Spring Rain (The Witchling #4)(48)

It is not impossible.

“Meaning …”

Meaning no Master or Mistress of Light has had a Fire witchling counterbalance in five hundred years and before that, it was over a thousand. She is rare, and so is her power.

“So it’s not just turning Darkness to Light in general … she can specifically turn someone Light.”

With some restrictions. The deeper into Darkness the person is, the harder it can be and the less likely they will survive the transition. They must survive, Beck, or what she does will pull her into the Dark.

The words scared him. Morgan couldn’t know how close she’d come to going Dark. “She toasted this guy,” Beck agreed. “And I don’t think he was anything near what Dawn is.”

It pleases me to know Morgan did it. She is what you need.

“She almost killed him, Sam! I mean, I know he volunteered, but what on earth were they thinking?”

Probably that she wanted to save him the way you want to save her. I do not know his reasons.

Beck frowned, some of his urgency fading with Sam’s calm acceptance of Morgan’s rather freaky skill. “Who in their right mind would want to be burned alive?”

Someone who has a reason to be made Light.

Beck shook his head. Before he was a Master, he had never broken any rules, never dared to color outside the lines. He had never been a risk taker like Decker, either, and to think his counterbalance risked everything – her soul, her life, Noah’s life – to test a bedtime tale … it was a reminder of how different they were and what it meant to have a counterbalance. Summer had become Decker’s foundation and Decker pried the shy yet powerful witchling out of her shell. Morgan was the one who would push Beck to take chances while he kept her from diving over the edge.

Counterbalances were opposites in many ways, a realization that hadn’t yet sunk in during the short time he had been drawn to Morgan. He hadn’t known how far she was willing to go to try to help him, and she couldn’t know how close to the Darkness she’d gotten.

It was terrifying to know she’d jump into the Dark to save him.

Where is Morgan?

With a start, Beck realized he had left her at the lake.

Bring her here. I need to warn her about the danger of what she’s doing.

“That I agree with!” Beck vanished immediately and emerged from the fog at the cement pier.

Morgan was curled up at the end of the pier, shivering.

With mixed feelings about what she’d done, he hurried to her and bent, lifting her off the ground. “You okay, Morgan?” he murmured. Her fire magick flowed into him the way it did every time they touched, rendering him fevered. He pushed back to calm it, and the fire fizzled and turned to embers under the calming influence of earth magick.

“Yeah. Took more out of me than I expected,” she admitted and pressed her cheek to his chest. “Where’s Noah?”

“He’s fine. Alive.”

She glanced up at him, hearing the tightness in his response. Beck forced a smile and hugged her close to him, whisking her away to Sam in the forest.

White fog cleared once more to reveal Sam. Beck set Morgan down. No part of him wanted to let go, and she seemed uncertain on her feet. He wrapped an arm around her to keep her against his body. For once, she didn’t resist.

“Is he Light?” she asked, looking up at him. The emotion in her gaze provoked the protective side of him, and he touched her face, his worry easing.

“Yeah.”

Morgan appeared surprised then relieved.

“You should’ve told me,” he said, unable to help it.

“You would’ve tried to stop me.”

“Damn right I would have! Do you know what you risked, Morgan? Sam says if he died, you could’ve gone Dark!”

She gazed up at him, and he saw in her eyes she knew that, but chose to do it anyway. “What else am I supposed to do, Beck?”

“Talk to me! Stop locking me out!”

“I called you when I was done.”

“You tortured the poor guy nearly to death.”

She twisted free of his grip. “I didn’t want to!” she snapped. “I was … I had to … Beck.”

“Look, Morgan, you have nothing to prove to me and everything to lose if something goes wrong. I can help you.”

I don’t need help. He didn’t have to read her mind to guess what she was thinking. She lifted her chin, familiar defiance causing sparks to fly off into the wet forest.

“Next time, you tell me,” he said firmly, not about to back down like he normally wanted to in the face of her anger. He was quietly furious that she took such a risk and hurt she hadn’t trusted him enough to come to him.

She said nothing. He felt the increase of activity in her fire magick and watched her hand go to the pocket where the stone was kept.

“It’s not bothering me,” he told her.

“I plan on keeping it that way.” She took a few precarious steps away from him. “I’m sorry if I disappointed you, but I need to do things my way, Beck. I need to find out who I am and what I’m supposed to do to help you. You can’t do that for me.”

“You never disappoint me, Morgan,” he said and summoned his earth magick to help calm his agitated blood. He pushed some towards her as well so her pinging fire magick stopped tormenting him. “I just want you to talk to me. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? What might’ve happened if I couldn’t save him?”