Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

M erlin tried to ignore the growing uneasiness building between his shoulder blades. Eli was being cagey about what he and his brothers were discussing, and that never boded well. It was more than that, like the tenseness before a storm ripped the sky apart.

Ever since he'd told Rosa about Arthur sleeping, it had been all he could think about. He had left the body alone for a thousand years with no knowledge of where he'd put his friend.

What if he'd woken and died waiting for Merlin to rescue him? No , he would've sensed it even if he didn't fully understand it. He would know it in his bones, blood, and magic. Once the problem with the queen was solved, he would go to check on the body. He smiled at the thought of taking Rosa with him.

For all his nervousness, one thing the past days had revealed was how nice it was to have Nimue close to him. She was bright and affectionate in the way she teased him, but a shadow lingered in her eyes. He promised himself that no matter what happened, he would get rid of that shadow forever.

Eli hadn't asked anything of him in the last two days, so he had spent most of his time with Nimue walking down at the lake, reading together or telling stories after their lovemaking. It had been the most relaxing time he could remember in years, and yet it felt almost stolen. It was too good for him to want to seriously question. He only wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Something is going on," Rosa said, letting herself in the cottage. Nimue was up at the house with Eli, and Merlin was taking the spare time to read by the fire.

"Of course something is going on," Merlin replied, turning a page. "I'm sure that they will tell us when we need to know."

"It's damn annoying. I think Bal is in on it." She slumped down on the couch opposite him. "I'm worried Eli is planning a wedding on me."

Merlin's book slammed shut. "What?"

"He was carrying on about a wedding the other night at the ball. I hope he's not planning a surprise wedding… I mean, not that I wouldn't marry Bal, but I don't think I'm ready yet. You know, we have years and years before I should have to worry about anything like that."

"He wants us all down the lake tonight," Merlin said thoughtfully. "He said something about binding the family together to make us more powerful, to share out the extra magic that they are getting. I didn't think they would want Nimue involved in that, especially Zalan who is unsure of any Seelie, but he specified that we were all to attend."

"So you really don't know what they are planning? Damn, should we use magic to spy on them?"

"No, we shouldn't. Eli would take it personally. Let them have their eccentricities, we will find out soon enough."

"I hope so, I don't like feeling left out," Rosa said as she fiddled with the pendant around her neck. "How long do you think I need to keep wearing this?"

"Until you can control your magic without blowing everyone up when you get pissed off or have an orgasm," Merlin said, getting up to refill his whiskey. He passed her one without asking.

"What's wrong, Merlin?"

"I don't know. I've been thinking about Arthur. Worrying for no real reason, because now I remember what I'm meant to be worrying about."

"He's protected wherever you hid him, right? Like no archeologists or drunken teenagers can come across the tomb anytime soon?" Rosa straightened.

"No, no, it's not possible. Only I can get in or out of his hiding place. The body is safe. There is magic guarding him as well."

"You don't think…" Rosa let the question hang.

"No, he's not waking up."

"You would know if he was?"

"Yes, absolutely," Merlin said confidently and sipped his drink. "I would absolutely, positively know."

"Maybe we should go and check, just to be sure."

Merlin raised an eyebrow at her. " We ?"

"Of course. I would go with you in case you needed backup."

"Backup for what?"

"I don't know! Lara Croft wannabes trying to kill you." Rosa's smile dropped. "Eli won't let us leave."

"Not yet, but he will. Maybe my anxiety is merely intuition that the queen is getting ready to make her move. Or because I talked about Arthur and I'm projecting."

"Hmm maybe. I still think that we should go and check on him when we can. There is a lot of fancy ground surveying equipment and stuff these days. He might not be as safe as you think. It would only take one cocky student with one of those scanner things, and they'd spot him."

"Where I've placed him, the magical field would scramble any technology, but you are right. We will have to go check the tomb when we can, even if it's so I can pay my respects."

Rosa brightened once more. "You said we ."

"Well, you know, I'll need help fighting off those Lara Croft types," he said, having no idea who Lara Croft actually was. Rosa's smile only widened as if she knew that but was too overjoyed to say so.

"One day, cousin, we should write all of your stories down, even if they are only for Eli's library."

"What would be the point in that?"

"Posterity…and to totally fuck with the scholars." Rosa finished her drink and got back to her feet. "I suppose I'd best go get ready for tonight. It seems a night for leather and magical swords is in order."

"Indeed, and Rosa? Don't spy on them with magic or from the servant's passages."

She pouted. "You ruin all my fun."

"Trust me, sometimes ignorance is bliss."

Butterflies danced through Rosa's stomach as she took Balthasar's hand and stepped out into the snowing night. He had been unusually quiet as they got ready, and when he kissed her, it was with an urgency that she'd only ever felt from him when she'd been in trouble in the Aos Si. She wasn't in danger now, so she wondered what was eating away at him.

Damn Vanes and their secrets . She hated feeling as if she was once again out of the loop.

They were joined by Merlin and Nimue as they passed the cottage. Nimue wore the Seren Du family armor, her insignia a stylized sun over the seven-pointed star. She held Merlin's hand openly, walking close to him.

"This all seems very enigmatic. I'm starting to feel like that dumb girl in a horror movie who walks directly into a trap," Rosa said.

"It isn't a trap," Balthasar reassured her. "They are old school. They want their ritual."

"They want to be creepy." Saul appeared beside them, making Rosa jump.

"Damn it! Where did you come from?"

"Checking the wards. Why are you so jumpy?" he asked, falling into step beside her.

"Because she hates not knowing everything," Merlin said behind them. "She's a control freak."

"Takes one to know one," she retorted.

"I'm glad we aren't walking into a trap because your bickering would alert every monster to our presence," Nimue said, her voice too bright in the shadows. "The creepiest thing about tonight is they want to have a meeting out at a freezing lake."

"They like to draw on nature. They are hopelessly fae sometimes," Merlin said, though Rosa could hear something uneasy in his voice. Maybe it really was their Wylt witchy woo playing up.

The three brothers stood near the stones in their full fae forms. Rosa shivered and moved closer to Balthasar as their auras covered them. They were pulsing with so much power that it made her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth.

She shook her head, trying to clear the buzzing. Here stood, not the Vanes, but the three legendary Seren Du brothers—Bleddyn, Trahaearn, and Gwaen. The youngest studied her with his strange purple eyes, and she knew deep in her core that what Merlin and Balthasar said about him was correct. He wore Vincenzo like a fine Italian suit. When that was gone, Gwaen's features were as keen and cunning as his mind.

"What's this all about?" Merlin demanded as they stood in a loose circle.

"We have come to a decision about the Autumn Queen," Bleddyn said, his voice deeper than its usual timbre. "We are going to lure her to Gwaed Lyn where she will be further disconnected from her power. We will use the swords to cut her down and scatter her pieces to the four winds."

"We called you here for you all to take a share of our power. This way, the queen will believe herself to be stronger than us," Trahaearn continued. "Then when it's time, we will use our combined power to crush her."

"How is it possible to share power like that?" Rosa asked.

"We share the same blood, and that has power in and of itself," Bleddyn said. "Remember the way we are connected, little one."

As he said it, strands of light energy swirled around the Vanes, leaving only Trahaearn, Gwaen, and Nimue out. "Tonight, we will finish the circle and bring us all together."

"But Nimue isn't of our blood," Merlin interrupted.

"Actually, she is." Bleddyn fixed his emerald eyes on her. "She drank of my blood today and became one of us."

"Why wasn't I told about this?" Merlin said through his teeth.

"Because not everything is your decision," Nimue replied before Eli could. Merlin rounded on her but stilled as her hand touched his face. "I chose this. I am part of this family now, and not even the Autumn Queen can undo it."

Merlin kissed her, robbed of words. Nimue wrapped an arm around his neck, bringing him closer. This was the big surprise and Rosa almost sighed with relief.

Once they broke apart, Nimue looked at him in such a way that Rosa felt like she was intruding. It was as if it was the first time she'd seen him, or it was the last.

They all linked hands, Rosa feeling strangely excited as she felt Balthasar and Merlin's power on either side of her. As their magic linked, she felt the others through the line—Nimue, like the taste of summer, apples, and honey, Gwaen, temperate forests and cool streams and Trahaearn, ice and pine and darkness.

Bleddyn started to glow with white starlight, and one by one, they lit up as magic rolled through them. Nimue's light alone held color, a swirling mixture of gold and white. Rosa could see the tears rolling down her face, and her own eyes filled. Yes, she knew what it felt like to be the orphan girl, finally included in something so much larger than herself.

Unexpectedly, the faerie ring flared to life and Rosa cried out in panic. The stones were activated, which meant that the portal was opening. They unlinked and Rosa drew Gaeaf Storom ready for the fight. It took her a long moment to realize that Bleddyn looked unconcerned.

"It's time, Nimue," he said, and she hurried to his side, not looking at Merlin. Bleddyn touched the insignia on her armor, and it melted back into a pair of plain trousers and tunic top.

"What the fuck is going on?" Merlin demanded.

"I'm going to get the queen," Nimue said, her voice steady. "I will bring her back, and we will destroy her."

"You are going…" Merlin rounded on Bleddyn. "What the hell did you say to convince her? This is madness. You can't do this!"

"Bleddyn didn't convince me of anything, Merlin. Please, try to understand. This is my choice. This is my reparation for Deryn."

"Deryn's death wasn't your fault. Please don't do this, Nimue. Please, for me."

"It's for you that I have to go," Nimue shouted, tears running down her face as she stepped up to the ring. Rosa went to stop her, but Balthasar's hands clamped around her, holding her back.

"Nimue, please. We can find another way," Merlin begged.

"There is none. I will see you soon, beloved." She smiled brilliantly and stepped backward into the light. Merlin ran towards her, but Trahaearn and Gwaen grabbed him, pinning him down.

It wasn't until the light of the ring disappeared with Nimue that they let him go. He scrambled over to the circle, clawing at the grass and dirt. An inarticulate shout echoed from deep inside of him, and he slammed his hands down into the earth. They all stumbled backward as a wave of power rolled out of him and onto the water. There was a loud crack like lightning, and the choppy lake froze solid. Tears slipped from Rosa's eyes as she shook from the magical overload and struggled to stay on her feet.

"What did you do? Bring her back!" Merlin demanded, his voice ragged. "How could you do this?"

"It was her choice…" Bleddyn began, but Merlin launched himself at him, knocking him to the ground.

"You know what will happen to her. You know what the queen will do." Merlin's hand grabbed Bleddyn by the front of his jacket and shook him.

"She agreed to go back in order for the plan to work," Bleddyn said as calmly as he could. "If you knew her intentions, you wouldn't have allowed her to go. She knew that, which is why she forbade us from telling you."

"It's true, Merlin," Balthasar said. "He's not lying to you."

"You knew?" Rosa demanded, taking her hand from his. "How could you keep this from me?"

"The same reason we kept it from Merlin. You would've both tried to stop her from going."

"That was not your call to make," Rosa hissed.

"No, it was Nimue's, and she made it. You both need to stop being emotional and see the bigger picture here," Gwaen said coldly. "Nimue knows the court and the queen better than any of us. She is the perfect spy to send. The queen would be expecting her to report in soon, and her return won't be taken under too much suspicion."

"I've ensured that if anything goes wrong, we will know, and we will rescue her," Bleddyn reassured.

Merlin let him go with a violent shove and got off the wet ground. Saul moved to help Bleddyn up to his feet.

"We have plans to put in motion," Trahaearn said. "I suggest you all get rest tonight, for we will be laying traps for the queen and her armies tomorrow."

"For your sake, I hope everything goes to plan," Merlin spat violently. "I'm too disgusted to look at any of you." He strode off into the night, leaving them all feeling the sting of his pain.

"Rosa…" Balthasar reached for her hand, but she wouldn't let him take it.

"I'm sorry, but I'm with Merlin on this one. I have nothing to say to you tonight, and my cousin needs me." She backed up from all of them, ignoring the pain in Balthasar's eyes and the broken look on Bleddyn's face.

Rosa ran through the woods and back to the Wylt cottage. She didn't want Merlin to disappear into the night. Despite being so angry she could barely breathe, Rosa knew that they needed to stay together.

Merlin's armor had been torn off and dumped on the kitchen floor, and she found him by the fire, with his head in his hands. He didn't look up or say anything as she took off her coat and hung it on the rack.

Rosa poured them both a drink before she sat down, placing the glasses on the coffee table in front of him. She could say nothing to soothe him, so she put an arm around his shaking back and rested her cheek on his shoulder in a silent comfort.