine was annoying to deal with, and tiring enough, Ra didn’t question it too much. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her a little closer. For now, she could rest, and perhaps Ra couldn’t necessarily end Aine, but he knew a few people that could. Sarnai happened to be one.
“Are you still together?” Ra asked quietly, gently petting Sarnai’s hair. He’d always loved her hair.
“Yes,” Sarnai answered. “We think we’re more stable now, though. Maybe not for long.”
“What do you mean?” Ra asked.
“Sarnai,” she answered. “Sarnai isn’t so loud this time. We can almost think straight.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Ra said, reaching down and taking her face in his hands. She looked up at him, slightly confused. “Sitkamose, you’ve yet to burn out with this one. If I don’t have to find you another body, then it’s for the best.” The less hopping between bodies she needed to do, the better. It meant she was more mentally present, and stable, stronger, less the girl whose body this was, and more Sitkamose.
All this, because he’d made one very costly mistake, and lost her. Someday, he’d find someone whose soul he could expel and leave just hers. This girl, Sarnai, she was too strong. Ra couldn’t manage to expel her, but Sitkamose had also lasted the longest in her body.
“She and I understand each other,” Sitkamose answered, smiling, her hand raising and brushing her fingers against his cheek.
“You’ve said that before, my love,” Ra answered. “They all burnt out on you eventually.”
“It’s nice that you care,” Sitkamose said. “This one has reasons to keep going.” Sarnai had a family, of course. A family that, at one time at least, loved her very much. Surya would forgive just about anything, Sitkamose knew that because he was always that way, and Sarnai would always have at least one person to go to.
But as long as Sitkamose was in her body, she was unlikely to ever see Surya, or their sons, again. And the last son, Surya didn’t even know he existed. It was just as well. The Lucain lineage never was terribly normal, of course this wouldn’t be normal either.
“And reasons to push you out of her body,” Ra said quietly.
Sitkamose sat up, hovering very close. “I know,” she said. “But with her soul tied so tightly to mine, I wonder what else she would lose, if she did that?”
Ra snorted. “Tricks and games don’t always work in things like this,” he said. “Surya never did choose stupid partners. Sarnai was no different, and perhaps these games you like to play are too dangerous now.”
“She’s weak,” Sitkamose answered. “Weak enough I’m not concerned about it.”
“Weak enough to eject?” Ra asked.
“Mm…” Sitkamose went quiet a moment, thinking about it. “I don’t think so. But she’s getting there. Just a little more patience, love.”
“We’ve both been waiting for centuries now,” Ra answered. “Just figure out how to throw her out.”
Sitkamose closed her eyes. “Come on,” she said, “you’ve been working too hard. Let me take care of you.” Her lips pressed against his, softly, coaxingly, and this time, Ra responded in a very much different way.
* * *
Things still hadn’t gotten better. It wasn’t to say that Caleb was surprised by this. What would be more surprising at this point was Ezio suddenly going on the mend, getting better, waking up. The consistent nose diving was a little easier to swallow somehow, and yet at the same time, so very upsetting.
It wasn’t even that Caleb was absorbing Morgyn’s residual upset-truth be told, the brunet was doing better than the rest of them were now, but that was likely a side-effect of Morgyn shoving it all down. That couldn’t be a good thing, but then, sooner or later, it was all going to become too much either way.
Morgyn couldn’t stay that upset for that long, and the rest of them couldn’t suppress their feelings for that long, either.
Lilith sat in a chair in the hallway, idly brushing away the stray bits of lint and dust on her skirt. She looked perfectly fine, but Caleb knew her better than that. These were things she did when she was nervous. Her hair had grown out, though she’d kept it blonde, and she wore slightly more sporty things nowadays. Elle and Inna had gotten her a variety of crowns, tiaras, and diadems to try on.
She was hiding from them right now.
Caleb paced up and down the hallway, trying to burn off some of the nervous energy that’d been building up since Ezio came here in the first place. It wasn’t like he and Ezio were very close, but maybe a part of Caleb always loved him, too.
If it weren’t for Ezio, Caleb and Lilith wouldn’t have ever spoken to Drake in the first place, though his name was different then. If it weren’t for Ezio, none of them would’ve ever met Morgyn, or Cassandra. And if one thought about it, even Liberty, whom Ezio didn’t directly meet until much later, was his fault. Because Caleb met her first, and Caleb was around because of Ezio.
And the worst part of it was, Ezio had no idea what he meant to all of them. He had no idea how integral a part of their friend group he was. Without him, Caleb maybe wouldn’t have ever found someone that could love him just as he was, even as he made the mistakes he did. It seemed like Morgyn loved him more now, or maybe it was merely a matter of perception. Caleb didn’t know. What he did know, is that he was never taking Morgyn for granted ever again.
“I’m worried about Morgyn,” Caleb said, somewhere amid his pacing. If Ezio didn’t make it, then…
Lilith looked up from what she was doing, brushing one last bit of that grey tabby’s fur off her clothing. “You probably should be,” Lilith answered. “Morgyn’s not taking this very well, even if it seems otherwise.”
Caleb shook his head. “Morgyn won’t talk about it.”
“Of course not,” Lilith answered. “We’ve only been talking about it for weeks by now, surely we’re all getting sick of it.”
“That’s not-“
“Oh, I know that’s not,” Lilith interrupted. “And surely Morgyn must, too. But right now, maybe none of us are in our best mind.”
Yeah, Caleb guessed they weren’t. He released a sigh, raising a hand to press against the bridge of his nose. “How are you holding up?” he asked, looking over at her.
Lilith looked surprised, and then shrugged. “Fine,” she said.
No she wasn’t, but Caleb couldn’t well argue with her about her own damned feelings, either. Or he could, he supposed, but that’d be quite rude. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t make her talk about what was on her mind. It’d always been like that.
Well, not necessarily. There was a time, a long, long time ago, when she wasn’t like that at all. But that was a time long gone now. Caleb released another sigh, and then shuffled over to sit in the chair next to hers. Gently, he laid his head on her shoulder.
“You know if you need to talk, I’ll listen,” he said quietly.
“I know,” Lilith answered. “I just don’t know what to say that hasn’t already been said.”
Caleb could admit at least in his head that this was a fair possibility. So many things had been said the last few days, week? It was hard to keep track of what’d been spoken and what hadn’t, and who said what. In the end, it all blurred together into a mass of discontent and unrest, and no matter how upset or worried they were, Ezio would or wouldn’t make it either way.
He wished there was a way to turn this into something that could save him.
“You know if Ezio doesn’t make it,” Lilith said, “Morgyn will never be the same again.”
That pretty much went without saying. Caleb might be trying not to think about it, but it didn’t change the reality, either. Morgyn already was changing, Caleb thought, in the small ways. In the ways Caleb didn’t know how to adjust around.
Ezio was always the intimidating one. The one that was powerful and could ruin you without a second thought, and he made very little effort of hiding it. Drake, and apparently Cassandra, had found a side of him that Caleb never had, a side that maybe Ezio had shown him before and he’d not recognised. Or perhaps, he’d recognised it, and been afraid to accept it.
With them, Ezio was someone else. Calmer, more approachable, down to earth. He felt like a person with them. It had to be some kind of self-defence mechanism, Caleb always figured. Because it seemed to be that much with Morgyn, too.
Yes, Morgyn had the same front sometimes. But the difference between Ezio and Morgyn was, Morgyn was the one that’d dropped it around Caleb first. Maybe that was the only difference in which one Caleb had started to fall in love with. Morgyn may not believe it, but the brunet was every bit as strong as Ezio, maybe more so in some ways, given Ezio was half-crippled from time to time. But Morgyn never tried to be.
Sometimes, it was almost like Ezio made a big deal about how powerful he was on purpose. After this mess with Sarnai, Caleb wouldn’t be surprised if he did.
“How do you and Ezio get along so well?” Caleb asked.
Lilith looked over at him, and then released a puff of air. “The trick with Embers,” she said, “is you need to give them just the right place to thrive. Not too open, not too sheltered, so that they feel safe, but not restricted. That they can breathe without going out.”
“Somehow I did that with Morgyn, I think,” Caleb said. “But I don’t know how.”
“It’s not so hard,” Lilith answered. “They tell you how, if you know how to listen.”
* * *
It turned out, the barrier was working as intended again. Morgyn would wonder a little more deeply about why exactly it’d taken so long to adjust itself, but then that answer seemed somewhat obvious. The All most likely assumed the threat was still there, and remained in under-attack mode until proven otherwise.
That was unfortunate for them, because it left Ezio vulnerable, and Morgyn had almost lost him right then and there. It was a good thing they had vampires that could use mist form on-hand. If Morgyn ever got the chance, the sage was going to go back and thank past-Caleb.
In the meantime, magic realm was still devoid of occupancy. Morgyn intended to leave it that way, at least for now. L. had lost her magic, anyway, Simeon was busy and Morgyn wouldn’t ask him to watch over magic realm alone right now when Lana needed him, and Morgyn wasn’t leaving Ezio for that long. It worked out.
And it turned out, Morgyn didn’t terribly care about magic realm right now, either.
The brunet had picked up a handful of the books Keisha had lying around. L. had managed to save a large number of them, and bound them together with belts. Morgyn just grabbed the first few stacks bound in belt, and went back to the hotel room with them.
As Morgyn read through them, the brunet summoned one and sent another back. If anyone ever saw it, no one had said anything. Maybe they figured they were seeing things.
During one of those times Morgyn paced up and down a hallway, maybe reading a book with magic, maybe not (definitely was), Caleb came to fall into step with the brunet. Neither said anything at first, and then Caleb cleared his throat.
“You’re um,” he started, “reading that oddly, you know?”
“No one’s said anything,” Morgyn answered. “And I can’t be bothered to care right now.”
Caleb released a sigh. “Okay,” he said. “What are you doing?” he asked instead.
“Some things don’t make sense,” Morgyn answered. “And given things not making sense damned near just killed Ezio, if not actually killed Ezio, I’d like to know why things aren’t making any sense.”
Caleb leaned over slightly, looking at the book cover. “So you turn to books,” he said.
“Of course,” Morgyn answered. “Not like I have any other options. Unless you have a magic realm historian somewhere in your back pocket.”
Caleb blinked. “I… I’ve never tried to find a magic realm his-ha ha, you’re really funny.”
Morgyn snorted. “Ezio laughs at my jokes,” the brunet said. “Even if they are very lame. Course he’s not here to do it right now.”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “Morgyn,” he said, “I’m worried about you.”
“Why?” Morgyn asked, looking at him around the book.
“I just… I know you, okay?” Caleb said. “And I know you have to channel all this nervous energy into doing something, I’m just worried that you’ll end up hurting yourself.”
Morgyn blinked, and then looked around the book at him again. “It’s not like I can leave this alone,” Morgyn said. “I get this feeling the mess with the All didn’t just go away, and if nothing else there’s still Aine to be concerned about-“
“Aine?” Caleb asked. “Wait, Liberty mentioned her, right, look, I’m just saying maybe right now isn’t a good time for this.”
“And if I stop, and Aine’s doing something in the background, or this is bigger than just this, then what?” Morgyn asked. “There’s got to be a reason for this that we’re just missing.”
“And maybe that reason is just that Ezio’s dying, Morgyn,” Caleb said.
Morgyn visibly pulled away from Caleb. Then, the brunet’s head shook. “It’s fine if you don’t want to help me,” Morgyn said. “I won’t ask that. You don’t even have to understand. Just accept this is what I’m doing.”
Caleb released a sigh, running both hands’ fingers through his hair. “Look,” he said, reaching over and gently taking Morgyn’s hand, “I know you want more than anything for this to be magical, because you know how to fight magical things, but Morgyn… sometimes… things just turn out wrong.”
Morgyn’s head shook again. “You don’t understand,” Morgyn said. “Aine did this. Ezio is dying because Aine was trying to kill him, he’s just lived with it for a long time. And, and then I realised I don’t know what the All even is, or why it exists, or where it came from and Ezio almost died saving it and I want to know why. I want to know why that goddamn thing almost took him away from me.”
Caleb stared, for a moment, and then shook his head. “I’m sorry did you say Aine caused his heart condition?” he asked.
“Yes,” Morgyn answered. “And I could go on about how it’s my fault because I should’ve listened to him in the first place but it doesn’t matter, I don’t know how to live in a world Ezio isn’t in.” And the truth was likely that Morgyn didn’t want to know how to live without him. Ezio was always there. His shadow was always beside Morgyn’s.
“Trying to unravel the All’s mysteries won’t necessarily save him,” Caleb said.
“No,” Morgyn answered. “But I think I deserve to know what I’m losing my brother for, and what I’m protecting.”
* * *
When asked, she said she wasn’t worried. Ezio was a strong person, maybe stronger than she was in some ways, and things would turn out just fine. But one of them had to be the steady one in this situation, and it was always Lilith that was.
Of course she was worried. Ezio liked to pretend that he was invincible, or he certainly seemed to act like he thought that. It was admirable that he didn’t want to let his heart slow him down, and maybe that was why. Maybe at some point, he’d gotten sick of other people telling him what he could and couldn’t do. Maybe somewhere in there, it’d gone from him taking it as a caution to him taking it more as a challenge.
Maybe he figured, if he was going to die, then he’d go out as spectacularly as he could. That way, it’d be more fitting, when he was reborn as a star.
Lilith turned a little, watching the traffic whiz around outside the hospital. Nothing was really on her mind, she just needed something to watch and take her mind off of things. There was no sense being upset about Ezio. It wouldn’t change anything, any more than being upset about Vladislaus had changed anything.
And she’d thought before, many times over the years, that maybe making him stay here with them, it was more damaging and harmful than it seemed like it should be. That maybe it hurt him, to make him live through so much, so that they wouldn’t have to figure out how to say goodbye.
She’d never said it to Morgyn, of course. Lilith hadn’t said it to anyone, and didn’t intend to.
She still had to figure out what to do with this queen business, even.
Amid her staring out the window, she sensed someone come up beside her. Lilith turned up, finding Emilia looking down at her. “I was looking for Morgyn,” she said. “But it’s nice to see you too.”
Oh. Yes, of course she would be. Lilith had mentioned Ezio was in the hospital, the last time they’d spoken. That was some time ago now, but it was no wonder. Everyone had other things to be doing of course.
“It’s nice to see you too,” Lilith answered. “Though I have to admit, I haven’t a clue where Morgyn is right now.” Maybe Morgyn was with Ezio. Maybe with Caleb. Maybe, somewhere in magic realm. It was hard to say for sure.
“That’s okay,” Emilia said. “I just wanted to give him these, and probably talk too much about how I’m sorry for his hardship and everything.” She gestured at the flowers in her hand.
Lilith pointed over at one of the tables. It was covered in flowers. “Some of these are for Ezio, but some are for Morgyn, too,” Lilith said.
Emilia looked amused, and then added hers to the bunch.
“Ezio’s still alive then?” Emilia asked, looking back at her.
“For the moment,” Lilith replied. “So far nothing’s really changed, for the better, or the worst. It’s hard to say how things will look in a few more days, but I think if he stays like this for too long, Morgyn may have to decide whether to keep him this way, or…”
Of course, Lilith couldn’t imagine Morgyn purposely deciding to take him off life support and kill him, though that, likely, would be what Ezio would want. Nothing about this was easy, though, and as much as Lilith knew Ezio would want that, she didn’t think she could say that, either. But she didn’t think Drake would be able to say it. Maybe it was okay if she couldn’t.
“I can’t see Morgyn deciding not to,” Emilia said. “They mean too much to each other.”
Yeah, she was right. Maybe a part of Lilith always worried that Morgyn would make an unexpected decision; Morgyn was pure fucking chaos half the time. Or maybe the sage would simply reach a point where it was more painful to watch Ezio stay like that than it would be to let go. Ezio could just wake up. But he’d never been one to do what he could do before.
Damn it. Besides Caleb, Ezio was the only friend Lilith really had. And maybe it wasn’t surprising, or shouldn’t have been, when her vision blurred for just a moment. Her hands quickly raised up and wiped the tears away before they fell. “Yeah,” she said. “They really do.”
Emilia looked surprised for a moment, and then looked apologetic. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No,” Lilith answered, shaking her head. “It’s just, Ezio and I have been friends a long time, that’s all. We pretended to be dating each other a few times to chase off creepers.”
Emilia smiled. “He seems like the type that’d do that,” she said. “I always learnt untamed magic from him when I learnt it. He’s less intimidating than Morgyn is.”
Lilith laughed softly. “Yeah I guess he is,” she said. “It’s funny though, everyone thinks that, but he’s the scary one, not Morgyn. Morgyn’s just a hissy cat. Ezio’s the one with claws.” Well, not entirely accurate, she supposed, given Morgyn could have claws when the sage wanted to. The thing was that, most of the time, Morgyn’s anger came and then it went again almost right after. Ezio though… Ezio never forgot, and he never forgave, and god rest your soul if you upset Morgyn somehow and he found out.
Then, Lilith wondered if she’d ever seen Morgyn truly angry.
“I hear that a lot,” Emilia said. “Maybe Morgyn’s just too loud for me.”
“Sounds right,” Lilith said.
“Anyway, I’ve got a couple finals still, so I should go study,” Emilia said. “Could you let Morgyn know I came by?”
“Yeah,” Lilith answered. “I can do that just fine.”
“Thanks,” Emilia said. “And if anything changes, I’d like to know whenever you get the chance. … I really hope he makes it.”
“Yeah,” Lilith said, “so do I. Hey, um. Are you busy this weekend?”
“Not really,” Emilia answered. “Why?”
“I was just wondering, maybe, if you’d be up for getting coffee with me?” Lilith asked. “… I mean, you do like coffee right? We can go somewhere else, I just figured you probably weren’t terribly into bars or anything-“
“Coffee’s fine,” Emilia said. “Sounds fun. I’ll text.”
“Okay,” Lilith answered, and Emilia turned around and headed down the hallway. Somehow, Lilith felt a little lighter.
* * *
This was stupid. She was stupid. This whole thing was stupid, and Morgyn probably didn’t want to see her anyway, and she should just turn around, and go right back home, and pretend she’d never even come here.
But even as she thought that, knew it was right, she couldn’t bring herself to turn around and leave. Instead, she ended up pacing around in front of the hospital entrance, a handful of red carnations in one hand, her arms waving in the air as she argued with herself.
When you’d spent your entire life as invisible as Liberty Lee was, arguing with yourself in front of a hospital entryway was the least of your concerns.
“Morgyn’s just going to be annoyed anyway,” she said. “It’s not like you haven’t been blowing him off for like, what, two weeks? Three? I don’t even know anymore. The point is, he’s definitely going to be mad at you. You don’t blow someone off for several weeks and then be like, gee, how are you anyway, it’s been a while.”
One hand raised, smacking herself in the face. Her hair was much shorter now. She’d cut it a few days ago, just because she felt like she needed a change. She wasn’t the same person she used to be, and the difference between yesterday-Liberty and today-Liberty was ginormous.
But no matter what she did, she couldn’t stop thinking about Morgyn, wondering if the brunet was doing okay. She’d messaged Cassandra, and Cassandra had told her Ezio was in the hospital now. Morgyn couldn’t possibly have taken that well, after everything else that’d just happened.
Incidentally, Liberty had been sleeping better when Morgyn was still around. Maybe she just needed to know Morgyn was doing better now. It was stupid. It wasn’t like she had any right to be here. She wasn’t family, they weren’t even really friends anymore-
“Libs?” a voice asked.
Liberty startled and squeaked slightly, and then turned around, finding Morgyn looking at her in an odd combination of bewilderment and… maybe hopefulness.
“I’m sorry,” she said immediately, “I shouldn’t have come-“
“No,” Morgyn said, “please stay. I was just surprised.”
Yeah, cause, Liberty was a jerk. She breathed out, and then held out the flowers. “I heard Ezio was… so I brought flowers and, there are some packets of hot cocoa in there. With the little mini dehydrated marshmallows and milk powder.”
“Ohh, the good shit,” Morgyn said, reaching out and taking the flowers, and then pulling out the packets, presumably, to look at the flavours.
“How did you know I was here?” Liberty asked.
Morgyn shrugged. “The air… kind of tastes sparky.”
“Sparky?” Liberty asked, blinking. “… I thought I was getting better at containing that…”
Morgyn snorted. “It’s okay,” the brunet said. “I did have to try pretty hard to sense it, if it’s any consolation. So you are getting better. I’m just… betterer. … is that even a word?”
“No,” Liberty said, smirking in amusement, “it is not.”
“Well I’m using it anyway,” Morgyn decided. “Oh you got mint!”
“I wasn’t sure what flavours you’d like,” Liberty said, “so I got a little of everything. Hopefully there’s a few in there you like.”
“Ugh, you had me at mint,” Morgyn said.
Liberty smiled a little, then sobered a bit. “How’s… you know…?” she asked, almost afraid to put it to words.
Morgyn glanced up at her, and then looked back down at the cocoa packets. “He’s alive,” Morgyn said. “He’s not gotten any worse, but, not any better, either. He’s in a coma right now.”
Liberty’s eyes saddened, and she reached over and moved to rest a hand on Morgyn’s wrist, but pulled away at the last second. “I… I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I feel like I should say something, but I’m sorry just sounds really stupid to me. How are you holding up?”
Morgyn moved that wrist, gently making it come into contact with her hand. “You can touch me whenever you want,” Morgyn said.
“Are you sure?” Liberty asked.
Morgyn nodded. “If something bothers me, I’ll tell you,” Morgyn said. “And I’m holding up.”
Liberty frowned. “I mean, I guess I can’t argue with you about how you feel, and just hanging in there is totally a relevant thing to feel, I just kind of wish it wasn’t how things are. Then, I can’t make anything better anyway, and I don’t know, maybe I’m complicating things worse by just being here and I want to say that I’m sorry for that. And I’m sorry I ignored you for a while, it wasn’t anything to do with you, it was all just in my head so don’t think you did anything, I just didn’t know what else to do with it and I think I felt really overwhelmed and-“
And suddenly, Morgyn wasn’t where the brunet had been a moment ago, one hand resting against Liberty’s jaw, turning her head slightly, and for just a fleeting second, their lips met, and then Morgyn went right back like nothing had happened.
For a long moment, Liberty just kind of stared with wide eyes, mouth open just a little, and then one hand raised and reached for her lips, then fell back down at her side. “Oh,” she said. That seemed to be the only thing she could think coherently at the moment.
Morgyn leaned over slightly. “Libs, breathe,” the brunet said, looking concerned. “You still need air.”
What? Oh, right. And Liberty breathed in. “Right, sorry,” she said. “That just, caught me off-guard.” Really caught her off-guard, she hadn’t been expecting that.
“I shouldn’t have done that anyway,” Morgyn said.
Liberty blinked. Right, Caleb. “Your boyfriend wouldn’t be terribly pleased, huh?” Given he didn’t seem to take to Morgyn’s vocation very well, it stood to reason he wouldn’t much care for Morgyn kissing random girls in the hallway.
“Fiance, actually,” Morgyn said, holding one hand out. The sparkle of a pinkish stone caught Liberty’s eye pretty quickly.
“Oh!” she said. “Oh wow, congratulations, that’s so exciting, so you two made up?”
“Yeah,” Morgyn said, nodding. “It’s just, hard to talk about all the things that need to be talked about, I think.”
Liberty smiled. “Yeah, that’s not surprising,” she said. “It’s hard to talk about things that matter with people that matter. The combination is scary. What if they get mad? What if they think of you differently? Take it a bit at a time, right?”
“Yeah,” Morgyn said. “I’m trying to.”
“I should go, probably,” Liberty said, turning towards the door.
“No,” Morgyn said, reaching over and taking her hand. “Do you have to? Can’t you stay a little? I just… I feel a little better, when you’re here.”
Liberty wasn’t so sure about that. Then, her eyes met Morgyn’s, and after a moment, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll stay.”
