by LH Nicole
“Merlin!” Aliana demanded again, moving to her friends’ sides.
“I’ve suspected awhile that Dawn and Lacy are more than human.”
“What?” several of the knights asked at once. Aliana looked between Merlin and her two best friends. Dawn sputtered, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head. Lacy looked like she was about to pass out.
“What are you saying, Merlin?” Arthur asked evenly.
“I recognize the signature of Dawn’s magic. She has Nymph blood in her, Wood Nymph to be exact. But I don’t recognize Lacy’s.”
“It has a familiar feel to it, like Aliana’s,” Lancelot said. “I can detect a similar pulse, but not exactly the same.”
Dawn huffed. “And I’ve officially reached my limit!” She shrugged away from Owen and Wade, grabbing Aliana and Lacy by their wrists and dragging them toward the house. The two lagging girls nearly fell over their feet to keep up.
“Dawn,” Merlin called, but the withering look she turned to give him was followed by silence. She didn’t stop walking until she had Aliana and Lacy in the music room with the door firmly closed. “What just happened, Lia?” she demanded, fists balled on her hips.
“I don’t know. I thought the spell was only to bind us.”
“Could Merlin have done something else?” Lacy asked, her hands trembling as she sank onto the piano bench.
Aliana twisted her fingers together, trying to decide if she should share her misgivings about Merlin with the girls. “I think there’s a lot Merlin doesn’t tell us,” she finally confessed. “Like how he just admitted that he suspected you two had magical ability but he never said anything about it until now.” She went on to explain everything about her suspicions. As the words tumbled out, she felt lighter. It was such a relief to share her worries with people who wouldn’t dismiss them. Though she felt a ribbon of guilt for not having told them all of this before they’d stepped into the spell he’d just performed.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Lacy demanded.
“I wasn’t sure.”
Dawn sank onto the bench next to Lacy. “You realize what this means, right?”
“Our parents have lied to us,” Lacy whispered, her breathing heavy.
Dawn’s mouth pulled tight, and her chin lifted like she was daring her tears to fall.
“Maybe they don’t know.” Her heart broke for her besties. She never wanted anyone else to have to endure the pain she’d felt ever since she’d discovered her adoption. But her friends had something she didn’t. “You guys can always go home and talk to your parents.”
Lacy’s pale eyes lifted to her. “What if we put them in danger by asking and getting them involved?” Her tears fell silently.
“No.” Dawn’s angry determination was almost a living fire in the room. “If our moms and dads haven’t bothered to tell us by now, then I don’t want to have to ask.” Her stiff shoulders dropped. “It feels like, right now, you two are the only family left I can trust.”
“The three of us have always been like sisters,” Lacy said with a watery smile. “Heck, I think we’re closer than most sisters.”
Aliana’s heart thumped heavily. “We’ll figure this out.” She hugged them both.
“Is this how you felt, Lia, when you found out about your birth mother?” Dawn asked.
“It’s horrible!” Lacy exclaimed.
Aliana hugged them tighter. “I know.”
A knock on the door startled the girls from their shared misery. Arthur stepped into the room with Galahad and Percy. Lacy immediately went to her boyfriend’s arms.
“We were gonna sit down for dinner, if you ladies want to join us,” Percy said.
The girls shared a look that said they’d finish this later, and then the six of them headed to the kitchen together.
“Are we still having our dance lesson tonight, Aliana?” Arthur asked, walking next to her.
“Of course,” she answered, feeling tension from Galahad as he passed them. Waving the others on, Aliana took Galahad’s hand.
The knight relaxed almost instantly and cupped her cheek with his slightly calloused hand, resting his forehead against hers. “I was hoping we could spend some time together tonight.”
“I’m sorry. But we’ll have all day tomorrow, just us,” she reminded him, tilting her head up to kiss his lips.
Aliana didn’t like that her spending time alone with Arthur bothered Galahad, but she wasn’t willing to give up her private moments with Arthur. She remembered how alone and sad the king had looked the night she’d come upon him in Merlin’s mirror room. The bond that had grown between the two of them since was something Aliana cherished. She felt loved and whole with Galahad, but she was more relaxed and able to be the eighteen-year-old girl she was with Arthur.
Galahad’s hand fell from her cheek and wrapped around her waist so he could pull her body to his. “I miss you on those nights, but I know you enjoy your time with the king.”
Aliana pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed her knight’s frowning lips.
He leaned in, taking a gentle control over the kiss, but he didn’t deepen it like she wanted him to. He pulled away with a smug smile on his face. “We can finish this when you get back tonight.”
The sneak, Aliana thought, giving him a pout before they joined the others in the kitchen. She nearly drooled when Sabine set down a plate of grilled steak, vegetables, and steaming potatoes.
The guys talked over plans for traveling through the Isle, but the girls only half paid attention. Aliana suspected that like her, her two best friends were still processing the new information bomb that had been dropped on them.
Merlin succeeded in drawing their full attention at the end of dinner. “Lacy, Dawn, the two of you will come with me.”
Dawn went stiff, her eyes brightening with ire.
Lacy stared at him. “What on earth for?”
“I want to test your magic to see how strong it is and to see if we can figure out what kind of magic you possess.”
Lacy’s back straightened like she was wearing a corset tied too tightly. “No, thank you.”
“I second that.” Dawn’s indignation added to the tension clotting the room.
Arthur spoke before Merlin could. “Merlin, they’ve only just learned about their new talents. We can allow them a day or so to come to terms with that before we have them start training.”
“Of course, sire.” The Druid bowed his head, but Aliana saw the way irritation pinched his features. “But for their safety and ours, we can’t delay any longer than that.”
Arthur nodded and the girls frowned. But there was no use arguing the decision. The king’s orders were final.
Lacy and Dawn made a quick exit. Lacy and Percy disappeared out the back door, and Dawn dragged Owen to the music room. It had come out during dinner that Owen played the piano, and she insisted that he play for her. Wade, of course, followed on their heels with Leo close behind.
Arthur stood, waiting for Aliana to join him. After washing down the last of her dinner with Pixie wine, she kissed Galahad’s cheek and followed Arthur out of the kitchen. She didn’t miss the disapproval in Merlin’s expression and the angry glare coming from Lancelot. She was getting tired of the tizzy those two always worked themselves into whenever she and Arthur spent time together.
“I have the small music maker and a blanket,” Arthur said, holding up a bag and appearing oblivious to the looks his two men gave them.
“Good. Though it’s called a speaker.”
The king grinned, “Ah.”
She decided to shove Merlin and Lancelot’s judgy attitudes aside. This was her and Arthur’s time. If those two didn’t like it, then booie on them. Exiting through the back door, they crossed the backyard, and Aliana led the king to a path that ran down to the beach.
“Here we are,” Aliana said as the dirt path beneath them morphed into a sandy footpath with long grass. The creaky old picnic table still sat against a sand dune, just as it
had for as long as she could remember.
“This is beautiful.” Arthur set the bag on the table as he took in the ocean view.
The moon was full and large, shining brightly in the cloudless summer sky. The crests of small waves glowed under the pale light.
“Yeah, I always loved it here.” She also loved that the memories that haunted this beach where all good ones, memories of picnics with her parents and adventures with her best friends. Now she’d make new ones with Arthur.
The king pulled out the portable speakers and the blanket. She handed him her iPod to hook up, proud of how well he’d taken to the twenty-first-century technology.
“What kind of dancing do you want to work on tonight?” she asked. They mostly practiced various styles of ballroom dancing. Arthur seemed to have a particular fondness for waltzes.
“I was thinking we could continue with your Viennese Waltz. The first one you showed me in London.” His voice was easy, and his golden eyes seemed to glow in the bright moonlight. They kicked off their shoes and moved closer to the water where the compacted sand was less likely to trip them up.
Arthur looked animated and happy. This was a side of him she only saw during their dancing lessons. She didn’t even try to hide her delight as she pressed play. Christina Perri’s entrancing voice filled the air around them as they got into position. Arthur placed his right hand at her waist while she put her left hand on his arm. Their shoulders squared and their free hands clasped in the air. Effortlessly, Arthur led her in the first few steps of the dance. The sand shifted beneath them as his steps grew bolder and he guided her across their small section of the beach.
His face lit with a warm smile, and mirth danced in his eyes. Aliana giggled as he lifted her in the air with a twirl, her gauzy skirt catching the moonlight like a glittering net. As her feet touched the ground, she saw a faint shadow dancing with them under the clear brightness of the moon. She lost herself in the dance, in the music, and in his company.
Arthur twirled her around then pulled her close, pressing her back to his chest. One of his hands spread on her hip while the other held hers as they swayed for a few beats. His breath tickled her neck. He spun her out again with the cresting music, and they took up their beginning position again. Several beats later, he wrapped his arm around her waist, stiffened the arm that held her hand, and lifted her in the air. Her left leg hooked out as he twirled them around in several circles. The photographer in her marveled at what they must look like: a couple sharing a secret dance, her dress shimmering with moonlight, his strong body guiding her easily. Arthur was such a good partner and leader that it was easy to follow him. They swayed together and glided over the sand as the song carried into the next verse.
Aliana became a bit breathless at feeling the heat of his body through his cotton shirt. It enveloped her whenever he pulled her close. The coolness of the night air sent a flush over her cheeks and a slight shiver down her spine. Or maybe it was all because of Arthur.
Something passed between them when they danced, even more so now under the beautiful moon. Their shadows stretched and danced beside them as they moved. It was a dance worthy of a romantic fairy tale—worthy of a king and the lady he cared about.
The song drew to a close, and Arthur pulled her back to his chest again. This time the hold felt more intimate. His hand at her hip climbed slowly upward and around her waist. Her breath hitched as he lifted her in another long, twirling spin. Her eyes slid closed as her skirt flared and she fell even more deeply into the dance. It was as if it had cast a spell over them, and her fragile feelings crested with the lapping waves.
He spun her to face him as the song ended, holding her front flush against his. Peering through her hooded lids, she looked into his molten golden eyes. He bent her slowly into a deep dip. Her leg arched up to hook over his thigh as one of her hands gripped his shoulder, the other cupping his neck. He held them there even after another song started.
Aliana’s heart seemed to stop. His eyes filled with what she’d consider to be desire along with something else that she couldn’t identify. Their lips were only inches apart, their labored breath tangling together. All she had to do was tug his face closer and she’d be kissing him, kissing her king.
The look in his eyes told her he was considering the same thing. For that one moment, the whole world stood still as if waiting to see what would happen. Arthur’s face drew closer, and all Aliana could do was hold onto him.
He blinked, let out a breath and pulled them back to an upright position.
“You…” Aliana cleared her dry throat. “You’ve gotten really good, Arthur.”
He smiled but dropped his hands from her and took several steps away. “You’re a very competent teacher.”
The awkwardness between them was something they’d never experienced before. Aliana looked past Arthur to the moonlit waves slapping on the shore. “My parents met at a beach,” she said, trying to break the silence. “Not this one, of course, but…”
“Which beach?”
Aliana grabbed the blanket from the picnic table. She spread it out and sat down, hugging her legs to her chest. Arthur stretched out next to her. “They were in Sicily. My mom was shooting a movie and my papa was brought in as a consultant. A few nights after they met, he took her out on a small boat and they had a picnic under the moonlight.”
“It sound’s romantic.”
Aliana let out a huffing laugh. “That’s just how they were. They could be totally gag worthy.”
“What does gag worthy mean?”
“And here I thought we were doing so well at improving your modern lingo,” Aliana teased. “It means you want to throw up. In this case because something’s so sweet.”
Arthur laughed. “What they had is something to be envied. In Camelot, love was a rare commodity.”
“But you had someone,” Aliana reminded him, looking out at the ocean that separated his home and hers. He had his ghost girl with green eyes who’d haunted his enchanted sleep. He admitted once that she was the only girl he may have actually loved.
“What good is it since I can’t remember who she was or exactly what she looked like or whether or not she was even real?” A rare bitterness darkened his words. This was the only part of himself that Arthur ever held back from her.
“Hey,” she said, placing her hand over his. “This may sound like a silly question, but does your heart tell you she’s real?”
Arthur stared at her, his lips pressed into a tight line. She waited. Typical guy that he was, he needed to be poked and prodded before he’d finally open up. He looked out toward the ocean, his jaw so tight she was afraid it might break. A pent-up breath whooshed out of him. “Yes,” he admitted.
“Then listen to it,” Aliana told him, absolutely sure of her advice. “You were trained to think with your head, but Arthur, sometimes your heart can see what your head may not be willing to. Sometimes you just need to have a little faith.” She paused for a moment. “I did. I had faith in you when I passed my last test and woke you back in Avalon.” Her head had told her she couldn’t make that impossible jump, but her heart had told her she could. “Trust me, Arthur. If your heart tells you she’s real, then she is.”
Arthur cracked a small smile, and she hoped he was starting to believe. The thought of him with another girl—him holding her and kissing her—sent an unexpected flare of jealousy burning in her chest. But Aliana had Galahad and she loved him. Why should it bother her for Arthur to be with the girl he loved?
She pushed the uncomfortable feeling away while she and Arthur watched the waves dance against the shoreline. He was the one to finally break the silence. “I’d like to hear more about your parents.”
The salty ocean breeze picked up as Aliana’s throat dried. “Like what?”
“Will you tell me how they died?”
Aliana’s teeth clamped together. She didn’t want to ruin the night with the nightmarish story of their death. She knew that by posing the que
stion he was asking her to trust him, but how could she believe he wouldn’t re-coil from her if he knew the whole truth? He wouldn’t look at her the same way if he knew her parents had died because of her, that she should have been the one to die in the boat fire, not them.
“My parents would’ve liked you,” she said instead. “Not just because you’re King Arthur, but because of who you are as a person and the loyalty you give and inspire.”
A disappointed sigh came from Arthur. “Thank you.” That was all he said, and Aliana couldn’t stand it.
She got up and disconnected her iPod, packing the speaker away and not daring to look at Arthur again. She heard him stand up and shake out the blanket. There was a nagging inside her. It was like her heart was yelling at her to share the truth. Hadn’t she just told Arthur to trust his heart? To have faith?
She slipped on her ballet flats as Arthur put on his shoes. Standing straight, her eyes looking everywhere but at him, she whispered, “They were out on a dinner cruise on the bay.” It was difficult to push the words past her dry lips. “When they were coming back to the dock, something malfunctioned in the boat’s engine and it exploded. Everyone on the boat was killed, some by the blast, some from drowning.” Her voice trembled and tears clouded the edges of her vision. She still refused to look at him. She didn’t want to see his pity, a pity she didn’t deserve.
“Aliana, I…”
She bolted toward the house before he could finish his words, hoping to outrun the horrible memory of that night as well as Arthur’s keen eyes. He’d realize there was more to the story. She made it back to the house way ahead of him, but Aliana knew he could’ve caught up to her easily if he’d wanted to.
Her trembling hand opened the back door. No one was around from what she could see as the clock struck eleven o’clock. Everyone was probably in bed already but she was too wound up for sleep. If Dagg were here, he could’ve probably helped calm her. Her little Dragon always made things feel better.
She heard the crunching of Arthur’s footsteps in the backyard and moved through the living room and to the stairs. Halfway up to her room, she paused. Instead of going to her room, she headed for Galahad’s door. He’d said he wanted to spend some time with her tonight, and their bond was as soothing to her as an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Taking a calming breath, she knocked lightly on his door.