His skin was on fire as he struggled to get loose from her iron grip. But she wasn’t done yet. Her fingernails dug into his forearm while her voice reverberated through his skull.
I am not just a girl. I am more than you can possibly imagine.
She released him then, leaving him shaking with the force of her anger. Her eyes burned white hot, heat rising from her and pouring towards him as he staggered away.
“What did you just do?”
She closed her eyes, and the heat surrounding her began to disappear. When her eyes opened again, they were back to blue.
“I’m sorry. I lost my temper. It’s something I’m trying to work on. But you hit a sore spot of mine.”
Tarquin gaped at her. Sore spot?
“And what? You thought you’d teach me a lesson? Is that normal for Luminaries?”
Her cheeks blazed as her shoulders slumped. “Oh! Ah. Well, no. I’m young. Most are a lot older than me, and they’ve had more time to—well—learn to control themselves.”
He chuckled then, more because he was at a loss about what to do or say. “So, you’re an out of control Luminary, and you are still positive you’ve been sent to help me?”
Her shoulders straightened a little. “Yes.”
He shook his head, raising his hands in defeat. “Does that mean I can do that to people too?”
She nodded slowly. “You’ll see everything you’re meant to see and become everything you’re meant to be. In time.”
His stomach tightened as he tried to process the meaning. Tarquin dropped into the seat again, exhaustion pulling at him. “You think maybe we could just leave off all this Luminary stuff for a while? Till my head doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode?”
Merrin frowned heavily then shrugged. “Probably not a bad idea. We could try to talk about what you do remember? Maybe that will help to jar a few memories lose?”
“No. I just want to feel normal for a little while.”
She chewed on her lip before nodding slowly. “What about if I showed you some of my books? Would that be a good distraction?”
Tarquin chuckled as he cast a look around the room, curious to see what she liked to read. “Sure.”
Merrin grinned and rose to her feet, loping across the room, muttering as she began picking up books and thumbing through them.
Her head snapped up, her attention on the small window across from her. Tarquin’s skin prickled in response to the tension in her posture.
When she met his eye, alarm spread at the expression on her face. “Stay here. There’s someone coming.”
Tarquin rose to his feet and moved to look out the window. Merrin grabbed him and shook her head. “I can’t tell who it is yet. Stay hidden.”
He shook off her arm. “I’m not a child. Stop treating me like one. Can’t you…I don’t know, feel whether they’re going to be trouble?”
She huffed a breath. “I’m trying to…they seem muddled somehow.”
He held her enquiring gaze. “Like me you mean?”
She was quick to shake her head. “Not like you. I only got light from you until you came here. Whoever it is...” Her voice trailed off, strained. “Would you please just wait here?”
Tarquin’s huff of air escaped before he could stop it. “I’m getting a little sick of this. I’m safe. I’m not safe. There are people after me. I’m fine if I stay with you and do what you say, but now there’s someone outside your house. I just need to stop long enough to catch my breath. Is that too much to ask?”
She delivered her reply in a wry tone bordering on sarcasm. “You don’t get to choose when to rest or to think. You just have to be obedient.”
He forced a laugh. “I’ve been obedient. That’s why I was trying to shoot you remember? I’ve had enough of this. I’m going outside, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”
Merrin’s lips pursed. “I thought we just had that discussion.”
He glared at her as hard as he could before relenting. He wasn’t that eager to stir up her anger again.
Merrin paused at the doorway, a smirk on her face. “Feel free to clean up while you wait for me.”
Chapter 4.
Merrin edged out of her door. A niggly feeling accompanied the awareness that someone encroached on her territory. Only a handful of people could muddle her inner light in such a way.
To confirm her suspicions, a crash from beside the creek alerted her to the one person she really didn’t want to see. Skylar.
She forced a smile as he tumbled up the creek bed, a wild grin on his ruggedly handsome face. He brushed his blonde hair from his eyes then hefted his bow over his shoulder. “Hey, Freckles. Miss me?”
Merrin scoffed and rushed to cover her pinking cheeks that always responded to his teasing. A relentless charmer and habitual flirt, Skylar was five years her senior, the youngest member of the council and capable of masking his inner light: a skill she was years away from learning.
She intercepted him as he made for her home, normally a place they’d spend hours reading, talking and trying to ignore the building pressure his smiles always conjured inside her. But now was not the time to be introducing Tarquin to an older Luminary. At best, Skylar would insist they take him back to Evanswood.
At worst, he’d kill him.
“What are you doing here?”
His eyebrows rose in amusement, his head cocked as his eyes ran the length of her. “I was passing your way and needed to bounce an idea off someone before heading home.” He sniffed and ran a hand through his shoulder-length hair. “That a problem?”
Merrin forced her lips to provide sufficient reason for him to leave. “No. I’m just not feeling that well, that’s all.”
Skylar’s lips twitched as he stared at her. His green eyes narrowed as he assessed her. “Why you lying to me, Freckles?”
His posture stiffened as he glanced past her to the hut. “You in some sort of trouble? You didn’t go running off without confirmation from the Chief again, did you?”
Merrin’s hands clenched at her sides. “If you must know, I caught a nasty stomach bug: you should probably leave before you catch it too.”
He chuckled and backed away holding his hands up in surrender. “Sure thing. Maybe you should clean up occasionally, eh? It’s a wonder you haven’t poisoned yourself before now.”
She ignored him and gestured in the opposite direction. “I’ll clean up when I feel better.”
He nodded slowly. “Sure. Say, you haven’t had any problems here with the Tartarean? Thought I caught something on the breeze when I crossed the boundary.”
She swallowed and scrambled to come up with a semi-plausible answer. “There’s been a little activity but nothing unusual.”
He grinned at her and stepped close enough to plant a hand on her hair. She squirmed as he tousled her hair and stepped back, his grin increasing. “Take care, Freckles. Be seeing you.”
Merrin waited as he pivoted on his heel and left her staring at his broad back. A lump of guilt formed in her gut at the lies.
What is wrong with me?
When she was sure he wasn’t coming back, she turned back and prepared to face Tarquin’s growing annoyance. He was becoming a problem. She should have just asked for Skylar’s help.
So why didn’t I?
The thought slammed through her as she opened the door to a glowering Tarquin planted at the doorway.
His arms folded across his chest, his eyes sparking anger, light flowing from him as he pointed a shaky finger out the window. “Who was he?”
Merrin edged backwards until she hit the wall. Fire darted through her veins at the anger on his face. “What does that have to do with anything? It wasn’t safe for him to be here at the same time as you. You could have been hurt.”
His face relaxed a fraction. “You said you couldn’t read him? What if you’d been hurt?”
Merrin sucked in a breath. He’s worried about me?
She opened her mouth to exp
lain Skylar would never hurt her when he hastened to correct her. “What happens to me if you get hurt? I get stuck here with no memories, that’s what happens.”
Her eyes stung with ridiculous prickles as she nodded. Of course, he wasn’t worried about her. He was worried about himself.
And he was right. She should be careful. If she was injured or worse, where did that leave him? Stranded, alone and probably worse off than went she’d been sent to him.
She forced the words past the growing knot in her throat. “I’m sorry. You’re right. He was a Luminary. I told him to leave. He’s gone now.”
Tarquin scoffed. “Just like that? It was that easy to get rid of him?”
Merrin stared at him a few beats of her heart before her eyes shot to the window. It had been a little too easy to convince a normally determined Skylar to leave.
Unease began to trickle down her spine as she considered what would happen if Skylar found Tarquin here with her. Alone.
Nothing good would come of it. If anything, she’d made it worse by lying.
He’d likely think Tarquin was threatening her somehow. If he read the darkness inside Tarquin before she had a chance to explain, he was hot-headed enough to act before he thought.
A groan escaped as she considered yet another foolhardy action. Whatever wisdom she’d earned over the last four attempts at Illumination, they seemed to be failing her, and the more time she spent in Tarquin’s presence, the less logical choices she seemed to be making.
Was it something inside him altering her perception? Fuzzing her mind, so she was confusing right and wrong?
She’d already hurt him. Lost her temper so severely she’d actually harmed another of her kind.
She slumped into a chair, and a terrible weight settled on her shoulders.
What if Tarquin was more than she could handle? And what if she’d just lied to the one person who might have been able to help her figure it all out?
He’s right. I’m not capable of saving him.
***
His anger still fizzed inside him, anger he was still trying to sort out. Tarquin picked up the nearest dish and found himself scraping the remains of food off the plate. He muttered as he dumped it in a wooden tub and added the rest of the filthy pots, cups and forks he could find.
Why he cared about the man’s presence here, he wasn’t sure. He just knew he needed a distraction to keep from thinking about it too much.
Merrin gaped at him as he loaded the tub up and rolled up his sleeves. “Can I leave the hut to wash these in the stream?”
Her mouth opened a little wider then slammed shut. She shook her head briskly before finding her tongue again. “Give it a little while longer just in case he changes his mind.”
Tarquin refrained from answering. Instead, he picked up a cloth and started rubbing the filthy window pane. “This is disgusting. How can you stand to live like this?”
She chuckled. “I don’t know. I guess I have more important things on my mind.”
He sighed and threw the cloth down, eyes scanning the floor. “How long do you expect me to stay here in this mess?”
Merrin shrugged. “As long as it takes.”
He stared at her for a long moment, taking in her lean frame, her hair that seemed to perfectly frame her bone structure. If he weren’t so insanely sick of being with her, he’d almost find her attractive.
He snorted as he pointed to the piles of clothing strewn over the floor. “If I have to stay here, the least you can do is clean up a bit.”
Her shoulders jutted back. “I am not your maid. If it bothers you so much, you do it.”
His eyes narrowed before he nodded. “Fine. Show me where you keep your broom, and I’ll make a start.”
Merrin’s eyebrows rose. “Are you serious? You want to clean my house?”
Tarquin scratched his chin before answering the only way he could. “I want to sleep without fear of getting bit by rats. This hovel you live in will be attracting all sorts of vermin.”
A flash of disgust signalled her defeat. She gingerly prodded a pile of soiled clothing with her booted foot. “Oh. I see. Maybe I should help then? We’ll get it done quicker?”
Tarquin kept all traces of mirth from his voice. “I think that would be for the best.”
***
Merrin collapsed on her newly made bed. Every muscle ached, her hands raw from scrubbing. Every inch of her home was swept, shined, washed, cleaned, and ordered.
Her books were neatly stacked in the shelves, her clothes folded and back in the chest where they used to live. She’d washed her dishes in the creek, and Tarquin had dried them and put them away.
She had a clear view of the forest surrounding her hut for the first time since she’d moved in and while she was exhausted, Tarquin looked more at ease than she’d seen him.
Whatever he was, he was the strangest Luminary she’d ever met.
“Why are you so happy?”
He chuckled. “I don’t know. Maybe I like order? Plus, I’m not cold anymore.”
Merrin didn’t bother to reply, too exhausted to speak any more. She pulled herself off the bed and smothered a groan at the ache growing in her back. “I’m happy you’re warming up, but I need to sleep.”
Tarquin searched the darkening sky outside the window before nodding. “You don’t want to eat?”
Merrin shook her head. “No, too tired. I’ll just grab my mat and doze for a bit. You can take my bed again. I want you to get a good night’s rest so you can dream.”
He looked uncertain before he nodded. “I really hope I’m not the sort of person who does this often.”
Merrin snorted a laugh. “What? Steal a girl’s bed or insist she clean?”
His smile was wry as he crossed the floor to her bed and started yanking off his boots. “Both I suppose.”
Merrin smiled back at him before checking the door was bolted tight, and the curtains drawn against prying eyes.
Not that many could get past her senses but there was always the possibility Skylar would return, and if he did, they’d need a little warning.
She settled in and made herself as comfortable as she could. The faintest hint of rain starting to fall as Tarquin blew out the final candle. “When are you going to tell me how you knew my name?”
She huffed out a long sigh. “If I told you the wind speaks to me when I track, would you believe me?”
He was silent for a long moment. “Probably not. Maybe I will tomorrow. Who knows? Goodnight, Merrin.”
Merrin’s lips curved into a smile. Maybe more dreams would come and show him some of what he sought? “Goodnight Tarquin.”
He turned over, so his voice was closer. “It’s raining. I hope you don’t have any leaks?”
Merrin squinted at the roof and folded her arms over her chest, a yawn escaping. “None that I’ve noticed.”
Tarquin released a sigh. “You don’t notice a lot of things that need fixing. I’ll take a look tomorrow.”
Merrin rolled her eyes, too weary to protest. The gentle rain scattering overhead and the sound of Tarquin’s breathing soothed her, lulling her towards her own dreams.
The slightest unwelcome sound stirred her into wakefulness. Not wanting to alarm Tarquin, she pulled herself to sitting and slowly eased back the blankets.
She paused to listen, her heart beginning to thud as hard as the rain overhead. Tarquin’s breathing deep and even let her know she must have at least managed a few hours rest.
Merrin closed her eyes and concentrated on finding the source of the disturbance outside.
Maybe she’d misheard? Imagined something as she drifted to sleep? Whatever it was, it was quiet.
She held her breath and tilted her head, body rigid as she sat cross-legged on the bedding.
Why was she so on edge? It could be any number of things out there. Deer, possums, hedgehogs: why was she leaping to conclusions it was something that came from darkness?
But still, a prickling aware
ness crept along her spine. She stared at the doorway and released her breath slowly.
Her hands began to shake, body flooded with heat as she prepared to defend her sleeping charge against whoever lurked outside her home.
***
Tarquin’s breathed raggedly as he pulled himself to sitting. A vague awareness caused his skin to tingle. Blackness surrounded him, and for a moment he thought he was back in the caves still under the control of the Tartarean.
His eyes began to adjust, allowing enough light for him to make out his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was Merrin. Standing at the door, posture tense, red hair trailing down her back.
“What’s happening?”
She pivoted swiftly, eyes glowing in the dark. He sucked in a breath at the fierce expression on her face. The light in her eyes dimmed along with her voice. “Be quiet. Someone’s outside.”
Tarquin’s eyes shot to the window nearest him. He narrowed his eyes, and an instinct seemed to take over. Warmth spread through his body as his muscles seemed to prime themselves to protect and defend.
He near leapt from the bed and joined a startled Merrin. Her eyes were wide and her jaw slack as she appraised him. “You moved fast.”
Tarquin squinted at her, the light burning his eyes much as it had from inside the ruins. “Did I?”
Her lips quirked. “Never mind. Stay behind me.”
He didn’t bother to argue, though he had no intention of letting her face the threat. His impulse was to protect her. The impulse, he understood, but the practical application of how he’d keep her safe was still a mystery.
He didn’t need to think too hard on it when the door splintered open and a flash of black leather crashed through the door.
Tarquin was on the attacker in a heartbeat, allowing his driving fists to contain the threat. He fought on, a blaze of fury as he slammed the man’s head against Merrin’s wall, driving chunks from the earthen walls.
The man’s eyes flashed blue fury and pain blazed down Tarquin’s skin as he was grasped.
Illuminate: Upper YA Paranormal Romance Page 4