Spring Rain (The Witchling #4)(51)

“It’s an incredible step, Morgan,” he replied. “It means the world. It really does.”

“But I’m still bad for you.” She lifted her head. Her gorgeous green eyes were lined with red, and her nose was red as well.

“But look at what you can do,” he said, touched by her distress. “You can help me fight the Dark.”

“From a million miles away!”

He laughed softly, unable to help it. “Morgan, you’re Light. The first Light fire witchling in centuries. Take the victory. It means you’re stronger than every fire witchling that’s existed in five hundred years. It means you’re special.” And you’re mine.

She was listening. She straightened to support her own weight without leaving his body, eyes on his face. “It means we can …” she cleared her throat, tiny flames igniting across her body in a sign of visual arousal he found sexy as hell.

“Be together?” he teased.

She nodded.

“In every way. When you’re ready.”

She didn’t speak and rested her head against his shoulder with a deep sigh. He felt her exhaustion and surrender.

“What is that?” she murmured, pointing to the large history book he had placed by the fire while trying to get through more of it during the week.

“Oral histories of the witchlings.” He stretched until his fingers brushed the binding then tugged it towards them, not wanting to release her. “I was searching for some information about how to trap Bartholomew.”

“Using the soul stone?”

“Yeah.”

Morgan eased away enough to open the front cover. “Did you find anything?”

“No. It’s kind of hard to read, though. They wrote an ‘s’ like an ‘f’ and had other letters we don’t use so some of the words are weird.”

“Did you ask your magick?”

“It doesn’t know, and the earth kind of speaks in riddles, so I can’t really figure out its answers sometimes.”

“No, I mean, did you ask your element to tell you where the information is in the book?”

His eyebrows lifted. “Um, no.”

“Why not?” She gazed at him.

“I guess I never thought of magick as doing that. Kind of seems silly to use it to do something I can do without it.”

“I summon it; ask it for things,” she said defensively.

He cleared his throat. “By silly, I meant … uh, not silly.”

Morgan gave him a half smile. “I’ll burn it if I turn the flames on it. But you should ask it with your earth magick. These are, or were, trees.” She nudged the pages. “Shouldn’t they tell you?”

“Maybe.” Why didn’t I think of this? Beck thought in frustration. Even when he started to gain ground in one area, he came up completely oblivious in another. He rested a hand on the book and summoned his earth magick. It was hard to tell if the book retained the spirit of the trees its pages had come from. He heard no distinct voice and saw no images in his mind.

Morgan relaxed more deeply against him as the magick passed through her to get to the book.

He lifted his hand and waited. The pages began to turn of their own accord. He watched, fascinated. They stopped towards the end of the book and fell open.

Morgan tugged the heavy tome into her lap. Beck read over her shoulder, struggling through the clunky words.

“Ugh,” Morgan said. “All it says is that it took all five elements and both Masters to capture him. I was hoping for an instruction manual, I think.”

“That’s more than we knew,” he said thoughtfully. “All five elements, Light and Dark. That’s a ton of magic to bind one guy. The equinox is tomorrow. That might help.”

“One really bad guy.” Morgan closed the book and set it aside. “You didn’t know you could do that? Find things with your magick?”

“No,” he admitted.

“So … you do need me to protect you as well as help you figure things out.” She sounded satisfied.

“I suppose,” he said with a laugh. “We can work together. As a team.”

She muttered something he didn’t make out, and he guessed he’d failed to disguise his I-told-you-so tone.

“Right? Teamwork!” he said and squeezed her.

“Not until the stone no longer hurts you and the Light.” The stubbornness was back.

“Morgan.” He sighed. “We will work together. There’s no other choice.”

“Yes there is.”

“This isn’t Beck speaking, but the Master of Light.”

“I have a problem with authority.”

He lifted her chin to meet her gaze. “I know,” he replied. “Then do it because you love me.”

She flushed and yanked away, burying her face in his sweater once more.

Beck smiled, sensing he had won, albeit not in the way he intended to. “What’s your plan? Burn Bartholomew out of Dawn?”

She said nothing.

Got that right. “Sam said it’s not possible. She invited Bartholomew in. She’s pretty much a lost cause.”

“No,” Morgan replied. “I can’t accept the idea she’s lost.”

“You’re too sweet,” he murmured. “You think because you were damaged, another damaged soul can be saved. Morgan, you can’t save someone else. I know this first hand. We all are charged with the responsibility of saving ourselves.”