Guinevere's Grail | ✓ [BOOK 2]

~ 5 ~

My tidings for you: the stag bells,
Winter snows, summer is gone.
Wind high and cold, low the sun,
Short his course, sea running high.

Deep-red the bracken, its shape all gone
The wild-goose has raised his wonted cry.
Cold has caught the wings of birds;
Season of ice-these are my tidings.

* * *

"SO WHAT YOU'RE TELLING me is that our only chance at saving an entire civilization older than time itself is some stupid cup no one has seen for centuries," Morgana said, eyes fixed on Eurion. "That's just bloody brilliant."

"Hey," Selene snipped, chastising Morgana with a cold stare. "I know you're angry, but don't you dare take it out on Eurion. She's the only one who hasn't done a damn thing to you."

The faery was leaning inches away from the thief's face, close enough to have her clutching the old pages to her chest.

Lionel tugged on Kit's tunic. "What'd I do to him?"

Morgana stepped away from Eurion to point at the boy. "You knocked me out with your stupid eruption and then when I woke up, your idiot father had me locked away in a cage like an animal, so thanks for that."

"You're welcome," said Lionel, perfectly innocently. Kit could see the smile quirking up at the corner of his little mouth, softening the fury that boiled in his chest.

The tension was only there because of Morgana. He was rigid, terrified, discouraged, Kit could see the emotion in his eyes raging like a storm. It was bad enough, they all stopped in the middle of the woods to talk him down from his rampage.

"You know what your problem is?" Selene began. Kit knew that tone, it was one she used to put him in his place a thousand times before.

Morgana set his jaw and turned his head, as if he was ready to face Selene. The storm in his eyes was about to become a blizzard.

The thing was, Selene thrived in conflict. She was built for it, and she was good at it. "Your problem is the same shit as this asshole over here that you think you're so much better than." She pointed to Kit.

Ouch.

"Did you ever think for one fucking second that your best friend might also be ripped apart in fear for her people? Did you ever consider that she might be up all night, too, thinking about how she needs to be there but she can't afford to die and leave them all behind in the process?"

Most of the time, Kit was the one Selene was cussing out. But this time, she was ripping Morgana a new one and it felt good. For awhile, he hated her brutal honesty and the intensity with which she delivered it. This time, he wanted to cheer her on.

Unlike Kit, though, Morgana didn't get defensive. He did what no one ever dared to do, and he fought back.

"How long have you known her, Selene? A few weeks? A few months?" He scoffed. "My dear, I have known her for an eternity. I know her pain, by God, I feel it. You see her pain and you think the answer is to fight everyone else off and hold her hand and hope she works it out herself."

She pulled out her dagger. "Call me your 'dear' one more time and you will be missing more than just a hand."

"You wouldn't hurt Giselle like that."