Ever My Merlin (Book 3, My Merlin Series)

by Ardis, Priya

  Glastonbury was the town outside Avalon Prep, otherwise known as ‘the mystical land of Avalon.’

  “So?” Vane walked closer to me. He put a hand on my back, and my loose T-shirt suddenly felt tight.

  However I refused to jump when he called. Stiffening, I took a step away from him. “Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea, one of the three brothers who went on the quest for the Grail, found it and brought it with him to the abbey.”

  “I thought it was Perceval, Bors, and Galahad,” Vane said.

  I shrugged. “Different names. Same story. Anyway, after 1066, William the Conqueror commissioned the Doomsday to take a census, but everyone knows he was also evaluating wealth. During that time, everything truly valuable was taken out of Glastonbury Abbey and brought to Westminster to keep near the king. William was the first king crowned here.”

  Vane tugged at a strand of my hair. “What does it have to do with the chair?”

  “A panel under the seat used to enclose the Stone of Destiny. Today that stone sits in a museum in Scotland, but I think the whole ‘Stone of Destiny’ is a cover story to keep track of what’s truly hidden here.”

  I turned to look at him. The shadows played over the hard lines of his cheekbones. In the silent peace of the church, he only appeared more vivid. Being near him sent a shaft of agony through me. Why did he keep running away?

  “What is hidden here?” he said huskily.

  I swallowed and resisted the urge to touch him. My fingers ached to confirm he was real. He was here. “The Lady sent Hercules to steal the apples from Kronos. Matt and I found one apple in Sri Lanka. In a place she directed Matt to go. In your memories, you, Perceval, and the princess found another apple that Poseidon took. Well, what happened to the third apple? Why do we have these stories of the grail? What if the last one was brought home? Taken back to Glastonbury Abbey—to Merlin, to Arthur. During the dark ages, the churches were the only places of light. If a treasure of such importance had to be kept, it would be kept by them.”

  Vane turned to the wooden chair of kings. “And later William the Conqueror put it in his chair?”

  “During the dark ages, the churches were the only places of light. If a treasure of such importance had to be kept, it would be kept by them.”

  Vane turned to the wooden chair of kings. “And you think the chair is the marker?”

  I nodded. “The real stone of destiny. Hiding in plain sight.”

  “Not quite plain.” Vane waved his hand and shifted the chair forward along with the waist-high modern pedestal. It butted up to Henry V’s casket. The movement in the already tight room pushed me up against Vane.

  He caught me about the waist. “Ryan—”

  “You left, Vane. I’m pissed. Just let me stay that way. It’s easier.”

  “I never had a choice about leaving.” Since I was a boy. His arms tightened around me. “Someone had to build the gates.”

  “You could have taken me.”

  “I didn’t think you would want to come.”

  “You didn’t ask.”

  “You were injured, sword bearer, and your protector took over. You needed to rest.”

  I pushed him away, sputtering, “And I should be grateful? You are the most conceited… pompous… idiotic…” I broke off to grind my teeth. “Don’t worry. The sword-bearer will do her part tomorrow. You don’t have to seduce me into it.”

  Vane stared at me. “Is that what you think? That I want you because of Excalibur?”

  “What else am I supposed to think? You and Matt have been going back and forth over me since we met; and it’s not because I’m so awesome that you can’t live without me.”

  Even though I want you to think so.

  Vane snorted with laughter. “Yes, sword-bearer, I don’t know how we’ve managed with such burdensome baggage like you.”

  “Shut up.” Humiliation colored my vision red. I confessed my deepest fear and he was laughing at me. I pointed him out of the room. “Just go away, Vane. I can do this by myself. I don’t need you.”

  “I know you don’t.” His expression tightened. “I’ve been given away too many times to not know that.”

  “So instead you’ll just push me away first?”

  Green flashed in his eyes. “You made your choice in the maze—”

  “And you chose the Minotaur!”

  Vane caught my wrists and held me against the pedestal. “I did it for you. To save us.”

  “Then you have no idea what I want,” I said. “If all we’re going to save is us, then we haven’t done anything. Why bother with the gates, Vane? Why bother saving anyone? Don’t tell me the mermaids matter to you.”

  “The ones who care about me matter to me.”

  “When are you going to learn that it’s not enough to protect the ones that matter to you? It matters what mark you leave.”

  Vane let go of me. “If you want sanctimonious, go back to Merlin.”

  “At least he has a heart, Vane. You’ve cut yours out.”

  He recoiled as if I struck him. “It was cut out.”

  By his mother. By the Lady. By Merlin. By me.

  It was the way he saw it. He was wrong.

  “We’re human. It’s what we do.” Hurt each other. Then glue each other together again. I put my hand on his chest. “You can grow another one.”

  “It’s not that easy.” Vane turned away. He stared at the floor of the church.

  He flexed his hand. “Khand.”

  The floor exploded. The panel was thin, as I’d predicted. The perfect hiding place. Vane leaned down and reached in past the rubble and cleared it away. I put my hand on his neck; my fingers slid through his hair.

  He sat back on his knees. “There’s nothing here. It’s gone.”

  “No.” I dropped down and dug into the rubble. It was a hidden compartment—an empty one. I clutched my chest. “It can’t be.”

  Vane tucked me to his side. “I told you, love, it’s not that easy. Nothing ever is.”

  Vane led me outside. I walked in comatose silence. It had been my last-ditch effort. I’d failed again. We went through the narrow buildings. My whole body shook, a bundle of nerves. The streets were eerily silent. London, a ghost town. I never would have imagined it.

  We crossed into the more residential sections of the city. Many of the windows looked to be boarded up. Even if people didn’t quite believe the end of the world alarmists, they were taking precautions. Not that it would matter.

  A black truck screeched up to a small building.

  Vane pulled me out of sight into the alley.

  A family rushed out—a mother, a father in military uniform, and three children. Under the cover of the night, they snuck onto the street, obviously trying to stay quiet. The mother had tears running down her cheeks. She clutched the smallest of the three, a toddler boy, to herself. A Superheroes backpack dangled from her arm. The other children, a teenage girl and a preteen boy, wore heavy backpacks. Another man in black uniform stepped out of the truck.

  “Tom Drust, ready?” he said in a clipped voice.

  Tom, the father, nodded. “These are my eldest, Maura and Max. They’re on the list.”

  “Mum!” the preteen boy cried. The father picked him up in his arms. He and the teenager, who also started crying, stumbled to the truck. The father hustled the two kids inside.

  “We have others to pick up,” the military man prodded the father.

  “Anyone not show?” The father’s voice broke. “We have Mark.”

  The military man checked a smartphone he carried. He shook his head. On the street, the mother burst into loud sobs. She held the toddler tighter in her arms. The Superheroes backpack dropped to the ground.

  In the alley, Vane’s front pressed against my back. His arms went around my waist.

  I heard the father’s whisper down the quiet street.

  “I’ve been assigned to guard the London gate. The gun is in the safe. Two bullets for when you need it.”
The father’s face streamed with tears. He wiped it, gave the younger kid a pat on the cheek, and turned away, his shoulders drooping with failure.

  Evacuees. This was real. This was all there would be. I put my hand to my mouth in the alley. Nausea rose in my stomach and climbed past my throat. I choked it back.

  Vane’s arms tightened around me. “What will you give me to save him?”

  The toddler? I blinked. “What do you want?”

  “A favor.”

  It was a demand and a plea. The last favor in Chennai hadn’t worked so well, but I replied, “Anything.”

  On the street, the military man’s phone beeped. He looked at the screen in surprise. “Wait. I’ve been given an extra space.”

  The father straightened. The mother didn’t wait for him. She rushed up with the last child. She thrust the kid into the truck. Her daughter quickly grabbed him and the Superheroes backpack.

  “I’ll take care of them,” the teenager sobbed.

  The mother put a fist to her mouth and nodded. The father jumped in the truck.

  The truck roared away. The mother cast a furtive look around her and then rushed back into the small house.

  I turned around and faced Vane. He deliberately slid his phone into his pocket.

  For a minute, I wanted to hit him. What kind of bastard was he? Then I noticed that bit of wistfulness in his hazel eyes again. The same wistfulness with which I’d caught him watching me. Acting on impulse, I grabbed the phone from him.

  I ran down the street, clutching the phone like it was a lifeline. He chased me. He could have felled me with a simple spell. I don’t know why he didn’t. As I ran, I tapped the screen. It had a password. Vivane. I rolled my eyes at the tremendous security.

  Vane stopped me. A manacle went around my wrist. He snatched the phone back. I stumbled back against the side of a random car. He caught me and pulled me to him. I grabbed steely shoulders. The details of the webapp selected on the phone. He’d added a space for the little boy. The webapp recorded the time of the transaction. He’d done it several minutes ago, before I agreed to the blackmail, probably as soon as he’d found out the boy’s name.

  “Why?” I demanded.

  He said, “There’s always a price, isn’t there?”

  “Whatever the price, I’ll pay it,” I said.

  “I know. It’s what scares me.”

  I understood. And I hurt. I looked up. Clear skies belied the coming storm. The stars above shone too brightly. The moon looked mournful and no help was coming. My arms went around Vane’s neck. I let all my weight hang, my knees too weak to hold me up. I listened to the beat of his heart, a good heart, even if he didn’t believe it. I couldn’t look at him as I whispered, “I don’t want to lose you either, Vane.”

  He took my chin and forced me to meet his gaze. His lips curled up into an arrogant smile. “You won’t. I’m like a god, remember?”

  A fire hydrant opened behind us. Water gushed out of it. It fanned out around Vane and soared straight into the sky, stabbing it with determination. I watched the watery spectacle.

  That’s what I was afraid of. He and Matt thought they knew what they were doing.

  I wasn’t so sure.

  Even gods weren’t infallible.

  CHAPTER 20 – FOREVER AND EVER

  CHAPTER 20

  FOREVER AND EVER

  During the drive back to Glastonbury, I kept glancing at him.

  Vane let out a breath. “What, DuLac? Spit it out.”

  I wasn’t sure I could. Any hope I held for a miracle had died. It reminded me of his memory. Never let them know how much you want something.

  Well, I wanted. Now I was paying for it.

  I crossed my arms and hugged myself. “What happens tomorrow?”

  “I bring Excalibur. Merlin brings the apple. Once the Fury starts, we can use Excalibur to open the gates. I will use the trident to extend the energy to all the gates from the central one at Kronos’s Circle. All of us, including the evacuees, will go through the gate. We take the apple through. Because the gates are tied, I believe it will lead us to the same place.”

  “Why the circle?”

  “Poseidon touched the stone in the circle in my memory. In the Kronos Eye, the same stone appeared with Excalibur in it. The stone is still there.”

  I ran out of things to say. The impending doom pressed down on me.

  We drove along the road.

  Finally, Vane spoke. “If he didn’t have the curse, would you be with him?”

  “I fell for him first,” I said honestly.

  Vane let out a hiss.

  I added quietly, “But I fell for you harder.”

  The car swerved. Vane cursed. “Don’t say things like that when I’m driving.”

  “Then don’t ask the question.”

  “If I wasn’t already late, I’d pull over and take off your pants right now,” he muttered.

  I smiled. “I like you too, Vane.”

  We sped down the winding one-lane roads of Glastonbury. We passed a stately manor estate with a sign declaring its modern-day update to bed and breakfast. Closer into town, we passed cottage-style townhouses and narrow streets interspersed with bushy green trees. The van ambled down the narrow streets until we reached an open, well-preserved area.

  Vane stopped the car in the parking lot in front of the remains of Glastonbury Abbey. Due to the late hour, it was empty. The park had already closed for the day.

  Beyond the fence, the ruined abbey’s impressive stone arches still stood tall. Behind the arches on a clear stretch of lawn a Roman chapel built in the eleven hundreds remained. A mist of blue, the color due to the local stone in the rolling hills had settled over the abbey, lending it an otherworldly air. A figure popped up next to me, just outside the window. I let out a small shriek. For a minute, I thought I was hallucinating. I rolled down the window.

  Grey’s face peered down at me. He, too, wore a formal suit.

  I pushed open the door and jumped out. I threw myself into his arms. “What are you doing here?”

  “This place is seriously creepy.” Gia tugged on a strappy pink gown.

  Vane got out of the car and came around the front. The small Avalon Prep van Mark had taken was parked beside us. Several wizards got out. They all wore formalwear. Mark climbed out of the driver’s seat. “I brought everyone she wanted from the school.”

  I frowned. “Who wanted?”

  Vane walked to the fence. A breeze blew around us. He handed me a box. “You’ll have to change in the Rover.”

  I opened the box. It was one of the three prom dresses—a flirty gown of deep green chiffon.

  “You got the green one!” Gia made a face. She touched her hair. Its brilliant red clashed with the soft pink of her dress. “This blows.”

  I glanced at Vane. I noticed he wore the same color vest.

  He leaned close to me. “Someday I’m going to put you in a white one.”

  I blushed. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re going to a wedding.”

  “Whose?”

  “Change and you’ll see. They’re waiting for us inside.”

  It took me five minutes. Everyone except Vane was gone by the time I emerged from the car. Vane leaned against the hood. “I was thinking about coming in to help.”

  “Help me with the zipper.” I turned around to show him my bared back. The dress opened down the length of my spine.

  Vane made a growly sound and stepped up behind me. His fingers traced the knobs of my spine as the zipper slowly slid up. “Want to see if the Rover’s backseat has as much space as is advertised?”

  I turned around to face him. I took his lips between my teeth and bit gently. “I might let you if you’re really good.”

  His eyes heated. “I’m better than good.”

  With a shake of his head, he yanked me toward the park. “C’mon, they’re waiting.”

  Instead of going to the entrance, Vane went up to the fence. He hauled
me up and bent his knees. He jumped with me into the air. Not at all what I was expecting, I squealed and flung my arms around his neck. We sailed over the iron links and onto the other side. Vane landed on his feet.

  My heart hammered from the impromptu flight. He chuckled into my ear. “Surprised?”

  Surprised was a mild word for his flair. Why did he have a way of shocking me? I curled my fingers into his hair.

  “Save it for later,” he said.

  As if there was going to be a later.

  He let me down. We walked into the ruins of the stone abbey. In between its ruins, a crowd of mermaids, some wizards, and a smaller set of gargoyles stood waiting. As we neared, Vane took a crown out of his jacket. The last time I’d seen it had been on Lelex’s (Leonidas’s father’s) head before Vane had killed him. The simple gold band had a large emerald embedded into a curve at its center. The crown’s ends curled up in the shape of a fish. Vane also took out two armbands. He put on one fashioned like a snake. On his right, the armband was of a mermaid holding a trident.

  “The king,” announced a mermaid near the front.

  The mermaids sank to their knees.

  There were no chairs. It wasn’t necessary. Pink, white, and green flowers decorated the ruined walls of the ancient abbey. Two monuments of crumbling stone, the ruined front face of the once-tall monastery, made the perfect arbor. There were no attendants to the bride and groom. A line of stone in the short green lawn marked the aisle.

  Vane walked me down the aisle and deposited me next to Grey and Gia, who stood toward the front. The happy couple already stood at the head of the crowd.

  Leonidas and Leonora both knelt on the ground.

  They wore white. Her long ethereal gown offset by his kilt-like uniform. A gleaming sword lay strapped to his belt. The slight tinge of green to their skin sparkled with life.

  Vane stepped past them to take his place at the front. I realized the king would be officiating the wedding. He gestured and everyone rose.

  “Before we begin, I have one order of business.” Vane took off his crown and handed it to a shocked Leonidas. “Tonight, I abdicate the throne to Leonidas. He is the rightful king.”