by Audra Hart
Luca turns to Damian and rubs his shoulder. Damian asks Elias, “Would it hurt her more if I get clean water and cloths to clean the dried blood from her?”
Elias assures Damian it should be okay, and offers to do the job himself. But Damian shakes his head and goes to get the water and the cloths. He lovingly cleans his mother’s face and hair. He gently dabs at the dried blood on her neck and fingers. He softly strokes her face and asks, “Why Morna? Why did you just let her do this? If you didn’t want to fight back you could have outrun her. Why did you let her do this?” He finally finishes his ministrations and kisses Morna’s cheek and looks at Luca. “I am sorry, I let you both down. I should not have allowed this to happen.”
Damian turns on his heel and walks out of the dining area. Luca watches him go and calls out softly, “You didn’t fail anyone, Damian. The failure was not yours.” Luca notices Breena start to follow Damian. “Wait, Breena. He probably needs to hunt after being around so much of Morna’s blood. His thirst is probably unbearable, he must be in dire agony with the burn in his throat. Morna‘s scent particularly appeals to him, just as it does to me, even with the vampire taint. His control for one so young is beyond admirable. But I do not think he would appreciate it if he knew you observed him now. I will get one of the warriors to go out with you in 15 minutes to help you find him, then you can talk to him. Okay?”
Breena nods, and looks to Brian. He assures her, “I can help you find him after 15 minutes.”
Luca is standing by his mate’s inert form now. He is watching her, his great love for her obvious in his face. Then he looks up at the doorway the young vampire had made his escape through. He looks back to the woman he loves. He rubs his face with his hands and rake his fingers through his hair, and sighs. “I am taking her to our quarters, if you don’t think it will hurt her if I move her.”
“I am sure she can be moved, Luca, she is well on her way to healing. The medication will hopefully help her rest for a few hours.” assures Elias, then he turns and walks away. He knows Luca will look after her from here on out. Rinda finally moves away from Morna’s side after patting Luca’s shoulder.
Luca nods his thanks to his wife’s favorite godson and her best friend before picking her up and carrying her to their quarters and lies her on their bed. He kneels beside the bed holding her hand. He buries his face in the bed and his body is wracked with dry sobs. He has never felt so helpless, so angry in his entire life. He is angry at his daughter for beating his wife, and he is angry at his wife for preventing his intervention and for allowing Aideen to beat her. But mostly he is angry with himself for not raising their daughter better.
He raises his head when he feels Morna move on the bed. “Stop it Luca. None of this your fault. I told you things are funny with women.” she whispers. “Come up here and lie with me, please. I will be much better after a few hours of rest.”
Luca stands up, their eyes meet. “Dammit woman, am I supposed to just accept what just happened because you say things are funny with women?” he snaps. “Am I supposed to pretend that I am not so angry with both of you, that I just want to walk away?”
Morna flinches at his words. “I am sorry Luca, but she was right, I am not much of a mother to her. I never have been. And I certainly wasn’t going to risk hurting her. So I just let her do what she wanted.”
“Morna, did it occur to you that Damian might have killed her when he came upon her beating you?” he yells. “Did it occur to you that she could have killed you? Did you think of anything, or did you just give up?” Luca turns on his heels and walks out of their quarters. Morna hears him ask Brigid to keep an eye on her, then she can hear him no more. She knows he has left. She’s not sure if he went out into the upper-world or down into middle-world. But she knows he will probably be gone for a long time, if not forever.
Grief and shame over her stupidity and inadequacy wash over her unrelentingly. Silent tears roll down her cheeks as the medication and the concussion draw her under again. Shortly after she falls asleep Morna feels Rinda crawl into bed beside her and gently pull her injured body into her arms. Rinda softly sings the healing songs and other songs to help Morna rest more easily.
MORNA & LUCA’S STORY CONTINUES IN THE FIRST SPELL WEAVER OF AIRENDELL
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Thank you for downloading this book. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please take a moment to leave a review where you downloaded the book. As a writer I am always eager for feedback. You can also read Breena’s personal diary. Breena has an interesting take on things and there’s so much more going on between Breena and young Damian than Morna and the others are aware of. Check out Breena’s diary The Airendell Chronicler Diaries - The Young Vampire Mate - Book 1.5
Watch out for The First Spell Weaver of Airendell - Book Two of Airendell Chronicles coming out soon and available for download on Smashwords.com. I have had a lot of fun creating these characters and the world they inhabit. I hope you enjoyed getting to know them as well.
For more information about upcoming books, free giveaways and general progress on the world of Airendell and other magical realms you can follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Airendell-Chronicles/661505083894452?ref_type=bookmark
You can also check out my blog on WordPress at https://jenbaileywritesromance.wordpress.com/
Thanks for reading my book and HAPPY READING!
Jen Bailey
This is a work of fiction. All characters and organizations are fictional and purely a product of my imagination. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
AIRENDELL CHRONICLES -LOST WANDERER – AWAKENED
(©) COPYRIGHT 2013 –
Jen Bailey/Jenny Bailey