As she entered what would be her chamber during her wedding night, Morgana felt her heartbeat was relentless to the point she could feel it in her throat. Urien had been courteous the limited time they had been around the other. Although a bit stoic, he was able to tell her a couple of comments that had made her laugh the first time they met.

They had barely seen each other while the wedding preparations took place. Needless to say, Morgana knew little to nothing of the man, she had heard a couple of the her ladies in waiting talking about it wasn't entirely abnormal for people to marry after barely meeting each other, but it wasn't what Morgana had envisioned when she thought about marriage.

She had talked with Morgause during the party, the first time she had seen her sister in a long time. It had been unexpected, and the kids had to stay home. Morgause tried to comfort to the best of her ability and despite the tension between them, insisting on the fact that this was only the proof that Arthur was heinous person who had taken just after his father. She also tried to tell Morgana that, if her husband was nice enough, he should be able to understand that the marriage was, at its best, unexpected by the twenty-eight year old; at its worse, an undesirable product of obligation.

Morgana begged it was the case, she had heard enough horror stories from people who had married out of convenience. Her mother had lived one of them, and so had her sister.

"You don't need to fret, or undress for that matter," Urien's voice brought her back to the moment she was in, and she saw him sitting in the edge of the bed, taking off the newly-made boots he had worn to the ceremony. Morgana looked at him, blue eyes scanning him up and down, looking for any hints in his voice that denoted irritation.

"Oh?"

"Why don't you sit down?" he invited, gesturing to the chair next to the bed. Morgana furrowed her eyebrows, following his indication, adjusting her soft yellow dress, "I'm sure this must come as a surprise for you, but I'm not really interested in you,"

Morgana was taken aback, a half-amused smile rose to her face, and she was finding it hard to decide if she felt offended or relieved by the man's statement.

"Excuse me?" she managed to say reclining against the back of her chair. A small smile, visible through his thick beard escaped Urien's lips as he rose his hands.

"No, you're beautiful of course," he was quick to add, Morgana rose an eyebrow, waiting for him to finish, "but I'm not interested in you, or laying with you, or anyone at the moment, I hope you take no offence to my words nor tell them to anyone, the talking it would cause would prove too much for my patience to handle"

Morgana scoffed, a hint of amusement, "Then why did you set the marriage?" there was genuine curiosity in her voice. She was certain he had been the one to arrange the marriage, or at least that was Arthur had said.

"Why did you agree to it?" he shot back at her, raising an eyebrow. Morgana rolled her eyes.

"I asked first?".

Urien sighed, raising his hands in mocked defeat, "My council was pestering me to marry, I'm the king and they find it strange I have no eagerness to look for wife or an heir, so when Arthur questioned me about granting him free passage through my land, one of the members of my council mentioned he had a sister so I thought about it, and asked for your hand"

"Why?"

"I initially thought you'd say no," he shrugged, a sheepish smile rose to his lips, "I still would have said yes to the deal, I had no intentions of actually marrying you, it was just so I could say to my council, 'oh, well I tried' to placate them for a little while, marrying implies sharing the crown, and having kids with your partner it's setting the ground for feeding other people's murderous' intentions from an early age. If anything were to happen to me, my brother would take the throne, but my council don't seem to be as relieved as I am on that matter," he explained, Morgana nodded, half understanding, half still trying to grasp her head around the situation as strange as it was.

"For family," Morgana shrugged, answering the question he had asked previously, "And because... it's not important anymore..." she mumbled in a whisper. Urien moved closer to her, waiting for her reaction to see if the gesture made her uncomfortable

"Ah, I understand, so a broken heart?" Urien questioned

Morgana scoffed, "It seems like we have reached an even level between us," she looked for his reaction noticing his lifted eyebrow, "Two people in a marriage none of them anticipated nor initially wanted now stuck with each other until the other dies"

"That sounds vaguely threatening, considering you are the one of us that can kill without raising any suspicion"

Morgana shrugged, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "Does it? How surprising"

Urien laughed, "Well, Morgana, I hope you are as charming as rumors talk about you and that we'll get along well"

"You'll find I'm better than what rumors might say"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jonathan tried not to think too much on Valerie's voice calling for him. He was well aware that if he turned he would probably forget what he had told the woman and try to run to her, promising that it would be fine. If he did that, however, who knew how many lives he'd be risking in the woman's attempt to get ahold of him.

The lake closed above him. He looked down to find he was standing in stairs made out of marble that created a path ahead of him. It led to a castle that looked as if a single stone was used to create it. He could see the walls decorated with small details of gold that shone over the light of the sun that leaked through the water above them shaped in a way that reminded him of an aquarium. He followed Nimueh wary, trying to focus on her instead of the place where she had taken him.

Every few steps, the woman turned, perhaps to make sure Jonathan was following. He wondered about her reasoning, as he tried to think for any viable way out, if need came to it. Jonathan glanced back, there was no clear view of the people that he had left behind in the lake.

"You made the best possible choice," Nimueh's voice resonated when they were at the end of the trail of stairs that merged with a stone path surrounded by roots of trees that tangled with each other forming a fence separating the stone path from a green field. Jonathan was unsure what she wanted to stop from stepping in the garden's plants, but he almost felt a pull towards it.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something with the shape of toys for a child now covered by ivy, like if it hadn't been touched in many years.

"I doubt it," Jonathan mumbled, following Nimueh through the entrance of the castle giving one last look at the toys dropped in the grass. "What do you want from me?" he turned to her.

The inside of the place had its walls thinly decorated with lines of gold and silver, including traces of underwater plants; the floors were made out of wood, and the stairs were made of stone. The place was irregular, Jonathan noted, with some stairs standing taller or longer than others.

"Wouldn't you like to take a seat?" Nimueh offered, a soft and kind smile in her face "What do you eat? I remember Philip loved eating fish, although he brought deer sometimes and he seemed to enjoy that too,"

"Who is Philip?" Jonathan pried, Nimueh shook her head. She wasn't much shorter than him, he noted for the first time.

"No one who can be important right now," she dismissed with a movement of her hand, "I made sure of that."

"What do you want from me?" Jonathan asked, his voice growing in irritation.

"You've grown so much during the time you've been apart from me, Aodhan," she looked at him up and down, a smile in her face, he took a careful step back, "Of course, that's to be expected considering where half of you comes from, and you look so much like him, a pity, for a time I thought you'd look like your grandfather"

"Half of me?" Jonathan questioned, "Could you please get to the point? Why do you call me Aodhan?"

"Calm down, child," Nimueh tried, Jonathan flinched when she reached her hand to his cheek. "It's okay, Aodhan, you'll warm up to me, I'm your mother after all, I'm sure once we'll get over this unnecessarily rough start you'll remember how wonderful our days together and won't be able to reject what I can offer you,"

Jonathan froze. Nimueh's smile remained unfazed, her eyes looking at him almost as if she had expected a positive reaction out of the boy. Jonathan's eyebrows knit together.

"The fuck are you on about?" he spat, taking a step back from the hand she was trying to reach to him. She tilted her head, her lips turning into a line. She looked at the boy up and down, before moving her hand, brushing off his reaction.

"I didn't mean to go about it so harshly," she put a hand on her waist and used the other to push the hair away from her face, "but you deserve to know the truth." Jonathan stared at her, eyes wide looking at the woman up and down. The warm smile on her face sent a chill down his spine. His eyes travelled around, trying to get a good image of the place.

"Where did you think your problems come from?" her voice brought Jonathan's attention back to her, "Your eyes glow golden, I know they do, I just saw them do as much and they have always glowed like that, especially when you extended your little hands and made the branches of the trees bend to your whim," Nimueh continued, her features softening even more, eyes moving to the window. She shook her head before returning to look at Jonathan, "Tell me Aodhan are you happy here, on this world?"

"My name is Jonathan," he mumbled in a quiet, raspy voice his jaw clenching after.

"No." Nimueh was quick to answer, sending a deadly glare in his direction that she tried to mask with a smile, "That is the name you were given here, but its not the name I gave you."

Jonathan glared at her. Of course, he should know better than to let his anger take the best of him, especially in front of an angry goddess who had proven she'd had no qualms in hurting the people around him.

Then again, he finally had someone to blame for his very limited patience.

"Yes," he spoke between his teeth, he stood straight and took a deep breath, "that's the name I was given here by my family, by the family in front of whose doorstep I was dropped by who knows who,"

She took a step back, looking at him with a puzzled expression. It almost reminded him of a teacher about to scold a student who had said the word 'fuck' in front of her, "Aod-"

"No, let me finish." Jonathan felt his heartbeat raise, his fists pressing tight at each of his sides, "You kidnap two of my friends and when we find you, you start to attempt to hurt another and continuously attack people who I respect and appreciate very dearly and then, as the cherry on the top of the already shitty cake, you try to tell me some bullshit about my real name and if I'm happy here, or where my powers come from, how is that any of your business?"

He had to take a deep breath when he felt an almost instant rush of energy, one finger was pointing at Nimueh while the other was curled in a fist. The sound of something breaking reached his ears, he was certain it had been because of him.

There was a knowing smile in her face while she looked at him. Jonathan fell himself being pulled backwards and he landed in a rather uncomfortable seat he was certain, hadn't been there when he first entered.

Nimueh crossed her arms, "Aodhan, listen to me very carefully,"

"No."

The woman rose an eyebrow, "If I remember correctly our deal was that I left them alone and you and me would talk, wasn't it?"

Jonathan remained silent, eyes shifting to the floor.

"Good," Nimueh gave him a single nod, a smile in her face, as she clasped her hands together, "Now, we shall begin from the top, and you'll make up your mind about everything at the end, but I'm sure you won't be able to deny whatever I'll offer you after we're done, what do they call you here? Jonathan, was it?"

Jonathan stared at her eyes, eyebrows knit together but refused to answer.

"I suppose it's not that important," Nimueh shrugged, a chair moving until she adjusted her dress to sit, "Aodhan, my name is Nimueh, as you've probably heard from Morgana and Emrys, now let me tell you a little story,"

"Are you gonna do a fucking monologue?" the boy rolled his eyes.

"Such awful language." Nimueh wrinkled her nose, looking at him with an expression of disgust, "Don't think of this as a monologue, think of this more of a conversation, you can answer to what I say, after you're done listening, of course," Jonathan rolled his eyes, resting his head in one of the arms in the chair and shifting until his feet hung off the other side

"I was born a long time ago in Tír na nÓg, the Otherworld if you may, it was so beautiful, the most wonderful place you could possibly imagine, green fields that extend beyond what the eye can see, an enormous tree growing in the middle, a river flowing, all kinds of plants you could possibly envision, and everyone got along just nicely, But I was young, and I did not see this"

Jonathan barely glanced at her, his eyes now focused on how tall the roof hung above them.

"One time I came, I crossed path with a young man called Cederic, he was quite handsome," Jonathan groaned, his attention returning to her, "and I trusted him, the first human I had ever met, he was disgustingly charming, and I was young, he convinced me it was normal for people who loved each other to give each other presents"

Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows ,"It is normal," he said.

"He convinced me, the best token I could offer him was a scabbard that would always heal him as long as he had it," Nimueh continued, a sad laugh came out of her, "and then he proposed to me and convinced me that for us to get married I had to give him something else, something that would go along with his scabbard. I could only think of the sword my father kept away and didn't stop to think that he claimed an awful lot for a person who has never given anything to me." There was a soft bitter laugh in her tone.

Jonathan rose an eyebrow, shifting in his seat until he was sitting even if his feet still hung from the arm of the chair.

"When I gave him the sword he vanished, and I never saw him again. One day I returned home, heartbroken, only to get the scorn from my family, they claimed the sword was too precious for humans to posses and that if I liked humans so much, I might as well spend my time with them until someone new opened the door again for me."

Jonathan narrowed his eyebrows, noticing Nimueh's hurt expression. He almost felt bad for her.

"I rotted in this disgusting place, feeling my powers grow weaker the longer I spend here. I met many more people, and I've been furious that no one had opened the door for me, apparently no one's powers were enough to open such door. Eventually, I met Philip, he was handsome, even by human standards, which I never hold up high and he always came to visit, and after a while, he willingly decided to live with me despite I never asked that of him, he was funny, so I guess he also had that for him. He brought up the idea of having kids, which seemed interesting enough for me to be willing to give it a try,"

The boy rose an eyebrow, "I bet that ended well," he mumbled, this time resting on the chair with his head on his hand resting on top of the armchair, he was unsure when he had shifted.

"He insisted the kid had to have his last name, but in return, I decided to name our son Aodhan." Jonathan's heart skipped a beat.

"At first, things were happy enough, until you began to show your first hints of powers, tiny chubby hands leaving their marks on the grass, changing the size of your toys and twisting tree branches and locking yourself in invisible boxes to have your own space. Philip said it wasn't normal human kids did that, but he seemed not to care too much about it,"

He narrowed his eyebrows, eyes shifting quickly.

"One day, however, you began writing in the floor and I recognized the window you had created. Finally, I could take you with me back to my home, all you had to do was open the portal again and I just knew it wouldn't take long, you learnt everything so quickly. Philip didn't like the idea as much, he insisted on you having a normal childhood, going to school, having friends, can you imagine that?" There was a hint of mockery in her voice that didn't sit well with Jonathan, "I went to our room that night, but he never arrived, and you weren't anywhere to be seen. In that moment I decided, if I wasn't able to take you with me, why should he?"

Jonathan's stomach dropped, "What did you do to him?" he questioned tentatively. Nimueh shrugged.

"As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't remember having a son," she dismissed. "Now, Aodhan, I hope you understand why I want you here."

His eyes opened wide, and he looked at her up and down standing from the chair as if he had been set by lightning, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Nimueh stood up, hands reaching to his shoulders a smile returning to her face. "Aodhan, listen to me, all you have to do is open the portal and we'll leave together, you'll thank me later, I'm sure, and it'll be wonderful."

He took a step back, breaking free from her grasp, "What do you know about what I want?"

"Aod-"

"How many times do I have to tell you? My name is Jonathan!" He interrupted, pressing a hand against his chest.

"You're being a brat," there was a venom in her words that made Jonathan take a step back and swallow hard. He shook his head raising himself back again.

"Do you seriously expect me to love you, to see you as my mother and we'll be a happy family? I have two mothers! One of them likes to poke fun at me, sure, but they're my family! I can't even say that about you, how did you even know if it really was me? why don't you act like an adult and open the freaking portal on your own and fuck off,"

Nimueh rolled her eyes, her face falling with sadness, "I can't leave the lake even if I wanted to, I was forced to remain here, and I didn't know where Philip had taken you, I was only able to feel your magic from the distance, I don't understand what's so far-fetched about taking my son with me in a place that is far better than this," she explained, wrinkling her nose, "Do you really want to stay here?"

"YES!"

Nimueh's mouth turned into a line, "What's so great about this place? It has nothing good on it, the people around you will die, you will die, what good is that? All you have to do is open the portal and you'll never have to see those humans again. After the years have passed, because the years will pass and you'll outlive all of them, why not cut the ties now when the pain can be theirs and not yours."

"But I want to see them again, to live with them as long as I can! I don't want to go with you! What do I need to make you understand that?" he passed a hand over his hair before glaring at the woman, letting out a frustrated groan, knowing that telling her that he didn't know how to do what she wanted from him, "I am not helping you, my family is here! My friends are here! Valerie is here! My entire fucking life is here! And you want me to drop everything the fuck down just because you suddenly had a flare of motherly instinct?"

Upon his words, her expression twisted almost entirely. Her face fille with disgust and she glared at him as if she was now looking at a stranger.

"Is this about the Pendragon girl?" her words were filled with newfound poison. It was different, as if she was pushing years of resentment in the word Pendragon. Jonathan's mouth hung slightly open, eyes shifting to the ground, "Are you really renouncing to the best possible kind of life for a Pendragon? They are all the same, do you understand that? Arthur, Uther, Cederic, they'll all use you and leave you to bleed" she spat. Jonathan pressed his fists tight together.

"So what?" he glared at her, she rose an eyebrow at his reaction, "I'd rather bleed with a person who has been with me through most of my life than living in bliss with the one who only decided to appear in my life to mess it up."

"She's just using you," Nimueh mocked, her eyes nearly throwing daggers at him, "she just wants a helpful tool, and then she'll drop you off like you're nothing."

"If that were to be the case then I'm delighted to be chosen to be used by her." he shrugged, "Especially because I know you're just spitting bullshit, so I'll go with you. Valerie wouldn't do that," he said with as much certainty as he could muster.

"Give it time, I know it'll happen," Nimueh rolled her eyes, looking at the boy up and down, a half-smile on her face, "that is, unless you change your mind and open the portal, leave everyone here to their devices, whatever its coming, they brought it upon themselves, this is not a battle for you to fight"

Jonathan let out a bitter laugh, "It wasn't Audrey and Gabriel's fight either, but you had no qualms dragging them into this, did you?"

"And I would do it again if it meant convincing you to open that portal and go there with me," she sentenced, sending a chill down Jonathan's spine, "That is the best place for you to learn how to control your abilities, do you realize that?"

Jonathan's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Nimueh, finding her mouth twitching with a smile to the realization that she had managed to catch the boy's attention, and he hated it.

"Do you think I haven't noticed the darkness in you? It's an existing thing of course, everyone can be susceptible to it, but what you did to that poor boy, I was speechless when I found out."

"You don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled, eyes moving to the ground.

"Don't I?" she rose an eyebrow, "Your father was an idealist who did not hesitate to try to take you away when I said I would take you with me at the slightest opportunity, all humans are like that, you are my son, and as such, I love you, but I can't deny the human in you as big of a misfortune that is,"

"You're just saying nonsense"

"You think so?"

"You know nothing," he shut his eyes tight, shaking his head before glaring at her "It was an accident-"

"You can call it that, but there's no denial you caused it."

"It was an accident, I fixed it as soon as I could," he repeated, his voice breaking for a second. He stared at her, she was looking at him with an eyebrow raising and an expression he couldn't quite read. Jonathan took a deep breath, "I don't have to keep listening to you." His decision was final, he had listened to her, to what she wanted, he no longer held any obligation to her.

Nimueh seemed to understand this as well because panic filled her face, she looked at him up and down reaching for his hand, "Son... you'll have to understand... everything will make sense eventually, believe me, you'll thank me once we're there"

"I'm leaving." Jonathan sentenced, eyes glowing golden.

A.N.

I'm sorry for the delay, I'm finally able to post a new chapter today, and I changed the book's cover. Let me know what you guys think of the new cover, and I really hope you liked the new chapter, if you did consider leaving a vote or a comment, it would be amazing. After this chapter, there are only four more and an epilogue, can you believe it? Thank you so much! Have a lovely day!