My Boyfriend Merlin (18 page)

I shut my eyes. I giggled.

Vane roughly pulled me up into a sitting position.

“Better?” he said.

I opened my eyes.

Rain poured down his face. It followed in a line past wanton cheekbones over wicked lips, leaving his whole countenance clean and fresh. He smiled. All the harsh lines disappeared into something breathtakingly beautiful.

Wet mud covered most of my body. My clothes clung to soaked skin, exposing every secret, revealing every curve. I took a heaving breath.

I heard Vane catch his.

I squeezed my fingers. Thick dirty goo squirted out from the spaces in between them. My hands fisted. I punched Vane in the face.

***

Hospital beds separated by thin wood partitions had been lined inside a barn-like structure. There were about twenty beds placed into two rows. Most of them were occupied. Many of the girls were suffering from smoke inhalation. Several healers dressed in brown robes over scrubs moved from bed to bed checking on patients.

Gia dozed peacefully on the bed next to mine.

A healer wearing a dull green robe walked up with a clipboard. He closed the partition, cutting off my view of Gia. I opened my mouth to protest.

“She’ll be alright,” he said. “And so will you, but I want to keep you here for the night. The fifth floor girls have the brunt of the injuries.” The healer glanced up and noticed Aurelius in flowing white robes making his way directly to him. Hastily putting the clipboard on a hook on the hospital bed, the healer left to meet the head Councilmember.

Aurelius glanced at me once or twice as he talked in whispered tones to the healer.

Matt entered the triage room and crossed through the long space straight to me. Vane stepped from around the partition curtain.

“I want him locked up for trying to kill me.” I pointed at Vane.

Vane responded with a lazy once-over. “You look mostly alive.”

Aurelius approached the bed without the healer in tow. “I’m glad to see you well, Ms. Dulac. We’ve never had such a thing happen at the school before.”

“It’s his fault.” I glared at Vane. “He threatened me saying I would burn at the stake like Guinevere and the next thing I know my room is on fire. Do you really expect us to believe it’s a coincidence?”

“I think it would be best if we spoke more privately.” Vane made a circle with his hand. A faint red light surrounded us forming a nearly invisible bubble.

Aurelius frowned. “Ms. DuLac, are you saying the fire was not an accident?”

Matt made an impatient noise. “What have you done, Vane?”

Vane rounded on me. “I want to know the details. What happened in the room?”

“Why?” I demanded.

Vane smiled cryptically. “Tell me and I’ll consider answering.”

“Yes,” Aurelius said. “I want a full account. Ms. DuLac, please tell us what you know.”

I glanced at Matt. “This afternoon Vane choked me in front of several students after class—”

“What?” Matt jumped up, hands fisted.

Vane snorted. “I held her up in the air. If I’d wanted to choke her, she wouldn’t be here.”

I leveled a disgusted look at him. “He compared me to Guinevere and said I would burn at the stake just like she did.” I picked up the glass of water someone had placed on a steel nightstand next to the bed. I took a sip. My throat felt so swollen that it was painful to swallow. “Tonight, I woke with my room in flames. They covered the door.”

“Completely covering the door? What about the walls near it?” Vane asked.

“I don’t remember about the walls. I wasn’t trying to get through them,” I said dryly. “The window bars had some kind of locking spell on them.”

Aurelius raised a brow. “Those have been spelled to open in emergencies. They should have opened automatically on detecting fire.”

“How did you open the window?” Vane asked.

I touched my neck. The amulet sat silent. “Somehow the amulet disabled the bars. I remember it heating. I thought I heard Matt—”

“It’s not unexpected,” Matt said abruptly. “The amulet has tied itself to you. It knew to defend you.”

Vane’s eyes fixed on Matt. He murmured, “Interesting.”

I coughed. Matt handed me a water glass. I lifted my lips to take a long sip.

Matt put a hand on my shoulder. Taking the water glass, he touched my chin and gently angled my face to better see my neck. Without warning, he launched a fireball at Vane.

Vane barely caught it before it burned him. “What did I do now?”

Matt glared at Vane. “She’s got bruises on her neck.”

In a flash, Vane was out of the chair and at the head of the bed on the opposite side from Matt. I squirmed under their scrutiny.

“An air hold doesn’t leave that kind of bruise. I didn’t do this,” Vane said. “Those bruises are deep. Someone tried to choke her. I’m surprised they didn’t snap her neck.”

“I dreamt Morgan was choking me,” I said softly.

“The boyfriend?” Vane said.

Matt said, “Tell us about the dream.”

I described it and ended with, “I woke up when—” I broke off abruptly. My eyes went to Matt.

“When?” Vane asked sharply.

I colored. “Matt called me in the dream.”

“The amulet is protected,” Matt said musingly. “They must have tried to take it from you, but it wouldn’t come off.”

Vane nodded. “When the alarms went off, he probably got out in the chaos. Only he was clever enough to lock the iron bars in her room.”

“It could have been a girl,” I said. “It would have been easy for one to blend in during the evacuation.”

“A lot of wizards entered the dorm after the alarms went off.” Vane pointed out.

Matt sent him a fuming glare. “You suspected a traitor. You used her as bait, didn’t you? And you risked a whole building!”

“I did not mean for my words to be take literary.” Vane’s gaze locked on me. “I only said it to you.”

“You said it loud enough for anyone near the stairwell to hear,” I said acidly. “Don’t pretend that this was an accident. You specifically said Matt gave me the amulet—”

In a blink Matt was on top of Vane. He grabbed Vane by the collar and decked him hard on the jaw. Matt pulled back to throw another punch.

Vane barely managed to block him. He locked Matt’s arms in a tight hold so Matt couldn’t move. “Merlin attacking with his bare hands. Color me shocked. But I was right, wasn’t I? You like—”

“I could easily kill you,” Matt ground out, throwing Vane off him.

“Please,” Aurelius asked. “Why did you do it, Vane?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Vane backed away from Matt. “There’s a traitor among us.”

The words hung in the air with subversive malice.

Aurelius tugged on his short beard. “The lead-healer told me Ms. Cornwall had been put under a sleeping spell.”

Matt sat down on a spindly wooden chair. It groaned a bit under his weight. He arched a brow at Aurelius. “Magic was used to lock the door. Magic was used to lock the iron bars. A sleeping spell was put on Gia. I’m sure they tried it on Ryan but her amulet is strong enough to resist small spells.”

“It was a wizard,” I said.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” said Matt. “These are the consequences in selling magic to anyone who pays for it.”

“Now see here.” Aurelius’s face twisted into a scowl. “This is no reason to plug your platform. Selling magic is what keeps our world going. You can’t blame magic. It is not the problem. The ones who use it incorrectly are the problem.”

“Give someone a weapon and they will use it,” Matt retorted. “Selling magic sows the seeds of our own destruction. Why can’t you see that?”

Aurelius and Matt glared daggers at each other.

Vane cleared his throat. “Could we get back to who tried to kill DuLac?”

“Like you care,” I muttered.

Vane arched a brow. “I absolutely care about who gets the sword.”

Matt and I both turned to give him identical looks of irritation.

“There is a traitor among us,” Aurelius muttered. “I need to get the Council together. I will ask for an emergency session. Come up with a plan. If this is a strike against the candidates, more are sure to follow.” He turned to Vane. “However, please, no more lures. The Council will not be happy that you initiated all this.” He made a sweeping gesture at the healing room. “Even if it was not your intention, we cannot risk it.”

To my surprise, Vane inclined his head in acknowledgement.

With a short nod at Matt, Aurelius withdrew from the bubble.

Matt looked at Vane. “What are you holding back now, Vane?”

“You know me too well, brother.” Vane’s lips curved up into a half-smile. He took out an iPad and pulled up headshots of four kids. “These are the latest candidates who have died. Three Regulars. One unknown wizard. Who is missing?”

“Gargoyles,” Matt answered evenly. “They are not sending candidates to the Stone anymore.”

“Because they know we have not sent ours. They suspect we have a reason. And how would they know even that much?” Vane came up to my bedside. He reached out to touch my neck.

I jerked away from him.

“Do you want to know who attacked you or not?” Vane said impatiently.

Jaw tight, I reluctantly swept aside the rest of my hair. Vane pushed down the potato-sack of a hospital gown I wore.

“
Tapa
.”

The word caught the edges of my hearing. The skin on my shoulder burned excruciatingly. I yelped.

“There is an impression on your skin,” Vane said. “My spell will extrapolate the remaining image.”

My skin stinging with dull pain, I gave Vane a dirty look.

Matt handed me the hand-mirror. “They must have been wearing something that dug into your skin when they tried to choke you. It’s a gargoyle crest.”

I stared at the dull burn, a curvy V inside a circle.

The pit of my stomach sunk deeper. I stared at the emblem. I gave the mirror back to Matt. “I’ve seen this before. On Morgan’s notepad.”

Matt put the mirror down. “The traitor is a gargoyle. They have infiltrated the school.”

CHAPTER 13
THE TRAP

“I caught Morgan doodling it. He acted really strange when I asked him what it was. He tore it out and threw it away.” I looked at Vane. “B-but he’s dead. You killed him, right?”

Vane nodded.

Matt squeezed my hand. “The gargoyle must be another member of the same clan. That would explain why they targeted you especially. Revenge.”

Vane crossed his arms. “Whoever the gargoyle is they will try again. We need to smoke the traitor out.”

I sent him a fulminating look.
Smoke.
Seriously.
“For all I know, you set it this up. You’d do anything to stop a Regular from succeeding.”

Vane arched a brow. “I have little need to go that far. You Regulars are doing an excellent job of failing training all by yourselves.”

“We’d be doing better if you’d train us properly. We should be learning swords.”

Vane pinched the bridge of his nose. “Master the basics. Then, you will be able to advance. That is generally the way of things.”

Matt asked, “What are you planning, Vane?”

“I’m going to find the gargoyle. Then, I’m going to put the beast down.”

Matt nodded, seemingly unsurprised by his brother’s matter-of-fact cold-bloodedness. “We have no idea who it is. How do you plan to get the gargoyle to expose himself?”

Vane’s gaze flicked over the rows of injured girls. “I’ll figure out a way.”

“Meaning as usual you’ve only thought this halfway through,” Matt ground out. “If a single strand of hair is harmed on any of these girls’ heads, I will put
you
down.”

“You can try.” Vane crossed his arms over his chest and leaned languidly against the hospital partition. “Don’t forget, little brother, I may not be as powerful of a wizard as you but I defeated you once. I can do it again.” He glanced at me. “Besides, you should thank me instead of getting in my way. Until we find the culprit, all of the candidates are in danger. She may be the first but she won’t be the last. He will try to take out all of them.”

Matt’s eyes flashed. “You will not use her as bait.”

“What happened to sacrificing everything? You want me to sit back while the gargoyles exterminate us. We are talking about the fate of this world—”

“Nice try,” said Matt. “We both know the only life you care about is yourself.”

High windows in the hospital let in moonlight. It highlighted the lighter strands of Vane’s hair. He shrugged. “Yes, and I want to protect it. I am quite enjoying myself in this century. I’m not about to allow the gargoyles to ruin it all.”

“We wouldn’t even be in this situation if you hadn’t trapped me in that cave. I could have helped Arthur. If the wizards hadn’t defeated the gargoyles so handily back then, they wouldn’t be so vengeful now. We used to be allies with them.”

Vane yawned. “How long are you going to beat this to death? Arthur doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is what happens next.” Vane strode over to me and pushed back my hair to reveal the ugly bruises on my neck. “And what will happen next is death.”

I made a face. “What do you want Matt to do?”