Mated to Morpheus

MTM.37

"I really did help!" Morph scoffed playfully, astonished at the denial, and faintly narrowed his nickel eyes that were once widened. He began listing things off, counting with his fingers, "For one, I turned you into a whole bedtime story. Who do you think began telling it first? Me, of course. That was all me. All me. For literal centuries, ever since the first night you were forced into that tomb, your story was being told to children all over the world. By the Gods, it was told to adults! If you ask me, I single-handedly kept your memory alive-" he shook his head, "-I can't claim that fully. There are so many shrines. Books are dedicated to you. Your history is taught in schools. It is unbelievable how popular you are. But, you know what else I did do? And, by myself, I might add. Minor sleep deities couldn't even go near her after I found out she was your mate. No one else can even come close to this. No one. Absolutely no one. Because, I personally made sure that Emery had dreams about you. I spent my time and effort into perfectly crafting her dreams, and you were the main focus in a lot of them. There was so much detail. You know, just the whole nine yards. Other ones were the usual types, as in the parents, the friends, some childhood memories, and a house made of candy. "

"How do you know my name?" I asked right off the bat, as soon as he was finished or before he could divulge in more of my dreams, but the question was more steered towards myself than him. Was it mentioned? Did Morpheus introduce me? Did I introduce myself? It seemed like there was a thin line between reality and supernatural abilities, and I found myself crossing it more than I needed, more than I wanted. Then, a more salient piece of information clicked just in time, "Wait. What did you say? You're the reason why I had nightmares about Morpheus all the time? You?"

"Well, first of all, I will not take any offence from that little 'nightmare' comment. I can deal with a little bit of a lapsus linguae, a slip of the tongue, you could say. A gaffe, if you're asking me honestly. No need to fret about it, though, I'll write it off as a simple misunderstanding. But, if you do say something like that to me again, then there's a strong chance that I might cry about it later." Morph pouted his lips while he spoke, emitting a fake whine under his breath. The action, the atmosphere, and the emotional aura all frolicsome. He intentionally shivered to get rid of the so-called embarrassing comment, and with his head lowered, he looked up at me through his eyelashes. A playful sparkle in his eyes and a hidden, cheeky smirk pulling up at his lips.

Morpheus groaned, "Get to the point."

Morph held his hand up again, focusing on Morpheus as he shushed him, "Respect. Okay? Respect. I know for a fact that your mother taught you to respect your elders, and I can guarantee that I am much older than you. You may be ancient in this realm, but you're an infant compared to the rest of the Gods and Goddesses."

Morph caught my attention as he turned back to me, rolling his eyes as if that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard, almost like he was saying, 'Can you believe this guy?'. "Anyway, I will skip past the many, many important bits that I had prepared for this first meeting. We won't share a laugh and a cup of tea, bond over our mutual, or our napping abilities. I thought that this would be under better circumstances. But, I can assure you that they were not nightmares. Most were very, very hilarious moments from Morpheus' past-" his sudden hearty laughter cut him off, and he started smacking at his leg, the both of us remembering exactly what he put in my mind, "-I mean, come on! A sip of wolfsbane and he's down? His mother is ridiculously strong, but I would have never expected that in a million years. Moral of the story, every single dream you had of this man is thanks to me. And, no need to applause me yet, but I would appreciate some gratitude."

He was kind of right. I scratched at the back of my head. Morpheus was a bit of a wimp.

Morpheus defended himself, sighing as he pinched the bridge of his vaguely aquiline nose, "That dose was enough to kill a fellow Alpha, and the only reason why it worked was because I was not expecting my own mother to poison my cup of ambrosia. I was celebrating. As usual, I put my entire trust into her. If she was another, or if I had known then what I know now, then it would have went down very differently." Muttering, he whispered bitterly, "Ridiculous."

Piping up, I added, "I mean, I've witnessed it twice."

"And, the second time only happened because, and I cannot stress this enough, the dose was, yet again, an overly powerful amount and could kill a regular Alpha in seconds. I was distracted. I had more important things on my mind than wolfsbane." As a quiet deterrent from mentioning something else, Morpheus tightened his clasp on my hand. A tingle shot up my arm.

"On the note of distraction, I came here for a reason. Áine is missing. Missing. Gone. I can't find her anywhere. I can't sense her anywhere. I asked Tsovinar, and no sign of her. I asked Viridios, and no sign of her. I asked Hathor, and no sign of her. Then, I even went around and double-checked with Sirona, Berstuk, and Eos! And, you guessed it, no sign of her! Is she in this realm? Is she in the divine realm? I have no idea. And, frankly, it is troubling," Morph admitted, nodding along to his own words nervously, and throwing his arms up in the air for emphasis.

"Who is Áine?" The top of my head was about level with their elbows, my height being only a couple inches above. And, I felt as though I had to talk louder for them to hear me, but that actually wasn't the case. Their bodies massive in length, yet Morph's was willowy, and Morpheus' was Herculean.

"Áine? Morpheus, you haven't told her about Áine?" Morph scolded, clicking his tongue in disappointment and bewilderment.

"I was getting to it," Morpheus said.

Morph cried with dismay, shooting a glare at him, "Not quick enough!" He lowered his voice when he began explaining to me, "My darling, Áine is Dalnim's sister. Morpheus' aunt-"

"Auntie?" The term very familiar, obviously, but the voice of the last person I heard say it rang repeatedly in my head. "Is she the auntie?"

"-and, the creator of vampires."

W O R D C O U N T : 1965

I'm actually really happy with this update. I like the talking between the characters.

Also, if anyone would like for me to give them a short-ish description of the Gods and Goddesses that I have mentioned in this chapter or earlier chapters, then I would love to! I would give a little information behind the name inspirations, and add in who they are in my story! Some play an important part, and others not as much.

Really, the only one I can't speak too much on is Áine. But, I can definitely explain the Goddess behind the name inspiration!

All my love 💕