Ever My Merlin (Book 3, My Merlin Series) (10 page)

A hard glint flickered in Matt’s amber eyes. “So it wasn’t without thought. It was with arrogance.”

I sputtered, “A-arrogance?”

“Yes, Ryan. Everything you do has consequences.”

“Is it that? Then, why is it okay for you to make unilateral decisions and not me? I don’t remember you asking permission before you took Excalibur.” I crossed the floor to Matt and poked him in the chest with my finger. “You say you want me to step up. Well, I did. I made a choice. Me. Myself. I.”

“If I hadn’t used Excalibur, we wouldn’t have gotten off that rooftop.”

“You should have found another way.” I spat his words back at him. “You could’ve bargained with the Medusa snake. This battle between the two of you has got to stop. We want the same things—”

“No!” Crossing the short distance between us, Matt grabbed my shoulders. His eyes locked on mine and he stared into them as if he could impress his beliefs onto me by sheer force. “There wasn’t another way, Ryan. There is only enough blood left for one more vision. I would never have surrendered that to him.”

My jaw jutted out. I said his words back, “At what cost?”

He didn’t answer.

“Let me go, Matt,” I said evenly.

“You heard her, Emrys. Back off,” Grey walked into the kitchen. His arm was around Gia’s shoulders, offering her support. “It’s been a long day.”

Gia laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Yes, it has.”

Ignoring them, Matt released me. “Understand this clearly, Ryan. Vane is not to be trusted. He will do what it takes to save himself. He always has. If that happens to be what we need to do, then all is good. If it doesn’t, then we’re going to be the ones left paying the price of whatever he does.” He pointed at the door, in the direction of the funeral pyre. “Destruction follows him like a plague. Whatever his choices might be, I assure you they will not be the right ones.”

“Like yours would be. I’m so glad you’re here to save us from ourselves.” Taking a few steps, I moved away from him. “You might be upset that I sacrificed your powers, but that’s not what’s making you so angry. You’re furious because you have no idea what to do next. For the first time in your life, you’re going to have to learn to live without a safety net.”

Matt sighed. “This isn’t about me, Ryan. This is about you. You’ve got to do better.”

Gia added softly, “I agree with Merlin.”

I reeled back from her words as if she slapped me.

“You shouldn’t have sacrificed his magic. We lost too much today.” Red-rimmed eyes faced me, but I couldn’t meet them. My legs, suddenly weak and rubbery, forced me to sit down.

Grey frowned. “Blake wasn’t her fault.”

“No, Grey,” I said. “They’re right. It is my fault.”

Without looking at anyone, I grabbed the bag on the table and pushed myself up. Feeling about a hundred years old, I walked slowly into the courtyard. Outside, the sky was colored in ominous hues of purple and dark grey. I could have marveled at its majesty, but all I could focus on was how glad I should feel to even see the clouds… thrilled to see another day… because of Vane. And yet… what he’d done… He was destruction personified.

I put my fisted hand into my mouth and bit down on it. Doubt, an ugly disease, bore down on me. Every insecurity I ever had about being the sword-bearer rushed back. Who was I to make any decisions? But in truth—there was no one else. When Matt and Vane locked horns, they couldn’t see past themselves.

I took a ragged breath. I had to hold onto the one truth I knew.

I was the sword-bearer. The burden belonged to me.

My hand pressed down on the side of the fabric bag slung across my chest. Inside was the snake from Medusa’s head, a slim bronze artifact about a foot in length. Unbeknownst to me, Matt put it in the bag when Hari picked us up from the airport. The Medusa snake had been in the car the whole time we were up on the rooftop.

Medusa was a Gorgon, who was either seduced or raped by Poseidon, the same god whose power Vane now possessed. Athena, the goddess of knowledge, caught them in the act inside her temple and cursed the poor maiden. Later, after being beheaded by Perseus, Medusa’s blood was saved and bottled. Thousands of years later, we found the blood in Athens. The blood held mystical properties and led us to the mermaids. The mermaids—one of the many secrets the sea kept to herself. I looked at the ugly, black scars on my arm. I got them during my last encounter with the snake, and I’d have them forever.

Biting my lip, I took the bronze squiggly metal out of the bag.

Matt ran down two short steps into the courtyard. “Ryan, what are you doing?”

Probably making another dumb decision.
Taking out the snake topper, I saw he’d been right, only a few drops of blood remained inside.

Matt rushed to me. “Ryan!”

He wasn’t fast enough. I put the metal snake to my lips and took a swallow. The last drops of the thick liquid burned as it descended my throat. My eyes watered. I barely felt Matt snatching the snake from my hands. I clutched my throat as I choked and coughed. The blood went down like rotten, maggoty meat. Gagging on it, I spat it back out. And then, spat some more.

I seriously lost respect for all those movies where vampires drank the stuff like sweet nectar. Ambrosia? It wasn’t. Matt thumped my back.

I coughed again. “That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Grey hurried out of the house toward me. A furious expression contorted his face as he barked, “Have you lost your mind? You almost died last time!”

I scowled back. “I had to try.”

Matt said, “It didn’t work.”

“The last two times we had it, you drank it,” I said.

“Even in the dungeon?”

I shuddered at the thought of the grisly cell which the mermaid king kept Matt in for weeks. I hoped never to experience that horror again. “You don’t remember, but Vane poured it down your throat.”

Matt stared at the empty snake. “Since Vane holds my power, only he could drink it.”

“Now no one can,” I said, waiting to be chastised. It didn’t come. Matt’s lips curled down, his expression seemingly equal parts anger and desolation. It was much worse than any reprimand. My hand reached out to touch him, but I dropped it halfway. “What do we do next?”

Matt sighed. “We fix this mess.”

Your mess.
I heard the sentiment in his tone even though I could no longer hear his thoughts. Would I ever do anything right in his eyes? I wished I didn’t care. Despair jackknifed through my already lowered spirits, and I tried not to let it turn into resentment. It took real effort to stick out my chin. “What brilliant plan do you have up your sleeve?”

“Nothing brilliant,” Matt said with a faraway look. “I intended to find the Healing Cup all along.”

“The Healing Cup? Do you think it really exists?” Grey asked, his voice hopeful. We thought we’d found the precious item once already.

Matt nodded. “Lelex told us the Fisher King came to him. There is no way he could have survived the wound Vane gave him without it. I absolutely believe it exists.”

“Rourke doesn’t have much time left,” said Grey. “We could spend forever trying to figure out where it is.”

My eyes narrowed on Matt. “You think you know where it is, don’t you?”

Matt inclined his head.

“But you’re not going to tell us,” I added.

His expression hardening, he took the now empty metal snake from my hand. “I’ve found that things work out better that way.”

Gia came down the courtyard steps, her long red hair shrouding her face. “Right, Merlin. Nice try. So, where is it?”

“We’ve been over this before,” I said. “This concerns all of us. I’m the sword-bearer—”

“Who no longer has a sword,” he pointed out.

“And you no longer have any magic,” I retorted before I could stop myself.

Matt’s expression froze, closing us all out. Light dimmed above us as night closed down on the sky. Movement sounded from inside the house, and the wizards streamed indoors. I watched the throng of people, their mournful faces as they leaned on one another. Under the expansive sky, however, Matt and I stood alone. Apart.

Emptiness made my stomach hollow. I tried again. “Matt—”

“As you pointed out, I’m sure I will learn to make do without magic.” Turning on his heel, he started walking away. “It has been a long day. I suggest you get some rest. You have a flight early tomorrow. The cars are leaving at first light.”

In a few short strides, he crossed the courtyard and went into the house, while the rest of us could only stare after him.

“I really want to know where we’re going,” Grey muttered.

“I’m pretty sure Marilynn made the arrangements for him,” Gia said.

She and I both winced at the same time. Marilynn did not like either one of us and she worshipped Matt. We wouldn’t get any help from her. For a brief second, I met Gia’s gaze and her demeanor thawed. It was fleeting, and a stony mask fell over her face, shutting me out.

Grey snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. He doesn’t have any magic. Gia can spell him to tell us—”

“Can you spell the greatest wizard in the world?” she murmured.

I let out a small bark of laughter, edged only slightly with hysteria. “You can today.”

***

“I’m going back inside,” I said, one hour later.

Grey nodded.

Moonlight shone down on the dark house. The power was out. A nightly occurrence in this part of India we were told. The sky still grumbled and rumbled, trying to make up its mind about the storm. In the bubble of momentary peace, we sat out on the front lawn, alongside other wizards. They built a small bonfire in a pit at the front of the house and sat around it, trading stories. Grey, Gia, the gargoyles, and I sat with them.

Sitting on a log beside Grey, Gia continued to stare into the golden flames of the fire blazing before us. In the mystery of the night, in a certain slant of the firelight, I could almost see Blake’s ghost, a shadowy form, sitting on Gia’s other side. I took a hard breath. There had to be something I could do. Fix this mess as Matt declared.

I listened to the wizards telling some exaggerated and some not so exaggerated tales about their departed friends. It was sweet, really. Matt didn’t join us. It made me uneasy. Past an open terrace, a small lamp emitted a yellow glow in the room he’d taken. But I hadn’t seen his profile in quite awhile. The hair at the back of my neck stood up. Following my instincts, I left the campfire and walked up the short steps onto the veranda.

“Sword-bearer,” a voice called from the shadows.

I stopped just before the front door. Sangeetha walked toward me, a ghostly figure in a flowing, white sari. Tears covered her cheeks. I opened my mouth. She shook her head. “No, you do not have to say anything. I do not think I could stand any more condolences.”

I closed my mouth. After a second, I asked, “Can I do anything?”

“Raj tells me the one who killed Hari was Merlin’s brother.”

My insides twisted. “Yes.”

“It is a terrible thing. One brother a savior, the other a murderer.” She swallowed hard. “I know not what comes, but Hari told me Merlin thought the earthquakes were just the beginning. You must help him, sword-bearer.” She took my hands into her icy ones. “I see the way he watches you. Merlin loves you.”

“Not any longer.” The words slipped out.

“He does. You must not allow him to push you away. Hari did not choose me at first, either. He said we were too young, but I prevailed. Now, my only regret is that I waited long than I wanted. Merlin will have to battle this brother. It will be difficult, but with you at his side, he can triumph.”

“Vane’s not himself,” I said. “We may yet be able to save him.”

Sangeetha’s fingers tightened. “You have feelings for the monster.”

I lowered my gaze.

“I saw the coldness in his eyes. Whatever he was before, he is no longer. If you choose his side, you will doom us all.” Sangeetha dropped my hands. Her voice turned hard. “My husband died to save us, sword-bearer. Do not let it be in vain.” In a rustle of white, she seemed to glide off the veranda, like an apparition returning to the shadows. A final warning floated to me through the dark. She whispered, “He was not meant for you.”

The words reverberated inside my head. With effort, I forced my bones to walk. Was I really fooling myself about Vane?

I didn’t want to believe I’d really lost him. I couldn’t believe it. Like I couldn’t explain the blackness bleeding into my soul at the mere thought of it. His hazel eyes as they’d smiled arrogantly at me. His cool breath against my skin as he’d held me, promising nothing would touch me.

I crossed the threshold into the house and started to head upstairs. A rustling from the courtyard compelled me to stop. I ventured out into the moonlit yard. More rustling came from a small door at its opposite end.

Silently, I opened it and peered inside. The door opened to the side of the house and to a row of parked cars. At the front stood a safari-style Jeep 4x4. The Jeep was first in a line of cars. Raj and one other wizard wore white cotton shirts that gleamed under the glow of a high-powered flashlight. They stood at Matt’s side, with Raj holding keys in his hands. Matt spoke to the other one who held the lamp. “You’ll need to give them their flight information. They’ll be upset, but don’t give them a choice. Knock them out if you have to. They won’t anticipate you using magic on them. Make sure they don’t know where I’m going—”

In the dark, my jaw dropped open. He held a bag at his side.

He was ditching us.

I took a step to confront him, but stopped. I had no doubt I would be freeze-spelled before I ever got the chance to make a stand. Without the
Dragon’s Eye
, I was entirely too vulnerable to magic. I checked out the Jeep. It had no cover. Matt stuck his bag on top of a black tarp, which I figured was the unused cover. Being careful not to make a sound, I slipped into the shadows beside the wall.

“Is everything in place? What is the best route from here?” Matt asked. He, Raj, and the one with the lamp huddled together, studying a map. Raj held his hand over the map and magicked it to show a three-dimensional view of the terrain.