My Merlin Awakening (Book 2, My Merlin Series)

by Priya Ardis

  I looked up into the haze of bright light from above, my ears assaulted by the cheering and whistling of the crowd, and I knew I’d lost.

  ***

  “A worthy champion. The maiden makes quite an opponent,” Lelex laughed, peering down into the pit. “We have been truly blessed. These games will please the gods.”

  I couldn’t move. Blood flowed freely down my side and I felt myself going with it.

  Leonidas looked up at his father. Despite the win, he looked angry. At least, I’d managed to piss him off before I died. My smugness lasted about two seconds.

  “Ready the sacrifice,” Leonidas demanded.

  McKenna. My eyes closed. I had failed her.

  “Not yet.” The King glanced around the pit. “People of Aegae. You decide the fate. Who has won tonight?”

  “Leonidas,” came the unanimous shout.

  Leonidas pranced pompously around the pit for all to behold.

  “Indeed, my son remains Aegae’s greatest champion. However, we are very pleased with the maiden’s performance. She lasted longer than any opponent in the past twelve contests.”

  The crowd cheered in agreement. Leonidas’s smug expression turned into an angry scowl.

  The King looked around the court. “My people, whom do you name as the second champion?”

  “Maiden!” All around the pit, the crowd cheered.

  “Bring her up,” the King commanded as he returned to his throne.

  A floating disc nudged me. I managed to roll onto it. It floated me up. The older soldier carried me from the disc to the King’s dais. Two girls in white toga gowns put a makeshift bandage over the widening wound. Another girl wearing a chain with a small emerald rushed forward.

  The King asked, “Can Leonora heal her?”

  Theras replied for the girl. “My daughter will certainly try, Sire. But the wound is deep.”

  The girl, Leonora, put a hand to my side and I cried out. Pressure built up as my torn tissue tried to weave back together. I’d never been healed by anyone but Vane or Matt. Until that moment, I had no idea how lucky I’d been. The girl tried to sow my skin together with what felt like steel wool instead of fine thread. My body shuddered. I tried not to pass out. At first, the healing seemed to be working but then blood started seeping back through. The floor below me quickly stained with fresh blood. My eyes closed.

  Leonora said sadly, “It’s not working, sire. She will die.”

  “No!” Vane rattled his shackles. “Let me heal her. Take this gemstone off me.”

  “We cannot trust you, wizard,” the King said. “Unless…”

  “Unless what?” Vane said. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “Will you?” the King said. “I have a way to strip you of yourself. You have it in you. You have a touch of the divine since defeating Bran the Blessed. You took his power. You can be a true son of Poseidon. You will no longer be merely a wizard. You can be Aegae.”

  I forced my eyelids open and croaked, “N-No, Vane!”

  “Once I finish with you, you will always hear the call of the sea. It will infect your soul. You will feel nothing. You will know no warmth or love. You will not yearn or lust. You will be as cold as the water, as dark as the ocean. You will not need emotion.” Lelex rose up. “Would you do that for her?”

  Vane’s eyes locked with mine. “I would do anything.”

  Lelex watched him with a small smile. “I believe you.”

  Vane faced him.

  “Theras, bring me the trident,” he said to the older soldier.

  The older soldier complied. King Lelex nodded to the guards holding Vane. The guards pulled him to the dais and pushed him to his knees. Lelex aimed the trident at Vane’s head.

  “Vane, stop,” I said hoarsely.

  “Stay still, Ryan,” Vane said.

  I tried to get up. Hands pushed me back down. Helpless, I could do nothing but watch as the crown on the King’s head glowed. Lelex’s eyes brightened with green light. Vane dropped to all fours. The green light became brighter and brighter, until its burning glare forced me to look away. Lelex fired the trident at Vane.

  He fell backwards on the marble. The light blinked out.

  “No!” I tried to scream the word, yet nothing came out. My side seemed to be a dull distant ache as I began the final slide into oblivion.

  Still on the floor, Vane’s eyes opened.

  “Unchain him,” the King said.

  The older soldier took the chains off Vane’s feet with a wary expression. Vane sat up. His face eerily calm, its pallor now showing a tinge of green. Hunter green gills slashed across his neck.

  “Who are you?” the King demanded.

  Vane frowned. “Who am I?”

  “You are a soldier of Aegae,” Lelex pronounced. “You are a son of Poseidon. I am your King and you serve me.”

  Vane got up on one knee. He bowed his head to Lelex. “I am a soldier. You are my King.”

  “Your name is Vane,” Lelex said. “Leonidas, bring your sword.”

  Leonidas frowned, but walked to the dais. The guards moved away from Vane.

  “Give him your sword,” the King said.

  Leonidas looked at his father in surprise.

  “The new soldier will kill the gargoyle,” the King declared.

  “No!” Grey and Colin shouted together.

  “I will destroy every last one of you,” Grey cried. The chained gargoyles tried to rush the guards, but they were quickly subdued. The guards were too numerous.

  Lelex turned a cold gaze on McKenna. “You will submit or I will behead all of your brethren.”

  McKenna paled. “I will submit.”

  Leonidas smiled. Vane stood up.

  Two guards directed McKenna toward Vane. They walked the gargoyle past Gia. Gia put out a hand and McKenna grabbed it tightly. Tears streamed down Gia’s cheeks. The guards shoved McKenna with a spear to move her along. She knelt in front of Vane.

  Two guards put a heavy block in front of her. The older soldier took the chains off Vane’s hands. Leonidas handed Vane his sword. McKenna started to bend over to place her head on the block. Vane held up a hand to stop her. His eyes held hers.

  He lifted the blade.

  The sword swung without mercy.

  McKenna saw no more.

  CHAPTER 15 – THE LONG DARK

  CHAPTER 15

  THE LONG DARK

  A single, whisper-soft thud sounded as McKenna’s head fell on the smooth marble.

  Grey sank to his knees, his face a stony, ashen mask.

  Before anyone could even mourn her, Lelex demanded, “Take her heart.”

  The head severed, McKenna’s body had fallen to the floor and landed on its side. A river of blood flowed across the marble. The mermaids didn’t seem bothered by the sight. Leonidas kicked the body on its back. The crunch of bone filled the room. Vane sliced her torso. Leonidas reached in and pulled out the warm heart.

  Another girl in a white toga and bare feet ran up with a gold platter. Leonidas put the still-beating heart on the smooth metal.

  “Poseidon will be pleased,” Lelex said.

  The court clapped in approval.

  Leonidas picked up McKenna’s head and held it up high. Blood dripped down his hand. “Let the banquet begin,” he shouted.

  The court cheered. Even barely conscious, I wanted to throw up. I wanted to sully the pristine marble as they so ruthlessly sullied McKenna. I turned my head away from the sickening sight of Lelex’s sadistic court.

  Lelex ordered Vane to remove the diamond chain off his neck. The next thing I knew, Vane was kneeling beside me. Cold hands probed my festering wound. A shock of fresh pain hit me as the vulnerable tissue pulled itself back together, fiber by fiber, ligament by ligament. Thankfully, it didn’t take me long to pass out.

  ***

  “I hate you,” I said as I glared at Vane six nights later.

  Vane’s dark eyes flickered over me without emotion. Beautiful eyes containing
specks of green in their irises. Yet, unlike the mermaids’ eyes, the green didn’t color his corneas. They, at least, remained pristinely clear. The imperceptible distinction afforded me a measure of hope.

  With uncaring hands, Vane divested me of a white tunic that went to my knees. I no longer wore my bikini underneath. I had been given another one made out of a gold jersey material. I don’t know how the mermaids managed to fashion it, but it was comfortable. The see-through tunic dress and a gold bikini were my standard uniform for the games.

  I fought Leonidas tonight. Another gargoyle had been chosen as a sacrifice. Leonidas kept using the bull. But I hadn’t lost. I hadn’t lost since the night I failed McKenna. Each night I wounded the bull. The wild pain in the beast’s eyes haunted me every time I drove a sword into its flesh.

  I tried to make the cuts as clean as possible, but Leonidas made it harder and harder each tournament. The first night Leonidas lost, he almost went mad. After the fight was over, he stabbed me in the back.

  The crowd booed him and I was taken away. Vane, Leonora, and her father, Theras, came to the room I was being held in. Without a word, Vane healed me, then left. I stared at the ceiling. Even with my body repaired, I hadn’t the will to move.

  More girls in white togas, palace servants, I assumed, had come in to bathe me. Yesterday was the same. I slit the bull on its side. I beat Leonidas. The crowd loved me. I was declared champion again. Vane healed my body and Leonidas’s sacrifice screamed when his heart was taken. His severed head got speared onto a spike and displayed on the hill—just as McKenna’s had been.

  On the third night, Leonidas figured out I’d been sparing the bull as much as possible and he forced me to gut the poor beast. Sick with myself, I almost didn’t see Leonidas round the fallen bull. I got a good gash on my side before driving my sword through the barbarian’s stomach.

  Not that it mattered.

  Lelex went white when he saw what happened to his son. He ordered Vane to heal him in the pit and Leonidas woke up without a scratch. The crowd cheered for us and I was taken back to my tiny room. The fourth night, I was given a bow and arrow. Leonidas had barely stepped into the pit before I had him pinned to the floor with all my arrows. The crowd hadn’t been happy at the quick finish and I doubted I’d ever be offered that weapon again. On the fifth night, I almost lost again when they flooded the pit. The two waterfalls acted like spouts in a huge bathtub. It turned out to be the bloodiest fight so far since the water made it difficult to actually pin anyone down.

  The King wanted to put in a new Aegae champion. Leonidas refused. So we grappled each other again… and again.

  Tonight, Vane healed me with his usual thoroughness. It was mental torture. He’d patch my hurt so that I could be ripped apart again. Leonora hung at his side, supposedly observing the process, but actually observing Vane. Vane took his time with the healing even though the cut I’d gotten today was more of a scratch.

  Through iron bars on an arched window, I saw a glimpse of a red sunset.

  “When is the blood moon?” I asked. When will this nightmare be over?

  “Another ten days,” Leonora answered softly.

  I thought I felt a tremor go through Vane’s fingers. I glanced at him, but his expression remained as placid as ever. The green tinge to his skin complimented his chilly demeanor. Only Leonora and Vane were in the room. Theras had been helping Leonidas when the guards had come and whisked me from the pit back to my cage.

  Vane finished the healing and stepped back from me.

  One of six guards, watching us closely, came forward and handed Vane the yellow diamond necklace that constrained his magic. Vane put it on. The necklace only came off for healings, and until now, I’d only seen Theras take it off Vane. Lelex may have declared Vane to be Aegae, but they didn’t trust him yet.

  Leonora pulled a white sheet over my still body. “Rest,” she said. “The bathers will be here soon.”

  Vane didn’t speak to me at all, but much too soon, they both left and I sat alone and exhausted in the darkening room. Soft rays of the shrinking sun streamed in through the window. Every part of me ached to cry, to spend the tired tears of a beaten spirit. Yet, my eyes remained dry and open. I sought the one person who could save my sanity.

  “Matt.” I called.

  It took a few seconds—seconds so long that every part of me tensed that there would be no reply and I would lie alone in the abyss, battered and broken.

  “I’m here. You’re not alone.” His faint words filled the void.

  His presence washed over me, a salve soothing an infected mind. As if he were actually there, he pushed the sheet aside and climbed into bed. He gathered me up in his arms and pulled the cover back over us. I tucked my head into the crook of his neck.

  “Hold on,” he said.

  “I will,” I replied and finally, allowed my eyes to close. Warm tears leaked down my cheeks. “Don’t leave me.”

  “Never.”

  ***

  “Your name is Vivane,” I said. Eight more nights had passed.

  Vane frowned, but to my disappointment, had no other reaction. I looked at his dark eyes with fading hope. The green specks had disappeared. His eyes had returned to their original hazel, yet no hint of recognition filled those depths.

  I almost wished for death. Like the bull, I kept being brought back. Like the bull, I felt myself turning wild. Every evening I fought Leonidas and a little bit of me died. After every fight, Vane mended my bleeding body. Every night, Matt, my only anchor, tried to do the same to my soul. Except it was getting harder and harder to hold on. Afloat in the sea of relentless brutality, darkness courted me. One injury and I would be wounded beyond repair.

  Leonora pulled at the skin on my back. I winced. I watched her work at my back in an oval mirror that occupied the wall in front of me.

  “Sorry,” she said quickly. Her dark hair fanned out around her shoulders. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she focused on my latest wound.

  A deep cut went up from my spine to my shoulder. I was lucky the bull had not pressed too hard or I’d probably be paralyzed. I couldn’t imagine what that healing would be like. The regular ones were bad enough.

  I had to admit this macabre dance Leonidas and I were locked in was doing wonders for my fighting skills. I’d been forced to move quicker, to think quicker. With each game, the two of us grew more adept. Somewhere along the way, he picked up my attack forms and I his. Of course, I still planned to kill the bastard first chance I got. I had no doubt he planned to do the same to me.

  My hands shook. I lost tonight.

  Leonidas pinned me to the ground with a spear pointed down at the back of my head, his foot resting on the bleeding wound on my shoulder where the bull gored me. Tonight, Leonidas chose spears as our weapon. Despite the fact that Vane had trained me on it, I’d never been very good with a spear.

  A wizard lost his life tonight. The gargoyles and wizards took turns being the sacrifice. The wizard hadn’t said a word when he lost his head and I still tasted the dirt of failure on my tongue.

  Vane watched Leonora’s healing. In the mirror, the emerald around her neck glowed.

  “I’m surprised a charm is powerful enough to allow healing,” I said.

  Leonora nodded. “King Lelex made this himself. He has been blessed with much power. But it is not simply the charm. Some mermaids have a talent for healing. The charm enhances mine.”

  “Some mermaids?” I asked.

  “Maidens.” She paused and met my eyes in the mirror. “I have a great gift. I would have been placed in service, but for my betrothal to Leonidas.”

  I sputtered. “You want to marry him?”

  She frowned. “He waits for me.”

  “But Leonidas! He’s a brute and you’re so… not.”

  Leonora colored. “He hasn’t always been so unbending. We used to be a great kingdom before Lelex brought magic to us. Now we are all scared of what’s to come. These rituals…” She shud
dered. “King Lelex says they are a necessity so it must be, but it has changed us. Leonidas believes in his father and so must I. He is the prince and champion. I thought he would be forever until…” She glanced at Vane, “…all of you came.”

  Vane looked at Leonora sharply. I gasped when her fingers jerked my skin. A warm trickle of blood went down my back tracing the spine.

  “Why don’t you allow me to finish up?” Vane interrupted.

  Leonora’s face fell. “Of course.”

  I wanted to shake my head. Leonora took every criticism Vane gave like a knife to the chest, even though mermaid-Vane was only matter-of-fact with her. He was matter-of-fact with everything. I should have been irritated by her crush on my boyfriend, but I didn’t actually know what we were anymore. She’d never survive the real Vane—the abrasive Vane, the Vane who pushed at every step and demanded more than it was possible to give. I missed that Vane.

  In the mirror, I saw him bend his head to look at my wound. He splayed his fingers on my bare skin. I almost closed my eyes as pleasure shot through me. Usually mermaid-Vane was all business. Soothing fingers created welcome numbness after Leonora’s heinous healing. This was pure mastery… almost worth living for.

  Leonora watched us enviously. “I wish I had as much ability to heal.”

  A soft glow of warmth started at the base of my spine and expanded. His fingers traveled up the cords of my vertebrae. They paused just below my neck. The first time he’d seen the blistered bruises he’d paused. The mermaid transformation had made them worse. It would have taken a second of healing at the most for Vane to erase the blue-black marks, but for some reason he didn’t. The fact that he didn’t meant something. I had no idea what it meant but I reached for the carrot of hope it offered.

  “Matt is even better at healing,” I said.

  Vane’s expression remained placid.

  Leonora’s eyes widened. “Him. He must be very powerful. The King has him under heavy guard. Hardly anyone is allowed to go near him. One of the servants says he’s been chained to the walls.”