Untamed {Mature Reading}

Chapter XXIX

Callum fell asleep in the early hours of the morning, his arms holding Bianca tight to his chest. She listened to the way his breathing evened, deepened into a deep sleep. She did not dare move until she was sure that he would not stir. Carefully, she eased out of his hold, his arm a dead weight in his slumber.

Every breath she took felt too loud, every step felt like it would be the one to wake him. Her thundering in her chest, Bianca willed herself to remain calm. Her body ache din that delicious way, but she could not take the time to savour it, to dwell upon what had happened between them. She had laid there beside him brimming in guilt for far too long to allow it to distract her now.

Later, Bianca would truly feel wretched about it all later.

The crescent moon hung low, offering the smallest sliver of light through Callum's window. Easing towards it, she glanced down at Callum's desk, carefully shifting sheets of parchment aside. A spike of panic flared inside of her when she could not see the map - the map of her homeland and the scribbles of writing around it.

Think, she urged herself - but her breathing came out unease, her naked skin breaking out into a cold sweat as she struggled to understand where the map had gone. Hid he know?

Her gaze flickered over to where Callum slept, his arm tossed over his face, lips slightly parted. He looked... peaceful. So at odds with her growing alarm. Turning away, Bianca willed herself to breathe. It had to be here somewhere. I had to be.

"Morrigan," She whispered towards the half showing moon. "Goddess, warrior - guide me." There was a plea to her voice, but also an urgency. "Guide me, so that I may do your will."

She had never called upon the goddess of war - had never needed to. Bianca had always known peace, that is, until Callum entered into her life and everything became a dangerous game. A game that she was constantly losing - whether he meant her to or not.

"Please," She begged into the night, the vision of the crescent moon swimming as she felt the sting of unshed tears. She squeezed her eyes shut as if to stop the fall of her oncoming tears, her voice raw as she uttered. "Please - help me."

The cool night air stirred at her loose strands of hair, moving them. They tickled at her exposed breasts, her shoulders, her face. But it was the lingering chill that made the priestess paused. Oddly, her mind though - war is not a fierce burning rage, but cold, ruthless calculation. She shuddered at the thought.

Do not look with your eyes, the wind seemed to whisper in her ear. Look with your mind.

Bianca did not understand what the wind - what Morrigan - asked of her, but she gave a shuddering breath, the tension in her shoulders easing as she fell the rise of panic abate. She wasn't alone. She had the gods with her. Even now, they offered her what they could. The knowledge made Bianca steel her spine, chin rising as she willed her eyes to open.

But she did not look with her eyes. No, she opened herself - the wind she breathed seemed to fill her - to become her. Something inside of her - a slumbering beat, unfurled, as if finally awaking.

Blinking, Bianca looked through eyes that were hers and then not - moved with a body that was both of her own command and then not. Two consciousness within one host. It was both unnerving and oddly comforting to feel the divine presence within her - though Morrigan felt cool and steely against the warmth and softness of Bianca's own being.

Her eyes - Morrigan's eyes - scanned the room, passing over Callum without Bianca's warmth. But still, the priestess felt her heart tug and the well of guilt take over once more.

Such emotions are useless now, child. The words rang in Bianca's mind. Your time to indulge is over. Duty calls.

Firmly, Morrigan tore Bianca's gaze away from Callum's sleeping form, eyeing the desk where the map had been. He does not trust you as you would believe, priestess. There wasn't any cruelty in Morrigan's words - but a strange, detached admiration. He is no fool.