My Boyfriend Merlin (23 page)

The others tittered.

Vane didn’t bother to glance in their direction as we walked past. The Councilmember Thornton nudged a much younger brown-mage. The young mage cleared his throat and straightened his shoulder. He ran after us.

“S-Sir,” he said to Vane.

Vane didn’t stop. The mage moved to stand in front of him. Vane halted. He harrumphed at the mage.

The mage swallowed several times before continuing, “We were told that you could create fireballs like Master Merlin.”

“Yes,” Vane said shortly.

“You must be very powerful.” When Vane’s eyes narrowed, the brown mage laughed nervously. “They say you chopped off a gargoyle’s head.”

“Yes,” Vane said in a measured tone.

“That’s fantastic. Brilliant,” the mage flustered. “I didn’t know wizards battled with their hands.  Was the blade magicked to strike true?”

Vane cocked his head. “No.”

“Oh,” the mage said nonplussed. “I guess we thought it might have been.”

“You can do such things without magic,” I stated the obvious.

The brown mage sent me a quizzical look. “But why would I if I have magic?”

In one smooth movement, Vane drew out a knife from his coat and threw it across the room. It speared Thornton’s apple and pinned it into the wood wall. Beside us, the brown mage’s mouth opened and closed.

Vane’s voice boomed across the room. “Magic without work makes you sloppy.” With a flick of his hand, he called the knife back. The apple dropped into the Councilmember’s hand, cut neatly in half. “Sloppy will get you killed.”

The Councilmember gave us a mock salute.

I followed Vane into the lift. I’d gotten out of habit of calling it an elevator. Vane punched the button to our floor.

As soon as the doors slid shut, I rounded on him. “Magic without work? Don’t tell me you secretly like Regulars now.”

“I don’t dislike them… in this century. I just refuse to entrust my life to them.”

“I’m a Regular.”

Vane’s lips curved up. “I don’t dislike you either.”

Something stirred in the recesses of his eyes. It beckoned me to look closer. I turned away before I could get drawn in. The old-fashioned lift jerked up. I said quickly, “You and Matt have more in common than either of you will admit. You obviously know the importance of not just depending on magic for everything or you wouldn’t be such a good trainer.”

Vane raised a brow. “Good?”

I cleared my throat. “Mostly good.”

Vane repressed a smile. “How is training going with my brother?”

My heart gave a little twist when I pictured Matt. He never spoke to me outside of what was absolutely necessary for class. I bit down on the inside of my cheek. “He can barely stand to look at me.”

“My brother hold a grudge.”

I looked down at my snowboots. “You’re happy about it, I’m sure.”

“I’m not unhappy. We need Merlin’s abilities to stay intact.”

“It doesn’t matter who gets in the way,” I said dully. I shivered, cold despite the fact that it was a heated building.

Vane caught me by the waist. He pulled me closer. Warmth seeped back into my bones.

“I can’t let him screw everything up again. He ruined it by allow Arthur to rule Camelot even after it became obvious he couldn’t.”

I titled my head up to meet his gaze. “Who should have been the ruler?”

“Merlin, of course.”

The lift doors opened. Vane walked with me to my door.

I said, “The sword didn’t pick Matt or you. It picked Arthur.”

“Another piece of misinformation I see my brother didn’t bother to correct—the Lady offered the sword to us first. To bring the land together. Merlin turned it down, saying it was too powerful in our hands. I never got the choice. The Lady loved his idea. She made the sword a bridge between all of our races.”

We reached my door. I touched Vane’s shoulder.

He stilled.

“You said time is running out. How do you know?”

Vane’s eyes glittered. “My brother isn’t the only smart one.”

I bit my lip. “Are we ready?”

Vane touched my neck. The amulet warmed under his touch. I felt its heat spread across my chest. My pupils dilated.

“I’d say you’re ready,” he said silkily.

I shook his hand off the amulet. “Be serious.”

“I’d rather stray off the yellow brick road into the poppy fields.” Vane smirked. He touched a hand to the knob and it turned and it turned on its own. It had been magicked to recognize only Gia and me. So, of course, Vane had found a way to grant himself access.

Gia banged dishes as she set the table inside.

“Alas.” Vane sighed in mock regret.

With a shake of my head, I brushed past him. He caught my wrist.

“There is one requirement you should know. The Sword can only be pulled my someone…”

I arched my brow expectantly.

Vane’s lips twisted into a strangled smile. “Pure of heart.”

***

An hour later, a knock sounded at the door. Gia let Grey in. A few minutes later, Blake entered. Vane, Grey, Blake, Gia and I regularly ate dinner together. But word was out and others would show up. Tonight, two other wizard candidates, Paul and Oliver were to join. The doorbell sounded again and they came inside along with two more of Vane’s candidates.

Evening meals at our place had turned into an event. Maybe because Vane brought ale. We had no idea how he managed to get it every night, but nobody had gotten up the courage to ask.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. I sat down in my usual chair.

“We need two more chairs,” I told Blake.

He said a spell and the circular table expanded. Another kid pushed the couch into a corner. The food, which had been placed around a centerpiece of wreath wound on white candles, remained undisturbed.

Vane gripped the back of the chair next to me and leaned on it, waiting. He wouldn’t sit until everyone else had—even though I could hear his stomach grumbling.

The etiquette continued to surprise me.

For someone who could be so blunt, he had really beautiful manners. I could picture him at the Royal Court of King Arthur. He would have loved the pomp and ceremony. I couldn’t picture Matt enjoying it. He would have wanted to hide away in a remote tower reading a book. If I were to pick, I would have chosen the tower too.

Since he’d acquiesced to train the Regulars, Vane had been grudgingly cordial—at dinner. He still drove us into the ground during training. I’d almost blacked out once or twice while he’d been yelling at me to try harder. Between class, training, and dinner we spent most of the day together. However, since the night of the festival, he hadn’t even tried a peck on cheek. I sighed and played with the silverware.

As if he could tell what I was thinking, Vane cocked a very male eyebrow. I swallowed.

He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Feeling dry?”

Issuing one magic command, Vane filled our goblets with ale.

Another knock pounded on the door. Vane sighed. “What do you do, Dorothy? Post suppertime on a billboard?”

The door flew open.

Matt stumbled inside, one hand clutching his head like he had a terrible headache. He glanced around the dinner table. He didn’t seem surprised to see the large gathering. He motioned at the flat-panel TV that hung on the wall. It switched on.

A news reporter stood next to the Stone. “This is Anders reporting live from Trafalgar Square where—” The camera expanded to show a boy holding a sword in his hands.

“—this young man has just pulled King Arthur’s sword.”

CHAPTER 15
THE DECOY

Oliver sprang up. “It’s not possible!”

“Who is he?” Grey said.

“Quiet,” Vane told them.

On TV, the reporter stuck a microphone in the boy’s face. “How do you feel?”

“It’s crazy. I came out here on a dare from my buddies.” He pointed behind him to a group of guys wearing University of Boston sweatshirts. “I was just fooling around. I almost left when they closed off the square to clean it, but I was first in line… and I don’t know… it just came out.”

“And nothing unusual happened? You know that is supposedly King Arthur’s sword. It fell out of the sky. Some people have said they felt tingly like they’d touched something with an electric current. Several young men have died from heart attacks—all with no prior history of any medical problems—after trying to pull it.”

The boy shrugged. “Nope, I didn’t feel a thing.”

“Nothing… magical?”

The boy laughed. He held up the sword so it gleamed in the sunlight. “It’s pretty cool, but nothing weird as far as I can tell.”

“Nothing magical, but you did get an interesting offer from this man.” The reporter motioned the camera over to a smartly dressed man in a black suit. “Aurelius Ambrose, a representative of the British Museum. They have offered this man fifty million pounds to sell the sword to them.”

“Aurelius? He’s buying the sword?” I said.

 Aurelius spoke, “The Sword is a legendary artifact and should be studied, but it is also at the core of our history. We wish to ensure that it remain here.”

“But fifty million pounds?  How could the British Museum procure such a sum?” the reporter demanded.

“We’ve been preparing for this eventuality since the Sword first dropped. A number of private donors have made this possible. The Sword will belong to the people. It will remain home.”

The reported swung back to the boy. “Have you accepted the Museum’s offer?”

The boy nodded. He smiled. “I call it magic.”

The camera returned to the reporter. “And there you have it—one for the history books. The shortest but undoubtedly the most lucrative possession of Arthur’s sword.”

Vane switched off the TV. He arched a brow at his brother. “Explanation, Merlin.”

“It’s a decoy,” Matt said. “The Council has moved the Stone to a more private location.”

A chorus of Oh-s followed. Oliver sat down, relief clear on his face.

I wasn’t at all relieved. I’d been happy to see the sword in the boy’s hand. My stomach clenched with a thick knot of tension I hadn’t even realized I’d been carrying.

“Fifty million pounds just to move the stone?” Blake said. “Is the Council using magic to print money?”

Oliver snorted. “No, just selling it at outrageous prices.”

I got up and went to Matt. His face was worn, his skin a sickly pallor. I steered him to the sofa to get him off his feet.

Vane’s razor-like eyes locked on Matt. “It’s time.”

Matt nodded. “My vision confirmed it. I knew the season from a previous vision, but I had to guess at the day. Today, the vision told me I was wrong. It’s going to happen earlier than I thought.” Matt glanced at me. “I’ve been hoping to see this for months.”

“I didn’t know your visions had clocks,” said Vane.

Matt leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and yawned. “I’ve just spent the last few hours mapping the positioning of the stars into this.” He held up the iPad. “I had to get it down before I forgot it.”

“What’s so special about now?” I asked.

“It’s tomorrow,” Vane said. “I’ve been wondering myself if the Sword fell according to the lunar calendar. The full moon is not until next week.”

“I had originally thought so, but no. Tomorrow night is not a full moon. But it is a red moon eclipse and—” Matt closed his eyes and yawned again.

“And?” Grey prompted.

I glanced at the small window in the kitchen. It had darkened early.

“Tomorrow night is the shortest day of the year. It’s the winter solstice,” Matt said.

“Wizards are weakest on the winter solstice,” Blake said, “since we draw our power from the sun.”

Matt nodded. “The sword may be magical but it was not necessarily intended for a wizard. The winter solstice gives advantage to the gargoyles. A solstice combined with an eclipse, however, gives advantage—to Regulars.”

Vane let out a laugh. “Of course.”

Matt glanced around the flat at the candidates. “Get ready. Let everyone know. We leave in the morning.”

The room cleared within minutes. Gia looked a little ill as she stumbled off to the bedroom. Matt snored slightly as he slept on the sofa. I repositioned his head. He stopped, but didn’t wake.

I put a blanket over him. “He’s exhausted.”

“Intense visions drain him,” Vane said.

Most of the food had been left untouched. I didn’t care. I’d lost my appetite. Vane sat down at the table. He ate slowly, savoring each bite.

“How can you be so calm?” I demanded.

Vane took a loud swallow of his ale. “Shouldn’t you be getting a bag together?”

“Shouldn’t you?”

He got up and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He flicked his hand and the dishes started floating one by one over to the kitchen sink. Seeing the chore done only irritated me—as if I’d be around to enjoy clean dishes later.

I sank down on the sofa on the opposite end from Matt. “You are going with us, aren’t you?”

Vane stilled. “Do you want me to go?”

“Yes,” I said simply.

“Why? You’ve been trained. I know you won’t lose your head. You don’t need me.”

I lowered my eyes at the sudden intensity of Vane’s gaze. I didn’t have a good answer, so I took the offense. “The better question is—why not? I can’t see you sitting on the sidelines.”