After cleaning up the kitchen with Danny’s help, Merrick returned to his bedchamber for a shower and a change of clothes. He stopped to check in on Adalynn along the way; when she didn’t answer his soft knock, he opened the door a crack to find her in bed, asleep.
It had been a week since Adalynn and Danny had arrived, a week since a seizure had rendered her unconscious and Merrick had used his magic to force back her sickness. He’d not seen her exhibit any signs of illness in that time, but today…today she’d seemed unwell. Though she’d insisted she was fine, he didn’t believe her—her features and actions had contradicted her words.
She simply pushed herself too hard, too soon, he thought as he backed out of her bedroom and quietly closed the door.
But a strange feeling lodged itself in his chest as he continued to his room—it was an anxious, restless energy only a few steps removed from outright dread. Though that feeling remained indistinct, refusing to reveal its true origin, he knew it was related to Adalynn. To her sickness.
Without conscious thought, his mind drifted to the texts he’d studied over the last week—all of which had stated, with varying degrees of firmness, that warlock magic was not suited for healing.
He entered the shower and stood beneath the steaming spray of water for a long while, letting it cascade over him as though it could wash away his worry, as though it could silence the whispers in the back of his mind.
You made it worse.
You haven’t helped her at all.
You’ve sped her doom.
Growling, he slammed a fist into the wall. The tiles shattered, opening a few shallow cuts on his knuckles. Ceramic shards clattered into the tub. For several seconds, all he could do was stand there, his blood flowing in watery rivulets that eventually swirled into the drain at his feet. He released a heavy exhalation and finally withdrew his hand. Magic crackled from his core and raced along his arm; he focused the power on the broken tiles. The shards floated up from below and returned to the damaged portion of the wall.
The blue glow around the ceramic faded once the pieces were in place, revealing whole, unmarred tiles.
Why could he not do for Adalynn what he could do to broken glass, to broken tiles? Why couldn’t he keep her preserved in perfect health just like he’d preserved this house?
There had to be a way. There had to be a means by which he could overcome the inadequacies of his magic, a means by which he could cure her.
He left his bedroom after he’d dried and dressed himself. He paused outside her door as he passed it, stilling to listen, letting even the sound of his own heartbeat fade from his perception.
Adalynn’s soft breathing was barely audible through the door, and hearing it only provided a sliver of the comfort he’d hoped to garner. Merrick continued down the hallway in quick strides. Her presence tingled at his back, growing fainter but more insistent with each step he took away from her. And that feeling in his chest, that anxiety, that dread, deepened.
Though he’d intended to enter his study, he found himself walking downstairs and along the southern hallway, not stopping until he was in the ballroom. The curtains were closed, allowing only hints of the diffused late evening light to flow in around the edges of the windows, but his eyes were little affected by the gloom. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d used this room—the last time he’d even entered it—before Adalynn had come. She’d breathed life into it.
She’d breathed life into him.
The weight and pressure in his chest intensified as he absently retraced the path of their much too brief dance, as he mounted the stage and ran his fingers along the graceful curve of the piano.
Though the music of magic had flowed through his blood for his entire life—even while he was too young to feel it—he’d never quite deemed his talents adequate when it came to mundane instruments. He was competent enough, knew the notes and the keys, could even play many complex songs, but there had always been something missing—the passion, the feeling. For whatever reason, he’d never been able to capture those emotional cores. Everything he played sounded flat. All his focus, all his passion, had gone into power.
But he knew, without having heard her play, that Adalynn could instill her music with any emotion she chose, with immense, overwhelming passion. He knew music was as effortless to her as magic was to him.
He wanted to hear her play. More than that, he wanted to hear her play for him. And that want filled him with…sorrow.
Why, after a thousand years, had he found the one woman he desired above all others, the one person he longed to be with, the one person whose soul seemed to speak to his, only for it to come with the knowledge that she would be gone soon? Why was the greatest beauty—both inside and out—always so terribly fleeting?
Merrick stepped to the piano’s front, lifted the fallboard, and settled his hand over the keys. He pressed one down gently. The soft note it played was jarringly out of tune. How had he kept the rest of his house in immaculate condition but neglected this? Had it been some subconscious reflection of the discordance within him?
Closing his eyes, he willed his power into the instrument slowly, feeling out the resonance of each individual string through its mana song. Even with magic, it was a delicate process, a time-consuming process, but it felt like the right thing to do. The piano deserved better than he’d given it.
And Adalynn deserved only the best.
Even when he was done tuning the piano, he didn’t step away from it. His mind wandered toward her, always her, forever her. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, lost in thought, but the room was noticeably dimmer when the sound of a cabinet slamming in the kitchen caught his attention. He drew in a steadying breath, turned around, and walked toward the sound. The dread in him continued to build, making his throat and chest tight.
Something is wrong, but what? What am I feeling?
He entered the kitchen to find Danny standing at the sink, sipping from a glass of water. The anxiousness thrumming within Merrick, as powerful and consuming as his magic, only grew.
“Is your sister still resting?” Merrick asked.
She’s fine. She just needed some rest. She’s fine.
Danny jumped, nearly sloshing water over the rim of his glass. “Damn, man, do you always have to sneak up on people like that?”
Merrick narrowed his eyes and lowered his brows.
“I mean, darn, sir…you, uh…startled me?” Danny set his glass down on the counter and muttered, “I bet you cussed when you were a kid.”
Cussing had been markedly different in Merrick’s youth, but he had no intention of dating himself by bringing that up—especially because the English he’d grown up with was classified as a different language by modern speakers. “Your sister looked quite unwell. I know she’s suffered such spells before…was the way she looked and behaved earlier normal, in your experience?”
Danny frowned and looked down at his feet. “It’s different every time, but she has headaches most days. Seizures sometimes, too, like you already saw.” He raised a hand and ran it through his shaggy hair, pulling it back. “Sometimes she gets really tired, or her speech might slur like she’s drunk, but Addy doesn’t drink.” He looked back up at Merrick. “She said she worked too much today, but do you think it’s her cancer?”
Merrick couldn’t share his true fear with the boy—that yes, it was her cancer, and it was doing this now because of what Merrick had done to her. That it was potentially worse because of what he’d done. He told himself that he couldn’t know for certain, that this was all wild speculation based on the dread growing inside him, that this was merely the reality of Adalynn’s situation, but none of it eased him.
“I don’t know,” Merrick finally said. “I think—”
Something thumped heavily on the floor upstairs. Merrick snapped his mouth shut, and everything within him stilled. The sound had come from the direction of Adalynn’s bedroom.
“You think what?” Danny asked.<
br />
Had the boy not heard the thump? It had sounded too much like a body hitting the floor.
Merrick raced out of the kitchen and down the hallway, ignoring Danny’s confused calls. He was at the top of the spiral staircase within a few long strides and continued into the hallway without pause.
He burst into Adalynn’s room to find her on the floor beside the bed, in the throes of another seizure with a pool of vomit on the floor in front of her; there was blood mixed in with it. Her jerking movements were more violent than last time, more intense, and her bluish veins were more visible than ever.
The dread that had been gathering within Merrick mutated into a toothy, primal beast that ripped his insides to shreds. In a thousand years, he’d never been more frightened than he was in that moment. He’d never stood to lose more than he did here and now.
He thrust that fear aside and crossed the room, dropping to his knees beside her. His magic roared to life within him as he reached forward and placed his hands on either side of her head. He couldn’t dwell on speculation right now; she was in distress, she was in trouble, she was in danger, and he needed to help her, to save her.
Danny ran into the room and skidded to a stop at his sister’s side. “Addy! Oh, no, no, no. Please don’t die.”
“She will not die,” Merrick growled. He forced the connection between them open.
This time, he expected the darkness within her, the cancer; Merrick blasted into it with full force, roaring in his mind as his magic swelled to beat back the taint. Her illness would not take her. He would not allow it. Even if he didn’t understand his relationship with Adalynn, even if she had not yet truly reciprocated his feelings—feelings of which he wasn’t entirely certain—he knew without a doubt that she was his, and no one, nothing, would take her.
Heat gathered rapidly within him, building to a searing pain that pulsed through his entire body from its focal point in his skull. He welcomed it. Welcomed the struggle. The dark stain on Adalynn’s bright, brilliant soul receded, curling in upon itself, shriveling away from his power, but not before lashing out at him in turn. Merrick growled again and pushed harder, filling his awareness with the blinding blue light of his magic.
The cancer retreated, but it would not be defeated. Not by willpower alone.
Adalynn’s body went limp. Merrick sagged forward, catching himself on a hand. His head ached like it had been hewn down the middle with an ax, and his entire body trembled from the exertion, from the feedback of his massive expenditure of power. He remained beside her, staring down at the floor as he caught his breath.
A drop of blood splattered on the rug.
Merrick lifted his free hand and gently touched his fingers to his face. Blood had flowed from his nose and tear ducts. He felt more trickling from his ears and tasted it in his mouth.
If this is the price, let me be the one to pay it. Let me be the one to suffer.
“W-What just happened?” Danny’s voice came from Adalynn’s other side. “What…what’d you do? What was that?”
Merrick ignored him; he had to focus on Adalynn, had to help Adalynn. He still felt her mana song resonating in his heart even though their connection had been closed, still felt her pull on him, still felt her pain—because her pain was inside him now.
His vision blurred. He shook his head and pushed himself upright, forcing his arms forward and gently slipping them beneath Adalynn to turn her over and draw her against his chest.
“Merrick…what’s going on? Is Addy okay? What’d you—”
“Enough, Daniel,” Merrick rasped. He clenched his jaw. His head throbbed so hard that it threatened to explode at any moment as he slowly got to his feet. When he was finally standing, he leaned forward and lowered Adalynn onto the bed.
He blinked away the pink tint in his stinging eyes and braced himself with a hand on the bedpost as the world whirled and swayed around him. Adalynn didn’t stir; her breathing was slow and even, the pallor had faded from her skin, and her muscles were relaxed.
I just need to be prepared next time…need to anticipate her illness resurging.
The thought echoed in his head loudly enough to cause a sharp pain at his temples. He squeezed his eyes shut until it passed.
“Are…are you okay?” Danny asked.
Merrick opened his eyes and swung his face toward Danny. The boy looked pale and frightened, his eyes wide and pupils dilated. Merrick found himself both unwilling to lie and unable to explain; thinking was too taxing now. He swallowed the coppery blood in his mouth and shoved away from the bed.
As he moved past Danny, Merrick said, “Tend to your sister.”
Merrick staggered into the hallway without a backward glance and walked to his room, keeping a hand on the wall for stability—and still stumbling occasionally, regardless. He’d never experienced such agony, such vulnerability, such weakness, in all his years, and it made him feel for Adalynn even more.
She was his, and he would find some way to heal her—even if he had to defy the universe to do so.
* * *
When Adalynn opened her eyes, she was hit by a powerful feeling of déjà vu. She was lying in her bed, the room dark but for the flickering light of a single candle on the nightstand. She’d woken like this before—with the same disorientation, the same confusion, the same sense that she’d just been pulled from the soothing embrace of a dream she hadn’t wanted to end.
There was so much pain…
She raised a hand and touched her fingers to her head. It was still whole. Thankfully, it hadn’t split open despite how it had felt. In fact, there wasn’t any pain at all, not even any tenderness.
She grimaced; even if her head didn’t hurt, her mouth tasted like shit.
A pair of arms looped around her and hugged her tight.
“Oh God, you’re okay,” Danny said.
It was only then that she realized her brother had been lying beside her on her bed. He held her tight, pressing his face against her arm, and something wet soaked through her sleeve. His tears.
“Danny?”
“I thought you were going to die. I thought you were really gone.” His voice was thick with emotion, and his body trembled.
Adalynn’s heart broke.
It happened again, except it came hard this time. I felt like I was dying.
Tears welled in her eyes, and she turned slightly to slip an arm around her brother. “It’s okay. I’m still here. I’m not gone yet.”
“B-But you could have been if M-Merrick hadn’t helped you.”
Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Danny lifted his head, and his pinkened, tear-filled eyes met hers. He’d obviously been crying for a while.
How long was I sleeping?
“What’d Merrick do, Danny?”
Her brother sniffled. “I…I don’t know.” His frown deepened as he glanced at the door. “Do you remember what that…elf-guy did? The golden guy?”
“What about him?”
He scooted closer to her and lowered his voice. “I think Merrick’s the same.”
Adalynn drew back and shook her head. “No, he’s not the same.”
That elf-like man’s eyes had been cold, empty, devoid of warmth and kindness. Devoid of humanity. But she’d seen all those things glimmering in Merrick’s eyes, and he’d shown them with his actions.
Danny’s hold on her tightened. “He has magic, Addy. I saw it.”
She placed a hand on his cheek. “Shh. It’s okay. Whatever Merrick did, whatever he is, he’s not like the monsters, Danny. Merrick won’t hurt us. He would have already if he meant to. Whatever he’s doing to me…it helps.”
I think.
“What did you see, Danny?” she asked softly, lowering her hand.
“He was touching you, and there was blue lightning stuff all over his arms, going up from his hands. And there were shadows coming off him…like thick, moving shadows. Like tentacles, Addy. They were moving up and down around his shoulders an
d in the air over his back—over you—and everything around them was dark.” He paused, eyebrows falling low. “No, that’s not right. It was almost like…like looking into the night sky. Like I could almost see stars in the shadows, but my eyes couldn’t quite make them out. And his eyes were glowing blue.
“And then you stopped moving. He…stopped your seizure. I think he did it before, that first night we came here, but he was hiding it then. But this time”—Danny shook his head, and his eyes were troubled when they met hers—“he was bleeding from his face. Not just a bloody nose, but everywhere—his eyes, mouth, and ears too.”
Worry sped Adalynn’s heart. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know. He left and told me to take care of you. He sounded…angry.”
“Stay here.” Adalynn extracted herself from Danny’s embrace and moved to the edge of the bed.
“Where are you going?” The bedding rustled behind her as Danny shifted. “Addy! You should be resting.”
Adalynn stood slowly, testing her balance; when she wasn’t hit by even a hint of dizziness or lightheadedness, she stepped away from the bed. “Stay here, Danny. I’ll be right back. I need to check on him.”
“But what if he—”
She turned to face her brother. “Merrick will not hurt me. Or you. Do you understand?”
He nodded solemnly.
“What he did for me… Danny, he might be suffering because he helped me. I need to check on him, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be back.”
She grabbed her flashlight from the nightstand and left the room, closing the door behind her. Clicking the flashlight on, Adalynn made her way down the hall toward Merrick’s room. The flickering light visible beneath his door suggested he was within.
Every so often she caught a whiff of vomit, and she cringed, wondering if any was caked in her hair. A glance down was enough to tell her she was in a different shirt than before she’d fallen unconscious; she had to assume Danny had changed her, that he’d cleaned her face, but it would take more than a wet washcloth to get rid of that smell. She would’ve liked to have taken a bath and brushed her teeth, but her concern for Merrick was foremost. Tending to herself could come after.
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