Chapter 9

                                    

                                          
Morgana screamed and fell with a crash. She clambered off the bed as if it were made of stinging nettles and ran to the far corner of the room. Her heart pounded, and her gasps were the only sound in the silence. 
What in the Goddess was that?
Her bedroom door banged open, and Morgana jumped.
 Damon's hair was mussed, and he wore grey linen pants and a tunic. His eyes swept the room. "What's wrong? What happened?" He raced over and clasped Morgana's arms. 
"I was having a nightmare and when I woke up I was floating above my bed!" 
"What?"
"Is Dain here?" Morgana leant around him, eyes darting around the room. Perhaps, Dain was hiding in the bathroom? Of course, he'd still try to mess with her even after Alston's execution.
"There's no one here but us. They wouldn't be able to get past the guards." Damon frowned. 
"Then who levitated me?" Morgana peered towards her balcony. Perhaps the perpetrator was there, hiding in the shadows.
"I told you no one is here but us." Damon sounded like he was trying to placate a wild animal.
He walked Morgana back to her bed and motioned for her to sit next to him. 
A strange silence settled over them.
"Do you take your elixir every day? Like you're supposed to?" Damon asked.
"Of course."
"Did you take it today?" 
 Morgana winced. "I vomited it up this morning, but I meant to take it later."
Damon sighed and put his head in his hands. 
"I'm sorry, it's been making me really sick lately. Missing one dose can't be too bad, right?"
Damon drew a breath in through his nose. "That's where you're wrong. Missing one dose can make all the difference. On the days you miss a dose your body absorbs a damaging amount of magic." 
The anxiety in Morgana's chest was like a mouse scrambling inside a snake hole. 
"You thought someone was about to attack you in your room ... But what you hadn't realized was that you were floating because of Elysia's magic escaping your body." 
"What?" she wheezed.
"Too much magic from the land has soaked into you and now it's leaking out. First the fire, now this? You've lived here for most of your life. We knew this would happen. But I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."
 "But doesn't that mean that the magic is starting to ..." Morgana felt like her throat was closing.  
"We'll have to double your elixir dosage from now on."
Morgana's chest heaved. "Am I going to die?"
"No, you just have to take more of the elixir."
"But this is the start, isn't it? This is the start of the magic tearing my body apart." Her voice was shrill. "It's inevitable that I'll die from Elysia's magic. The elixir is only slowing it down!"
"It's not going to tear you apart."
"Yes it is, stop denying it!"
"I'm not in denial! If you take more of the elixir, then it'll stop more magic absorbing. I confirmed it with the healer. He said you can go up to four doses a day."
Morgana looked at her lap, feeling like a fool. She should have told Damon as soon as she realized she wasn't going to get the elixir down that morning. She shouldn't have trained with him knowing that she hadn't had her dose. How could she be so stupid? Hopelessness shrouded her like a toxic cloud. Tears stung her eyes, and Damon wrapped his arms around her. She didn't know how much longer this elixir would work. She'd always known that the magic of Elysia was too much for humans to endure.