My Boyfriend Merlin (29 page)

“Actually we are here,” she said.

“You’re a little late,” Vane told her.

“I would say entirely on time.” The Queen looked at the gargoyle King. “Rourke, your consort attacked the sword-bearer. We had every right to protect her. If you want to know why they targeted her, complete the order you were about to give before Marla attacked. What did she not want you to know? I fear your son lusts for your throne. If honor was broken today, you will find it was not by us.”

Rourke marched over to Oliver who sat on the ground holding his mother. Rourke spoke to him in lowered tones. Oliver's face became angry. He replied to Rourke in a heated voice.

I looked up at the sky. The red moon has started to wane.

Rourke walked back to the Queen with a grave face. “It seems you are correct. They had the right to claim retribution for her actions today.” Rourke’s eyes fixed on me with pointed intensity. “We came for the Sword. We have lost that battle. We concede—for now. However, I would not get too comfortable. The sword's allegiance is not yet fixed.”

Rourke nodded at the Queen. She inclined her head in regal acknowledgment.

I glanced around at the gargoyles. They watched the candidates with alert eyes, but their swords had dropped down to their sides. The gargoyle from the alley moved to pick up Marla. Oliver snatched her up before he could.

“Come, Oliver.” Rourke walked to the edge of the rooftop.

Bending his head, Oliver carried Marla to his father’s side. As he passed me, he shot me a look that burned with hatred.  The glow of the moon angled off the gargoyles as they lined the ledge of the rooftop. A high-pitched whistle sounded.

The gargoyles all leaped off into the night.

***

I put down the Sword and leaned on its hilt. “It’s over.”

“Ryan,” Paul yelled from behind me. “A brother for a brother.”

I whipped around to see Paul run a blade through Grey’s back.

It pierced through his chest.

“No!” My scream tore through the night.
Grey.
The stench of fresh blood hit my nostrils.

I crossed to Grey. I moved fast. Faster than I could see or think.

Triumph lit Paul’s face. He pulled the sword from Grey’s back. He tried to block me as I swung the Sword at him. His sword glanced off mine. My hand swung again without even thinking. I connected with the hard bone of his neck. His smiling head came off in one neat slice. I didn’t waste any more time on him. I dropped the sword and knelt down to Grey.

CHAPTER 19
MERLIN

The red moon had waned, leaving behind its mark on the night. Clouds moved across the sky. A soft kiss of rain started to trickle down on the rooftop. I clutched a blood-soaked Grey to me.

Vane knelt down beside us.

I choked out. “H-help him.”

Saying nothing, Vane put a hand on my neck. He put a hand on the wound on Grey’s chest. It healed but Grey remained still.

I let out a broken sob. Gia came up beside me. Silently she touched Grey’s face.

Matt stumbled over to us and dropped down to Grey’s side. He put his hand on Grey’s chest. “I can’t feel his heartbeat.”

“No.” I touched Grey. He still felt warm to the touch. My amulet surged with power. I caught Matt’s shoulder. “Do something. He’s not gone yet, I know it.”

Matt’s dark eyes clouded. “It’s too late, Ryan. I am sorry.”

The same words he’d said when Alexa had died. My fingers tightened in anger. I shoved at Matt’s chest, knocking him on his butt.

“It’s not too late!” I stood up. I looked down at him. “If it’s too late, then what the hell was this for, Matt? I didn’t get the Sword to watch Grey died. We have it now. We didn’t have that when Alexa died. Don’t tell me you can’t do this? The candidates did what was asked. Now it’s your turn.” I picked up the sword and held it over Matt. I swung it around in front of his face either like an avenging angel—or deranged lunatic. I didn’t care.

“Are you the greatest wizard in the world or not?” I yelled at him. “If you are—prove it now. If you aren’t—you may as well go back into the tomb you came from.”

Vane stood up. He put himself between Matt and me. “He doesn’t have enough power left to do much. I’m nearly used up. The red moon is gone. There is nothing left to draw from.”

“There must be another answer,” I snapped. “Think. Whatever it is, I don’t care. If you don’t fix this, Vane, I will never forgive you.” I stared at Matt. “Either one of you.”

“There is another way.” The Queen strode past a group of wizards to the three of us. She glanced up at the wet darkened sky. Nothing penetrated through the clouds.

“She has the blood of three.” The Queen looked at Matt. “Does she not?”

Matt nodded.

“What?” I blinked at the Queen in confused.

“The sacrifice in limbo worked because you have dormant gargoyle blood,” Matt told me. “It is not active, but it is there. Sacrificing yourself brought the blood in contact with the Sword.”

I stood in shock for a moment. I stared down at Matt. “You lied to me again!”

Vane grabbed me. “Leave it, Ryan. Grey needs you now.” He looked at the Queen. “What else do we need?”

The Queen nodded at the wizards surrounding us. Nearly two hundred or so wizards took up the wide expanse. “She must channel every wizard on this rooftop.”

“It will kill her,” Vane said.

“It is still the solstice,” the Queen said. “It has its own power.”

“She is the sword-bearer. She can handle it,” Matt said dully. “But should she? To bring him back now would be unnatural. We don’t know where he would come back from. What it will do to him. Who he’ll be.”

I knelt down next to Grey and put my palm to his cheek. It had started to turn cold. Tears flooded down my face.

No one said anything. Quiet filled the rooftop where there had been a cacophony of battle sounds before. We were up high, yet not far enough for escape. Stray noises from the streets outside the Palace wiggled up. My shoulders started to slump.

Gia stood up. “We’re with you, Ryan.”

All of the candidates gathered and formed a circle around us in a silent show of support. Matt looked at them without expression.

“P-please, Matt,” I begged him. “Please, do this for me. I know this is right. It has to be.”

Finally, Matt gave a slow nod.

Vane handed me the Sword. I held it close to me.

Matt chanted one word, “
Invati.”

Vane repeated it.

All of the candidates—Regulars and wizards alike— shouted the word.

The gemstone on my amulet warmed. Everything around me warmed. The sword glowed blue in the dark night. The red moon seemed to deepen in color and the full power of the eclipse flowed through me to the sword. For a moment, the whole world stood still. A bright flash burst from the sword. I saw Matt and Vane direct it at Grey.

Grey rose up in the air.

My whole body burned, overheated like a too-taxed lightbulb. A million lines of disparate energy hit me. I became the central source of power. The synapses of my mind fired with unbelievable speed trying to process all the separate threads at once. My mind couldn’t handle the load.

Grey rose higher.

Then, in one loud burst, the lightbulb fused. A loud crack of lightning flashed across the sky.

Grey fell to the ground.

I let go of the Sword. I touched Grey’s chest. It rose as he took a breath.

Gia squealed from beside Grey. “He’s alright.”

“Ha,” I said, unable to say more past the mush that was my mind. Cleansing rain fell in glorious rhythm.

Vane laughed. Matt sat on beside Grey with a tired half-smile.

Cheers broke out over the rooftop.

The Queen watched us silently. She went to Matt and touched a hand to his chest. The wizards chanted a word. Matt blinked, suddenly looking more alert.

The Queen turned to me. “Good work, sword-bearer. You show as much promise as Merlin had pledged.” She gave me a keen look. “Despite your dubious blood, you have fire.” To my shock, the Queen took my hand and declared, “And we quite like you.”

She arched a brow at Matt and Vane. “You two will have to train her up, of course.”

The Queen’s wizards gathered the traitor guardians. I’d almost forgotten about them. They wore resigned expressions. “Excellent work on capturing the collaborators. However, I suspect we have not entirely cleaned house. I will gather the Council. I believe we need new leadership.” She glanced at the giant hole in her Palace. “First, though, we shall get everyone to the infirmary, then, I think we will start with my poor staff. They have seen entirely too much.” The Queen started to leave. “It has been a most interesting night.”

“Wait—” I said.

She stopped.

My fingers tightened on the Sword. “You’re just going to let me keep this?”

“Excalibur has chosen you, my dear.” Her wizened face lit up with bright eyes. “I cannot take it away. You are now the owner of its fate.”

Matt bent his head. “For Camelot.”

The Queen bent her head. “For Camelot.”

The other wizards cried. “For Camelot.”

A sizzle of energy went through my amulet. A sudden flash of lightning twisted through the clouds. It struck the Stone…where the sword used to be.

***

Two days later, I stood inside Buckingham Palace looking out at one of the side gardens from a second floor window.

“Have you gone crazy?” Grey demanded from where he lay resting in the middle of the giant bed the Queen had arranged for him to speed his recovery.

“Don’t sit up,” I said.

“I doubt you would be lying still if you were in his place.” Sylvia sat on the other side of the bed.

“I’m getting up,” Grey said. “I need to stop this insanity Ryan is bent on.”

The door opened. Matt and Vane entered.

“It’s time,” Matt said.

“Are you sure about this?” Vane asked.

“This is the best way to keep it safe,” I murmured, glancing at a nearby mirror hanging on the wall. I’d found myself doing it more that I liked. Something inside me needed assurance that I wasn’t going to sprout fangs… or beastly facial hair.

Vane put a hand on my back. “You look fine, Dorothy.”

“There has to be another way,” Matt declared.

“That’s what I said,” Grey said grumpily.

“She always was headstrong,” Sylvia said.

I smiled at Sylvia. It was nice to have her by our side once again.

“I should go.” I leaned over the bed to hug Grey one more time.

“No matter what, you’ll always have us. Remember that,” he whispered into my ear.

I squeezed his shoulders so tightly he winced. I let go.

Matt and Vane led me out. Guards—some in stylish black suits that gave them away as Royal protection officers and some in white mage robes—followed us. We walked down the hallway and into a small waiting room with two sets of doors.

A young smartly dressed man, Darcy—Dawson’s replacement—waited for us inside. He dropped his eyes when he saw me.

“Her majesty will be here in a few minutes,” he said to Matt. He glanced at me again and swallowed visibly.

“I’ll wait outside,” he mumbled, and scurried to the door.

My status as full-fledged freak was confirmed.

“Awe-inspiring angel,” Matt corrected.

Grimacing, I touched my amulet. “Stop reading me or I’m taking it off.”

Matt crossed his arms and looked at me steadily. “You can still change your mind.”

I took his cellphone and flipped on the news feed. It showed the angry mob outside of Parliament. It panned again to a similar looking crowd outside Buckingham. I went to a nearby window. The sky sat still in a hue of soft periwinkle blue. But on the grounds of the palace, a storm raged.

“They haven’t figured out what’s going on, but the gargoyles will keep driving them. I went through the trial to protect my family and now we’re in more danger than ever. This way—at least—anyone trying to get to me will have a harder time of it.”

Matt came up to stand behind me. “This is exactly what I didn’t want for you. You’ll leave yourself wide open.”

“If I don’t do this, can you promise me I won’t be buried inside some bunker? I don’t want to live like that, Matt.”
I don’t want to lose my mind.
The memory of how easily I’d killed Paul haunted me. I put a hand on the cold glass pane. The world seemed so vast. I touched Matt’s cellphone. Yet, it was smaller than ever.

I watched a news clip about the decoy student who’d supposedly pulled out the Sword. He had been murdered in his Boston townhouse. “The gargoyles killed him to fuel the conspiracy theories. If the Sword is revealed, it will save lives.”

“By sacrificing you,” Vane interjected from behind us.

“By not isolating myself,” I corrected.

“Arthur said something similar to me once about forming a Round Table and spreading the power,” Matt added. “As I recall, it didn’t work out as he planned.”

I grinned up at them. “Arthur wasn’t a girl. This story will work out differently.”

“It had better.” Matt’s dark eyes deepened with emotion for a brief moment, making my breath catch. Then a veil fell between us as Matt drew away.