Spring Rain (The Witchling #4)(19)

I have to destroy that stone. But no one in a thousand years had tried to destroy the stone for a reason. If what Sam said was correct and it couldn’t be destroyed, he wasn’t certain how he was going to handle Morgan being alive and completely outside his reach.

“Sorry,” Summer murmured. “Didn’t mean to throw you back like that.”

“It’s … okay. Thanks.” He managed a tight smile. “It’s not you I’m considering beating to a pulp.” His gaze settled on his twin.

Decker grimaced. “There’s a reason for the secrecy. Sam said her trial isn’t over yet, and her being near you almost killed you. I made sure you were safe.”

“You don’t get to make that decision for me,” Beck said, anger stirring.

“Like you made the decision to hide Summer from me?” Decker looked up, Darkness flaring in his gaze.

“Boys, stop,” Summer said. “Morgan needs your help. Both of you.” She touched Decker, and his shadows stilled and retreated. “Beck, you can’t touch her without Decker’s fire, and Decker can’t heal her like you can, Beck.” Earth magick held the ability to heal, and Beck’s Master status made him the most powerful healer alive.

Whether or not he should have understood what Decker did, Beck didn’t care at the moment. He saw Morgan and instantly knew his brother had something to do with the suffering he’d gone through the past few months. As much as he loved Decker, he also knew his brother well enough to know he didn’t have boundaries when it came to his actions, and he would protect his family at all costs, even Beck’s heart.

The full story had to wait, though, because Summer was right.

“Give me a few seconds,” Decker said, attention on Morgan.” I can increase the fire magick. Can you hold the door, baby?” His voice softened, as usual, when he spoke to his Summer.

Air magick pushed the door closed and sealed it to keep any unwanted visitors from walking in.

“Try now, Beck.”

Beck approached the bed, nervous for reasons he didn’t quite understand. It was taking most of his focus to subdue the emotions roiling in his mind, and he couldn’t let himself think on what Decker had done without snapping. Instead, he tentatively touched Morgan’s arm.

She was cold, and the drain strong, but nowhere near what it had been moments before. Decker’s fire and shadows coalesced around his hand to protect him. Beck closed his eyes to concentrate and loosened his magick into Morgan, letting it find its way to the damage done to her body by the soul stone. It took some effort, given the soul stone was fighting him, but with Decker’s fire to support him, he began to heal the internal tears to her soul.

The soul stone also left a physical track of damage down her throat and into her stomach and intestines. His magick, and Decker’s, pooled around the stone making its way through her digestive track.

What the hell she was thinking, he didn’t fully understand. She was a fire witchling. If the apartment building had been burning down around her, she could easily deal with that and survive. The fact the first responders thought she drowned, however, and the presence of the stone in her gullet …

Something else had happened during the fire, and he suspected it had to do with the Dark witchlings pursuing Morgan.

“She needs to be awake before she can handle the stone on her own,” Decker said quietly. “Can you clean up the drugs in her system?”

“I’ve never done that before,” Beck replied.

“I have.” Summer rested her hand on his, adding her earth magick to guide him.

Beck didn’t ask. He knew how much trouble Decker had once gotten into – drugs, women, violence – and suspected Summer had helped clean him up without understanding how exactly that happened. She nudged and tugged his magick in the right direction, to filter Morgan’s blood free of the sleeping agent.

“All right. Step back, you two. I’ll wake her up,” Decker instructed.

With some reluctance, Beck obeyed. The scene was surreal. It hadn’t yet hit him that his Morgan was alive. Instead, he stood quietly beside Summer and watched Decker’s magick complete their combined work with the same detachment he watched television. Morgan’s features were a normal shade again, and she no longer reeked with the coldness of the soul stone.

Of everything he wanted to say, Beck wasn’t able to pick the first sentence he hoped to utter to the girl who was his counterbalance and who had nearly killed him and then subsequently saved his life before disappearing. None of this made sense. It was rare when he felt anger, but today, fury fed by confusion was starting to bubble within his breast.

Everything I touch turns to ash, she had once told him. He had never felt that way around her before, but he did standing helplessly beside her. She’d turned him to ash when she disappeared and he didn’t quite know what he was now or if there was ever a chance of there being something left to salvage after all that had happened.

His eyes settled on Decker, who met his gaze without hesitation. Beck read the steely resolution on his twin’s face and knew Decker had no regrets, even knowing how much pain Beck had been in.

“I did what I had to,” Decker replied to the unspoken question.

“That doesn’t make it right,” Beck said icily.

“I’d do it again, Beck, and if her continued disappearance means you stay alive, I won’t stop because you care about her.”