My Boyfriend Merlin (19 page)

Vane raised a brow as if startled at my perception. “Just a small favor.”

Matt ground his teeth loudly. “Which is?”

“The gargoyles know too much already. We must root out the traitor now before he can get any more information. Before he learns what Merlin’s grand plan is.”

“They won’t find out. No one knows but me,” Matt said with a tone of satisfaction.

“Feeling vindicated, are you?” Vane voice lowered. “You see he hasn’t told them his grand plan yet.”

Unwittingly, my mouth opened into an ‘O.’

Matt’s cheeks colored. “The Sword is too important—”

“Trust no one but yourself,” Vane said. “Tell me—how did that work out for Arthur?”

Matt let out a low growl. “I made mistakes with Arthur. I am not going to repeat them.”

“Which gives you the excuse to self-righteously hoard what you know,” Vane countered. He looked at me. “Tomorrow night is the All Saint’s Festival in town. All upperclassmen are allowed to go to it. The Council wants to restrict the candidates from going. I want Merlin to convince them it’s safe.”

“Unbelievable,” Matt cried. “You explicitly told Aurelius that you would not use anyone as bait. Are you pathological?”

“Unlike you, I’m a realist,” Vane said. “She’s been targeted. Are you going to sit back while they try again?”

“Now that I know. I’ll be ready,” I said. “I can take care of myself.”

Vane pulled back the partition to show Gia. She was making whimpering noises as she slept. “You may be able to defend yourself, but what about those standing next to you?”

***

Ms. Joseph informed me the next day that our floor had taken extensive damage and it would be weeks before anyone could move back in. However, we had been assigned new rooms—a flat—in the teachers’ residence. I played her message on a hand-me-down iPad.

All of our things had been charred beyond recognition. Gia tried to keep a stoic front, but I could see she was distraught. Matt put in a call to Sylvia. I had been sure he’d know how to contact her and I had been right. When we showed up at the teachers’ residence and opened the door to our suite, Gia gasped in surprise. The spacious one-bedroom residence welcomed us with cheery bright décor. A cozy living area with a fireplace opened to an airy well-lit eat-in kitchen. Beside the kitchen there looked to be a marbled bathroom and a door leading to a huge bedroom. Two trunks had been placed in front of it.

Gia cautiously opened her trunk open and pulled out a gorgeous dress with matching shoes. “N-new clothes,” she stammered. “All different styles. But how?”

“Grey’s Mom got everything together. Matt arranged for it to be brought in.”

Gia stared down at the trunk without moving.

“You don’t like it,” I said in disappointment.

Tough-girl Gia burst into tears. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.” She wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt. “I don’t know what to say.” She mumbled, “T-thanks.”

I smiled. I could almost see a glimmer of Alexa grin from the corner of my eye. Before I could open my trunk, a knock sounded at the door. The door creaked open on its own. Both of us jumped.

“Sorry, it was open.” Matt stood in the doorway in jeans and a biker jacket. I flashed back to our last day in Boston. My heart skipped a small beat.

Gia let out an audible sigh of relief. She rushed up and punched him in the arm. “Thanks for the trunks.”

“No worries.” Matt grinned.

“I’m going to get some dinner with Grey,” Gia said to me. “Do you want to join us?”

Matt’s dark eyes settled on me. “Actually, I’d like to speak to Ryan.”

Gia shrugged. “I’ll see you later, Ryan.”

Matt waited until the door closed after her to speak. “The Council refused.”

“On their own or did you tell them to?”

“Is there a difference?” he said, not denying it.

“You promised!” I’d asked him to bring Vane’s request to the Council.

“I said I’d think about it. And I did. It’s too dangerous—”

“Vane said I was the most likely target.”

Matt’s jaw tightened. “I don’t trust anything he says and I’m not going to risk you—”

 “It’s my choice!”

“No,” Matt said.

My cheeks puffed. “You can’t just say ‘No.’ I’m not a child.”

Matt pinched the bridge of his nose. It took me back for a second. Vane had made the same gesture the exact same way at the infirmary. How could the brothers be so similar and so different at the same time? I wonder if Matt even saw it.

“We just can’t trust him, Ryan,” he said.

I made a sound of aggravation. “I’m getting so tired of this fight of yours.”

“He tried to kill me!”

“You got trapped in a cave,” I burst out. “Vane told me. You and he fought—”

“He attacked me!”

“—your spells got entangled and something happened and boom you were trapped in the cave for a…really long time.” I finished the last bit up lamely, because my math was just that bad.

“Over a thousand years!” Matt’s mouth open and closed. “How does he manage to do this every time? He manipulates everyone to suit him. Why should I be surprised he’s gotten to you?”

I sank down on the sofa. “This isn’t about him or you or me.
My family
is in danger and I’m not going to just sit back and do nothing.”

“I know that—which is why I am going to do everything I can to find out who the traitor is. There are certain tests I can try. It’s a little tricky because gargoyles and Regulars come from the same genetic parent so it will take a bit of time, but I promise you I will not fail.” Matt knelt down on the floor and took my hand. “Trust me.”

“Do I have a choice?”

Matt squeezed my hand. “Trust me, we will be watching all the candidates very closely. No one will get to you again.”

I arched a brow. “Why do I feel like my cage just got smaller?”

“It’s for your protection.” Matt pointed to the ceiling. “I’m in the flat above. Knock if you need anything.”

“Why are we in the teachers’ residence at all? The other girls are up at the manor house.”

“I want you close.”

I made a face. The statement would have thrilled me a few days ago. Today it only served to tell me how tightly he held my leash. I held up my iPad to show the crack on the screen. Marilynn really did not like me. “Can you at least get me a new one? The Wifi isn’t working. It won’t connect to anything. How am I supposed to get anything done?”

Matt took a miniature book out of his pocket. With a flick of his hand, he enlarged it. The heavy tome that was
Basic Elements
dropped on the coffee table with a thump. “Here you go. An extra copy. We’re on Chapter 13. I expect you to be caught up on the class you missed.”

“You are too kind.”

A few minutes later, I stood alone in the small living room, barely big enough for one sofa, one chair, and a coffee table. A TV hung on the wall. I stared at the flat’s tiny but surprisingly well-stocked kitchen. Sometimes cooking relaxed me. Today it looked more like a chore.

A knock pounded the door. I decided to ignore whoever it was.

“I know you’re in there,” Vane said through the closed door just before it flung open on its own.

“I know I locked that this time,” I said.

“I am a wizard.” Vane leaned against the doorjamb with tousled hair and a day’s worth of stubble on his jaw. Even in plain black trousers and a simple grey v-neck sweater, he looked mouth-watering. Then he spoke and spoiled the image.

“I ask you to do a simple task and you fail,” he chided. “Obviously I grossly miscalculated your influence on my brother.”

“Bite me.” I strode to the door and swung it back on his smirking face.

He caught it before it could slam shut. “As delectable as that sounds, I need you to focus on the current situation. Our window is short.”

I arched a brow. “What else can we do?”

“You can go to the festival. With me.”

I gaped at him. “How? I can’t even get out of this school.”

“I have a plan,” he said.

I crossed my arms and hugged myself. “How is the gargoyle going to know that I’m going to the festival when no one else is?”

“At lunch tomorrow, tell your little friends that you’re going into town—”

“My friends are not traitors!”

“They might not be, but I wager whoever the gargoyles are using will be listening.” Vane arched his brow. “This is your only chance to get to him first and you know it.”

I arched my brow, mimicking him.

“If he is one of us, he won’t be able to get out of the school either.”

Vane’s eyes went to the black bruises on my neck “Trust me. They won’t waste this opportunity.”

Morgan’s face flashed in my head. I saw his head fall after Vane had decapitated it. The idea that another one of those wanted to kill me made me want to curl up into a ball.

“I don’t know,” I said looking down.

Vane tucked a finger under my chin and pushed my face back up. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Not at all,” I answered.

Masculine lips curved into a wicked smile. “I think you’re hungry.”

I blinked. “W-What?”

“Come have dinner with me.”

“No,” I said.

Vane rolled his eyes. “Do you say ‘yes’ to everyone else but me?”

“You make it so easy,” I retorted.

“Fine, we’ll eat here.” Vane pushed past me and strode confidently into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Vane pulled out various items from the mini-fridge below the counter. He lined them up along with a few pots and pans. He grinned at me. “Watch this.”

“
Pacika
,” he commanded. A small breeze whistled through the kitchen. The food started to move and pretty soon was fixing itself. The salad chopped, the stove turned on and butter poured itself on a pan. A pot filled itself up with water from a miniscule sink and noodles dropped into it. A few minutes later, two plates of shrimp pasta sprinkled with mozzarella sat on the bar just above the counter. A small salad lay beside them.

Vane handed me a glass of something dark. Out of curiosity, I took a tentative sip. Then I took several gulps.

I sighed. “Real ice tea. How did you know?”

He took a bite from his plate. “I spent weeks watching you.”

“I hadn’t realized you watched so closely,” I murmured.

He met my gaze with disconcerting directness. “I’m very thorough.”

I took a long swallow of the iced tea. When I finished it, I couldn’t resist another sigh of appreciation. I started on the pasta. It was scrumptious.

“I’m not going with you,” I said in between taking huge bites.

“Yes, you will. Do you know why?” Vane didn’t wait for an answer. “Because you can’t resist the chance to take care of this on your own. Because you care about the candidates.”

His eyes roved over my jeans and plain t-shirt. “Wear something nice. I understand my brother bought you some beautiful clothes.”

“That was Sylvia—”

“If he says so,” Vane said. Like a typical male, he finished his dinner in less than five bites and headed for the door. “Come get me tomorrow when you’re ready. I’m just across the hall.”

“Y-You live across the hall?” I choked on a bite.

“Did my brother fail to mention it?”

“Why do I get the feeling he didn’t know?” I said dryly.

Vane sent me an angelic smile. “Welcome to the building, neighbor.”

***

He was Satan and I was following him straight to hell.

I tiptoed behind Vane as we went straight through the manor where we’d taken the candidate trail on the first day. At the admissions desk, Marilynn chatted away on the phone to someone. The hall was mostly empty. Just outside there were still students lined up to get into the buses that were going into town.

“She’s going to see us,” I hissed behind him. “Why didn’t we just get into a bus?”

“Because the monitors there are specifically checking for candidates,” Vane said. “I’m extremely good at the chameleon glamour. How do you think I snuck around to see Guinevere without getting caught by the knights? Believe me, they were a lot more dangerous than a green like Marilynn.” Vane strode confidently past Marilyn without bothering to lower his voice. He opened the front door.

Marilynn glanced up and stared hard at the door. I froze. After a minute, she shook her head, muttering, “Guess it was nothing.” She went back to her call. “Listen, I ordered those replacements yesterday and you told me they would be here by today—”

Vane yanked me through the door. “Come on. At this pace, the festival will be over before we get to it.”

“We’re not walking into town, are we? Blake said it was fifteen minutes by car. He told me walking would be crazy.”

“I’ve procured transportation,” Vane said.

I tugged my hand away from his rough hold. “And I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’m a ho. They all wanted to know who I was sneaking out with.”

“I hope you didn’t imply it was my brother. The idea is laughable—”

In the dark, my cheeks flamed. “I told them it was another student. I also told them not to mention it to Matt if they saw him.”

The iron gates opened to let one of the school buses through. It wasn’t one of the large yellow ones I was used to back home. The Avalon Prep buses looked more like black stretch limos. We slipped through the gates. As soon as we stepped past the school grounds, the road turned from paved stone to gravel—something my dress shoes did not appreciate.

I whined, “How long till we get to the car?”

Vane said, “Why did you wear heels? How are you supposed to fight a gargoyle in what you’re wearing?”

“You told me to dress up!”

“I didn’t say heels,” he retorted.

I looked down at my black and silver lace dress with matching strappy silver shoes. Under the moonlight, the silver sparkled. “At least I’ll be easy to spot.”

“In that dress, the gargoyle won’t be the only one targeting you,” Vane muttered.

Before I could form a proper retort, we reached the end of the lane. Vane let out a loud whistle. A strong breeze blew back vines on a thicket of trees to reveal a black SUV.

I snickered, “Are you hiding a getaway vehicle?”