Harley Merlin 16: Finch Merlin and the Blood Tie
Bella Forrest
Contents
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1. Finch
2. Finch
3. Finch
4. Nash
5. Nash
6. Finch
7. Nash
8. Finch
9. Finch
10. Nash
11. Nash
12. Nash
13. Ryann
14. Finch
15. Nash
16. Ryann
17. Ryann
18. Ryann
19. Nash
20. Finch
21. Nash
22. Finch
23. Finch
24. Nash
25. Finch
26. Finch
27. Finch
28. Finch
29. Nash
30. Finch
31. Finch
32. Finch
33. Finch
HARLEY MERLIN 17: Finch Merlin and the Legend of the Luminary
Read more by Bella Forrest
Copyright © 2020
Nightlight Press
All rights reserved.
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One
Finch
A cold shiver traveled down my neck. I had to grip the fancy tablecloth to keep a hold on reality. Was this just the natural anxiety that came with being an unwilling husband to an Atlantean queen, or were there darker forces at work? As in, possibly, the love spell that had just been shoved down my throat.
Finch Merlin. Husband. It sounded so ridiculous that I wanted to laugh, preferably halfway through downing a glass of ambrosia so I could get a good spray over these stuck-up Atlanteans. I sat at the raised table befitting of royal newlyweds while the festivities raged around me. We’d traveled with all the pomp and circumstance you’d expect of a royal wedding, to the cheers of Atlantis, and ended up back at the palace. In fact, we were in the same ballroom where Queen Verity’s Death Day celebration had taken place. A fitting backdrop for my current misery.
Kaya might have been a legend-obsessed nutjob, but she knew how to throw a party. A huge spread of Atlantean cuisine was being served while an orchestra and a tank of selkies provided the music. A few couples had started dancing, but if Kaya wanted to get a jig out of me, she’d have to tie strings to my arms and move me like a puppet. I wasn’t doing anything for her, not while I still had my own mind.
“Roasted squidweed, Finch?” Kaya offered me a tray.
“Not unless you want me to choke on it,” I retorted.
She huffed and set the tray down, done with her attempts at polite conversation. She must have decided to wait for the love spell to kick in so she wouldn’t have to deal with my attitude anymore.
As she drank her second glass of red fizz, I glanced around the ballroom at the revelers. Nobody seemed to care that their future queen’s husband had a black cloud hanging over his head. I supposed that had something to do with the fact that these celebrations were a two-for-one—a chance to honor the newlyweds and the life of their old king. Ovid was destined to die tonight, and he looked even less happy about his situation than I felt about mine. We were like two grumpy, sour-faced bookends at the table.
In truth, my arranged marriage was the least of my problems. There was another reason I was so terrified of the love spell kicking in, a reason nagging away at the back, front, and every damn side of my mind. When it took over, would I remember just how appalling Kaya’s plan for Atlantis was? What if I bought into it, out of an artificial sense of love? This wasn’t just about me anymore, or Ryann, or my friends. This was about the magical world as a whole and the devastation that Kaya would wreak with her insane plot.
I had to stop it outright, in case the djinn and my sister and everyone on the surface couldn’t fight against it. And it would take more than just me. I really hoped those djinn didn’t screw me over with the message I’d asked them to send to Harley. Sure, they had no reason to stab me in the back, but then, they were all safe and cozy in their pilfered otherworld. What happened in the human world didn’t have to affect them if they didn’t want it to. I couldn’t put all my eggs in that basket.
Think, Finch. Think. I tapped my fingers against the stem of my ambrosia glass and let the cogs whir.
First and foremost, the best way to stop anything from happening was to convince Kaya not to raise Atlantis. Since that was a long shot, I shelved it. Which left my next option: to make Lux and Erebus help, by hook or by crook. True, those two weren’t currently talking, since one was heartbroken and the other was angry and jealous over the Kaya debacle. But I’d heard the tales of Erebus’s philandering in Ancient Greece, and if they’d recovered from that, they could recover from anything. Especially if they had a common goal.
Then there’s option three, which is already in motion… Sit and pray the message got to Harley, so she could prepare herself and the rest of the magical world for what was coming. If they knew Atlantis planned to rise, then they could fight it. Yet optimism escaped me. There were a million Atlanteans, maybe more, and each one—even the weakest—had a boatload more power than the ordinary, everyday magical.
What if it isn’t enough? My head lifted sharply, and my eyes darted across the crowd, looking for my friends. I wanted to look at them, to speak to them, to tell them what I’d done so they could find hope in it, even if I currently couldn’t.
My gaze found Ryann with the kind of laser focus that would’ve made the US military green with envy. My stomach churned at the sight of her reddened, tearful eyes, as our friends gathered around her, obviously offering sympathy. I couldn’t bear the sight. Making my decision, I rose from my chair.
“Where are you going?” Kaya’s hand reached for mine, and our eyes met.
To someone I actually give a damn about, I wanted to fire back at her. But the words slowly melted away. And I found myself at a strange loss.
“I… uh…” It was as if a fog had descended over my mind. Whatever I had just been thinking was lost. And then suddenly, all I could see was her. Beautiful, perfect Kaya. My wife. A new feeling bloomed in my chest, potent and intense. An unbidden smile turned the corners of my lips. And when the fog lifted, I remembered my lost thought. “I wondered if you might like to dance?”
Her eyes glittered so beautifully that I wanted to cry. “Oh, Finch, I would love to.”
Taking her hand, I helped her to her feet. The crowd of revelers turned to look at us as we walked to the dance floor, though I knew their attention was all for her. Why would they look at a troll like me when they could look upon a divine goddess? My divine goddess.
We had almost reached the edge of the dance floor, the others dispersing so we could have it to ourselves, when something fluttered out of my pant leg. I paused and stooped to pick it up, keeping Kaya’s slender fingers in one hand. Unfolding it, I read the chicken-scratch words: You love Ryann. You’ve been forced into this. You don’t love Kaya. She’s not who you think she is. Kaya will destroy the world. Contact Harley, at any cost, and stop the upcoming war. You have to.
It was clearly some stupid prank; maybe Luke had developed a sudden sense of humor. I hadn’t been forced into anything. Rather, I’d married the woman of my dreams, and I couldn’t have been happier.
“What is it, Finch?” Kaya asked.
I chuckled. “Someone’s idea of a joke.”
With that, I tore the note to pieces, tossing the remnants over our heads like confetti. She giggled—the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. Chaos help me, she was beautiful. Beyond beautiful. And, as I gazed into her enchanting eyes, I knew that I would do anything for this woman. Anything at all. She had only to ask, and I would make her wildest dreams come true, as she had mine.
Two
Finch
Ow… my head. I didn’t remember letting a wrecking ball into my skull, but there it was, swinging wildly between my temples.
Tentatively, I cracked my eyes open to find harsh, stab-you-in-the-retinas daylight streaming through the windows of a very familiar bedroom. Kaya’s bedroom. No, that wasn’t right. This was… our bedroom. I’d spent a lot of time here alone, but it was all for my own good. To keep me safe before the wedding, so nobody would try to off me before I could marry the woman of my dreams. And they’d tried. Oh man, they’d tried, but nothing could stand in the way of true love. Not even poison darts or Davin’s wily brain.
But I don’t have to be alone in this room, or anywhere else, ever again. I was about to stretch my arms, to crack all those bones and muscles that needed a bit of chiropracting this morning, when a strange weight stopped me. I glanced down to find my beautiful wife’s head on my chest. She was sleeping soundly, her body gracing my arm with deadening force. I hoped it wouldn’t take a physician to get life back into it, but I didn’t want to disturb her. She looked so peaceful lying there in my arms.
With my free, not-dead hand, I traced my fingertips across the angular cut of her cheekbone and pushed a lock of silver-white hair out of her angelic face. Seriously, who looked this good while they were sleeping? If this had happened the other way around, she’d have been staring at the human equivalent of a wrinkly bulldog, slobbering all over its pillow. And yet somehow I’d found myself in bed with her.
Pants on, I noticed. Probably for the best, considering how much I drank. Last night’s partying was a touch hazy, but I recalled a fair amount of glass-clinking and a lot of celebrating with a blur of faces and names that I couldn’t remember for the life of me. My shirt was nowhere to be seen, so I could feel Kaya’s soft, supine form against my skin. She was still in the underlayer of her wedding gown. It was more of a negligee—if that was the right word—than a dress, and she looked incredible in it. By the looks of it, we’d just collapsed and fallen asleep after the party ended.
Chaos, I’ve got to hand it to you—you did a sterling job of bringing us together. I’d doubted its wisdom, but now I knew I should’ve trusted it all along. For the first time in a very long time, I felt happy. Truly happy, as if all the confusing puzzle pieces of my life—the kind that all look the same and are impossible to sort—had fallen into place. All because of her and her faith in me.
“I love you, you know,” I whispered, so as not to wake her. “I’ve never known love like it.” Maybe I’d thought so, before she came along, but now… no way. This was everything I’d ever wanted, and I hadn’t even realized it. Fortunately, fate had a better idea of what was right for me than I did, or I’d never have wound up here, holding the most perfect creature to walk the earth. Well, the underwater part of it, anyway.
But our wedding celebration had been somber, also. Last night, it had been hard to put aside my joy at the fact that I could kiss and hold and dance with my wife whenever I liked. But it had to be done, because we’d said goodbye to King Ovid on his Death Day. Tears were shed—happy ones as well as sad—and sweet words, rousing eulogies, and commemorative tales had done the rounds, in honor of the king’s last evening in this world. By now, his spirit would be in the afterlife, joined again with Queen Verity.
Shortly before midnight, Kaya had taken him to his bedchamber and said her final farewells in private, before he took the serum that would send him off to the next stage of existence. I’d waited for her, sipping too much ambrosia in the interim.
“I’m sorry it wasn’t all happy for you,” I quietly continued. I stroked her hair gently, listening to the soft sound of her steady breath. Not a single snore to be heard, though I wouldn’t have minded even if she had rattled this whole palace down with ungodly snorts. She’d still be the most wonderful woman I’d ever seen. I’d have just asked for some earmuffs or something.
Two days from now, there’d be a funeral for Ovid, and his body would be cast out to sea, per Atlantean tradition. Creepy? Sure. But I was Atlantean now, too, so I had to get used to their weird customs. Even the ones that involved dead bodies floating around in the ocean, becoming fish food. Hey, even deep-sea creatures had to eat, right? And there wasn’t that much difference between folks getting munched by fish and folks getting munched by worms in cemeteries up top, if I really forced myself to think about it. Plus, it made logical sense. Atlantis didn’t have the extra space for graveyards and such, and jettisoning coffins had an air of the Vikings about it, which I could get behind.
“I only wish Harley had been here to see me get married. She thought she’d beat me to it with Wonderboy, but Chaos showed them, huh?” I chuckled to myself. “Is it me, or does the air feel cleaner here? Seriously, it’s like breathing pure, uh… purity. Does that make sense? Probably not. And you were born here, so you wouldn’t even know the difference.”
I wiggled the fingers on my left hand, encouraging blood to reenter them. I even contemplated gently rolling her off me, but I wouldn’t risk waking Kaya. Not even for the longevity of my arm. Besides, it was worth it to feel her so close to me. So instead I looked out the window to distract myself. From my vantage point, I could see the lush green plants that adorned the terrace outside, and the table where Kaya and I had shared so many breakfasts together. Where we’d share all our breakfasts to come, hopefully. Although I’d have to limit how much Atlantean butter I ate, lest I grow too rotund for my perfect bride. I briefly pictured myself that way—Henry VIII, just without the beheading.
But I couldn’t keep my eyes off my wife for long. We’re going to share everything, aren’t we? I smiled, thrilled by the idea. This was our bedroom, our city, our palace, our people. Our bed, to use as we please. I felt my face grow flush. But I was a newlywed; that was to be expected, right? And it wasn’t even what I was most looking forward to. I would’ve been content just to wake up and have her there, right beside me, every morning. Even if, currently, she was absolutely crushing my arm.
I tried to think about the adventures and hurdles that had brought me to this point. I could think about Harley easily enough, but only on a superficial level. I knew I adored her, and I knew that I missed her, but if I delved any deeper into the SDC, and Katherine, and Ryann, and my friends… they seemed so far away, as if it had all happened to someone else and not me.
Everything I’d been through, every step I’d taken to get here, felt like a distant dream. I blamed the ambrosia hangover, but it still struck me as slightly strange that I couldn’t focus on a single memory for more than a few seconds before it blurred. But maybe that was a good thing. I’d lived too long in the past, beating myself up over old mistakes. Now I could live in the present and look forward to the future. With Kaya. My sordid past for an entire future with her? Well, it seemed like a hell of a trade.
“How did I get so lucky, huh?” I tipped my head down and placed a gentle kiss on my wife’s forehead.
My wife… I’d never get tired of saying those words. Novelties tended to wear off, like sunscreen or one-hit wonders, but this one wouldn’t. I was sure of it. I knew the real deal when it came along and bit me in the ass. And she didn’t even mind when I said things like that, so it had to be love.
“Finch?” Kaya softly mumbled. Her eyes opened slowly, peering up at
me like a dormouse unfurling from an adorable sleep. “Who are you talking to?”
“You,” I admitted, unashamed.
“My goodness, I am deeply sorry! Did I fall asleep while we were talking?” Her eyes widened, and I sank deeper into them.
I shook my head reassuringly. “No. I just wanted to talk to you, but I didn’t want to wake you. Plus, since you were sleeping, I had the perfect audience for my rambling.”
“You are wonderfully peculiar.” She giggled, nestling into my side. As she moved, she finally freed my trapped arm. I wasted no time stretching out my hand in pulsing starfishes, noticing the stark white of my fingers. Pins and needles bristled from my fingertips to the top of my bicep, bringing that heavy sensation with it. But at least it wouldn’t need amputation.
“You say that now. Give it twenty years, and you’ll have me gagged just to get some peace.” I pulled her closer and pressed my lips to her hair. It smelled of something sweet and floral, like honeysuckle. Whatever scent it was, it was entirely Kaya.
“Twenty years? Why, that is hardly any time at all. I do not think I will have grown weary of your idiosyncrasies by then, though truthfully I do not believe I ever shall, for there is such a breadth of variety.” She grinned up at me, and my heart swelled.
Harley Merlin 16: Finch Merlin and the Blood Tie Page 1