Morana lay awake long after Tarion had fallen asleep. She was surprised that he hadn't returned to his own room, but given the things he'd revealed to her, perhaps he didn't wish to be alone with his thoughts. Anger churned in her gut, his words playing through her mind once more.

Astaroth was a monster. She'd always known that, but the things he had stolen from Tarion, the things he had made him do... She would leave the dark Lord burning, just as she had promised. For her lost mother and father. For Koen and Vesna. For every family who had sacrificed themselves to save her. For her dearest friend, and for Tarion.

She was still scared senseless of the prospect, but now, she knew she had no choice but to do it. If Astaroth subjected Neeri to the same things and she did nothing, she couldn't live with herself.

Morana rolled onto her side and watched Tarion quietly. Sleep had smoothed the worry and pain from his features, leaving him looking as relaxed as she thought he could be. Her lips curled sideways as she noted the shadows beneath his eyes and the cool pallor of his face.

He'd been more tan when they first arrived at the library. The only explanation she could give his paleness was if the need for blood was catching up to him again. And I doubt he would tell me if that was the case, she mused. He probably thinks I'd be afraid of him hurting me.

Before now, that would've been true. But they'd been together this long and he'd made no attempt to harm her, intentional or otherwise, and she now recognized that wasn't going to change. Her thoughts flickered back to the group of women and children, and the marks she'd seen on Astrelle's neck. Morana rested a hand against her own, thinking, then she shook her head.

I wonder if they made it to Rehema's village and if they took them in. I hope so. She didn't wish to think that some harm might have befallen the group. Hopefully they were safe and out of Astaroth's reach, the children especially.

I'm sure Astaroth has his Corrupted Fae searching everywhere for me. The longer it takes him to find me, the worse things will become for everyone else. They needed to prepare, and fast. She didn't know much about wars, but she did know that time was running out. If they didn't take the war to Astaroth, he would bring it to them.

Tomorrow, Morana decided. Regardless of what Tarion says. I'm continuing our research tomorrow, and he's going to start planning more lessons for me. She was tempted to demand that they start by redoing her last lesson, but it would be better to work her way up to it. The last thing they needed was a repeat of the past few days.

Morana smiled as Tarion swiped at his nose, a soft sound escaping him though he remained asleep. "You probably won't like that," she whispered with a hint of a giggle. "You'll probably be very fussy the whole time."

Tarion cracked an eye open though he didn't really seem lucid. "Hm?"

"Nothing." She rolled over again, still giggling to herself.

"Whatever," he grumbled. "Be quiet, Birdie."

"You could go back to your own room." No answer came.

Morana peered over her shoulder and saw that he was already asleep again. She closed her own eyes and nestled her face in her palm. One last thought crossed her mind before sleep stole her away. She'd never slept with her back towards him before.

•༻☽☾༺•

The next several days blew by faster than Tarion could track. He'd found himself roped into creating a steady lesson plan for Morana while she researched for them. As soon as his plans were complete, they set to work and trained for hours each day, leaving little time for his own studying.

The fact weighed on him more and more. He didn't know what he'd do if he couldn't find the answers he was looking for, or what Morana would do if she found out. He would do his best to delay that for as long as possible, though he knew it would likely only make things worse.

But seeing little option, he devoted his energy into training her as best as he could. Their lessons began simple, building off the few they'd already had. When Morana felt confident in those abilities, he began to increase the difficulty of their next lessons.

In addition to magic, he was working with her fighting abilities too. She had been better equipped in that regard, especially thanks to her Uncle Koen, but there was still much for her to learn. Luckily, Morana seemed eager to learn it all.

He was the one who had to force her to pace herself. It didn't help much. She just continued to practice alone after he'd gone to bed. But as long as she didn't hurt herself, Tarion couldn't be upset with the progress she made.

She was currently running through a set of drills he'd worked out for her while he thumbed through a book. She performed a set of moves with one of his daggers, keeping her magic honed through the blade. Her opponents were flying disks conjured by Tarion's magic. They flew at her at random and whenever one slipped past her guard, it exploded against her skin with a faint zap of energy. Morana still swore each time.

Tarion smirked as she did it again, then returned his attention to the book. He'd found a passage about magical connections, but it was mostly just talking about mating bonds. Not what he was looking for. Not even the section on breaking the bond helped, because they couldn't be broken.

He'd already known that thanks to his parents. They'd always warned him to take his choice of bride seriously if he wished to someday form the mating bond with her. Once it was made, it couldn't be unmade, and he wouldn't wish to regret being bonded with someone.

Tarion closed the book with a sigh and stood. "That's enough. You can take a break now if you want," he called to Morana. With a wave of his hand, the disks attacking her vanished.

Morana rested his dagger across her shoulder and joined him. "Any luck?" He shook his head. "Well, we'll look again later." She pushed his dagger into his hand. "Come on. I could use an actual sparring partner."

"Later," he promised. Morana arched a brow. "I want to check the perimeter now. We haven't been outside the enchantment in a while and we should make sure no one new has turned up in the area."

"All right. It was starting to feel a little cramped in here anyway."

Tarion cocked his head with an amused snort. "You haven't even explored half of the library yet. Remind me to take you down to the actual temple portion later and then you can complain about being cramped."

"Temple?" She echoed, falling in step behind him. "I thought the whole library was a temple."

"It is, but there's also a chamber beneath it that is used solely as a temple. It can only be reached through hidden entry points. During the Elder Age, it was accessible to everyone like the rest of the library, but eventually the worshippers and scholars became so numerous that they were getting beneath each other's feet constantly. Drenusha's acolytes decided to hide the entrances and only allowed worshippers down in the temple in small groups."

"How do you know where the entrances are?" Morana asked.

"My family had access to all of Asterria's holy places. As rulers of their land, we were supposed to be their most devoted followers and had to attend holy events regularly." Tarion grimaced at the memories. "They always bored me."

"Even Drenusha and Durga's?" He could hear the teasing laughter in her tone.

"Drenusha's services were always just hours and hours of praying and rituals. Durga's were a little more exciting. They either had ritualistic sword dances or blood sacrifices."

He glanced at Morana as her gaze shifted to him. "Blood sacrifices? Such as..."

"Everyone in attendance would cut their palms and drip some of their blood into a fire. It was believed that the smoke carried the scent of our blood to Durga so that she would remember it if it was ever spilled and claim our souls before we suffered." He only wished the rituals had worked for his parents. "The same thing is done for Hadeon too, only it's meant to remind him not to shed our blood needlessly in war."

"Interesting. I haven't seen many services for the gods. Most people forgot about them or didn't see the point. I've never even been inside a temple before now."

"I'll show you Drenusha's temple later," he promised again. They both fell silent as they reached the edge of the enchantment. They passed through carefully and emerged on the other side in seconds.

No new scents reached him as Tarion set off into the forest, but the sights had changed. There was less green on the trees and more color. Crimson, copper, and golden leaves littered the ground and rustled overhead in the chilled breeze. "It might be fully autumn by the time we leave," Morana remarked. He nodded his agreement, but kept walking even when he heard her pace slow. "Tarion?"

That caught his attention. He paused, looking back at her. "What is it?"

Morana's eyes were downcast and worry had wrinkled her brow. "What if we don't find something that can help us? I'm not going to give up, but what will we do?"

Tarion sighed. He'd been pondering that question too, and so far had yielded very little. "I don't know. We could try looking for answers elsewhere. There could be knowledge that Astaroth keeps hidden in Ophir, but our best bet might be to attack him outright and just...hope for the best."

Morana shuddered. "I don't like either of those options."

"Neither do I. Hopefully if it comes to that, we'll have thought of some better ones."

They walked in silence from then on, both occupied with their own doubts and concerns. They circled the entire perimeter around the library, taking care to hide their tracks as they did so.

When they were certain nothing was amiss, they returned to the library. Morana resumed training with even more vigor than before, and Tarion beseeched the library once more for any answers it might be hiding from them.