Dark as Wine
Page 9
Turning away from the mare, she moved quickly up the long walk that led to the castle doors. She had already reached them before she remembered what Drago had said about the spell. When she looked back, she saw that Drago stood where she had left him.
A flicker of hope arose. If the spell had not kept her out, she thought, surely it must mean that Morpheus had not come to hate her for her perfidy. Thrusting the doors open, she paused on the threshold. Only darkness greeted her. But as her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness of the interior, her heart sank and fear seized her.
The main hall was a shambles. Tapestries had been torn from the walls, the furniture destroyed. It looked as if a great battle had been fought within the walls of the castle. Gathering her skirts, Adriana moved quickly inside. “Morpheus!” she cried out.
Nothing answered her but the mournful groan of the wind as it whistled through the door she had left standing wide.
“Too late! I am too late!” she cried out in despair.
She could not accept that. Crossing the main hall, she rushed up the stairs, nearly stumbling and falling in her haste and distress, calling to Morpheus again and again. He did not answer and she raced about the upper floor, searching for him. Each room lay empty--as empty as her heart had begun to feel, and still she searched, climbing at last onto the battlements.
Defeat settled over her when she found him not. Finally, weary with heartache, she trudged down the stairs once more. She paused when she had reached the room that had been her bed chamber. She had not searched it. She had not been able to bring herself to go inside, to face the memories that dwelt there.
Finally, she reached for the knob and turned it, pushing the door wide.
He lay upon her bed as if he waited for her, still as death.
“He sleeps,” she murmured in anguish, unable at first even to command her feet to move, she crossed the room finally, stopping beside the bed to stare down at his still face. “Please,” she begged. “Don’t leave me, Morpheus. I love you so much. I’m so sorry I left you.”
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she lifted a hand and stroked his cheek. “Warm,” she whispered brokenly. “And yet gone so far away.”
Climbing onto the bed, she curled beside him, leaning down to press her lips to his. “Forgive me, Morpheus. Come back to me,” she whispered hopelessly as she lifted her lips at last from his unresponsive ones.
His lips parted. A sigh sawed from his chest.
A sob escaped her and she buried her face against his chest, weeping for all that she had lost, all that would never be. She was so caught up in her misery that she barely noticed the first light touch upon her hair. A hand stroked soothingly over her head.
She pulled away, looking down at Morpheus. To her joy she saw that he was looking back at her. His arms came around her, pulling her tightly against his chest. “Adriana, my love. You came back to me.”
“Always, my love,” she sobbed, her heart near to bursting.
Nudging her chin up, he kissed her deeply, with desperation, with all the love he felt for her in his heart.
The End