Harley Merlin 15: Finch Merlin and the Everlasting Vow Read online

  She knows I don’t want this… thank Chaos! My heart swelled with faint relief.

  “They’d find it pretty tricky to use you as leverage now.” I hated being so clinical. “Besides, your pesky piggy-backer is giving you some cosmic protection. That’s got to help.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “It might, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “Of course not. It’s like having some kind of virus you can’t get rid of, but that happens to give you some benefits while it’s slithering around your system. A symbiotic leech or something.” I’d thought saying Nash-esque things would be easy, but his sage words weren’t such a cinch to conjure up. At least Huntress took some initiative, walking over to Ryann and laying her fluffy head on her lap.

  Ryann sighed and scratched between Huntress’s ears. “A leech. That sounds about right.”

  I edged closer. “How are things with you, anyway? Not the Lux stuff, just… you stuff.”

  She shrugged. “I hate being here and not being able to help. That’s pretty much all I can think about, so there’s not much else going on. I sit and stew, and I wish I could be anywhere else. Preferably with Finch, and the rest of you, somewhere on the surface. Far from all this insanity.”

  “I hear Manitoba is nice this time of year. Very isolated. A favorite of recluses.” I managed a smile and shifted awkwardly.

  “Not sure I’d do well in the cold. Snow is pretty, but the novelty only lasts so long before you can’t feel your fingers and toes,” she said. She gazed down at Huntress and stroked that furry face, taking comfort from the husky as though she were a giant teddy bear.

  I laughed stiffly. “You’ve been in San Diego too long.”

  “I wish I was still there.”

  “You think your parents are worried about you?” I tried the whole paternal thing, to see if it worked.

  She shrugged. “I know Harley will try and cover for me, but they’ll know something’s up soon. But it’s more than that. I know San Diego has its fair share of magical problems, but at least it feels… safe there. It’s home.”

  “Home is where the heart is, though, right?” I went to one of the side tables and ruffled some of the flowers in a vase. No idea why. My hands just needed something to do. And I couldn’t help asking the question that was front and center in my mind. “Isn’t Finch where your heart is?”

  “It is, but none of us should be here. I want to be home, with him, knowing all of us are safe.” She leaned down and kissed Huntress’s fur, and, so help me, I felt a pang of jealousy. Why did that furball get all the love? Oh yeah, because I was pretending to be Nash. But she’d said it—she’d said her heart was with me! I would’ve punched the air, if it wouldn’t have given the game away.

  “Right. I’m not much of a people person, but I can imagine sitting down to Sunday dinner at your parents’ house, or just relaxing around your own apartment, beats all this Atlantean food, any day.”

  Her head shot up. “Sunday dinner?”

  Crap. “Yeah, isn’t that what families do? Like I said, it’s been a while since I’ve had anyone around but Huntress, so I don’t know. I’m just spit-balling here.” She was looking at me funny, her eyes giving me the onceover. “Finch mentioned your mother’s legendary cooking to me a few times. Maybe I’ve got it wrong.”

  Ryann continued to absently stroke Huntress’s fur. “He mentioned my mom’s legendary cooking to you?”

  “Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. The food here is fine, but it doesn’t even come close to a roast dinner with all the trimmings.” I had no clue if I was digging myself into a hole, or if she was buying this. That was another intriguing facet of Ryann’s beautiful face—I could hardly ever tell what she was thinking. I mean, that was probably why it’d taken us so long to admit our feelings to each other.

  Ryann’s lips twitched into a vague smile. “Roast dinner?”

  “Sure. Or, you know, Italian, or Mexican… any dinner from back home, really. Huntress likes any kind of meat, don’t you?” I fumbled with Nash’s shirt some more. Why was I blabbering on about different kinds of dinners, and why, oh why, was I such an idiot?! Of course Huntress liked meat—she was a friggin’ husky!

  Huntress whined in the back of her throat. I didn’t need a dog translator. She thought I was an idiot, too.

  “Finch loves my mom’s roast dinners.” Ryann’s smile widened a touch.

  “Yeah, that kid will eat anything.”

  “He especially likes when my mom makes Brussels sprouts to go with it,” she added.

  I couldn’t stop my grimace. Brussels sprouts were the work of Satan. Mrs. Smith always tried to put a token sprout on my plate whenever we had dinner, and it’d always be the only thing left on an otherwise polished plate. That green, cabbage-y ball of bitter grossness.

  “I knew it!” Ryann cried.

  “What?” I shot back, startled.

  She chuckled. “You had me going for a while, Finch, but there’s nothing in this world that can stop your face from scrunching up like that whenever someone mentions sprouts.”

  Stupid sprouts…

  “It was worth a shot.” I closed my eyes and let the Mimicry fall away, sloughing off me in a wash of chilly, syrupy magic. I probably could’ve winged it and protested that Nash hated sprouts as much as I did. But the truth was, I wanted to talk to her as me. I didn’t want to keep up the ruse, and she’d given me the perfect excuse to stand in front of her honestly, instead of pretending to be someone else.

  Huntress grumbled, calling me a moron in husky-speak. She was probably sending breaking news back to Nash at this very moment. He’d naturally freak out, but it wasn’t as if he could bust out and come after me to tell me how stupid I was being. And if he tried to ban me from another field trip because of this little hiccup, I’d just flash him some puppy-dog eyes of my own until he softened up.

  “Who’d have thought it’d be sprouts that gave me away? It’s not very Al Capone.” I resisted the impulse to run to her, even though the jig was up. Instead, I stood there like a lemon, trying to think of what to say next. There was so much I needed to get off my chest. Too much—to the point where I couldn’t pick up a single thread of conversation from my tangled mess of thoughts.

  She stayed sitting, equally frozen to the spot. “Why didn’t you just say it was you?”

  “I guess… I didn’t want to make things harder for you,” I said quietly. “And you looked so sad. Plus, I wasn’t sure how you felt about me right now, so I didn’t want to just launch in with ‘Ta-da! Guess who?!’ in case you didn’t feel up to seeing me. Which I wouldn’t have blamed you for. Things have gotten… weird.”

  “That’s putting it mildly.” She lowered her gaze, her smile disappearing. “But you never have to worry about me not wanting to see you, Finch. I only stayed behind because I thought it’d help, somehow, if I wasn’t around.”

  I cleared my throat. “You don’t need to stay away, not for my sake.”

  “Don’t I?” I barely heard her whisper the words.

  “No, you don’t, because I’m going to… uh.” I stopped, realizing that if I said I planned to get out of this, Lux might hear vicariously. “I’m going to get you all out of Atlantis, one way or another.” I jumped on the optimism train and hoped she understood that I was adding myself to the list of potential escapees. “As for me, there’s been a bit of a turn of events, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  Her head lifted slowly. “What do you mean?”

  This is going to sting…

  “Well, the thing is, Kaya’s got it into her head that Chaos brought me into her life for a reason. A load of fortune-cookie, horoscope nonsense, but she won’t listen when I try telling her that,” I rambled. “Anyway, she’s decided to announce our engagement tonight. An engagement I want absolutely zilch to do with, by the way.”

  Ryann got up and walked toward me, but I kept on yammering, desperate to say everything I wanted to say. “We’re trying to find a de
cent loophole. All I want is to get us out of here and forget Atlantis ever existed. Hell, I’d even eat a bowlful of your mother’s sprouts if it would save us from this crap-storm. I didn’t mean for any of this to—”

  My eyes flew wide as Ryann grasped my face in her hands and pressed her lips against mine, rendering me silent. She stood so close, her lips soft and firm all at once. My mind went into overdrive, my heart hammering out a samba. Nothing computed. My brain had melted out of my ears, leaving me as still as a statue.

  Get a grip! My brain rallied, having gathered itself from the mush her kiss had squelched it into. I grabbed her waist and pulled her even closer, my lips finally taking the hint and responding. Good timing, too, otherwise she might as well have been kissing a dead fish. There was nothing less sexy than kissing someone who was totally immobilized. Snow White had taught us all that.

  Man, did she feel good in my arms. I matched the slow rhythm of her mouth, and Atlantis faded away to nothingness. This was the kiss I’d been waiting forever for.

  All too soon, she broke away. “I understand, Finch. I don’t blame you for any of this, and I know we’re going to get out of here. There’s no way I’m giving you up to some Atlantean princess, even if I have to knock her out so we can make a run for it.”

  I blinked my eyes open. “I thought you might hate me.”

  “Did that seem like I hated you?” She smiled, and my heart exploded.

  “There might’ve been a hint of aggression, but maybe you were just sick of me droning on.” I grinned back, trying to be uber suave by pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Only, her hair was already all tucked behind her ears, so I just ended up making a useless circle with my fingertips. Still, nothing could ruin this for me. “I think I might need to kiss you again, just to make sure there’s no animosity.”

  I brushed my thumb across the apple of her cheek and leaned in. My lips caught hers, and this time, they knew exactly what to do. I was determined to make this the best damn kiss of her life, in case she had any regrets about letting Captain Canuck go.

  Atlantis disappeared again as I wrapped my arms around her and felt her hands slide up my chest, where her palms came to rest for a moment before making the ascent to my neck. My whole body came to life, every cell sending up fireworks that screamed, “FINALLY!”

  Our kiss deepened, my lips varying the pressure. Slow and sensual, with a bit of passionate pacing thrown in to keep things interesting. All the while, my hands explored—not too much, but just enough to commit the arch of her back, the curve of her waist, and the delicate line of her neck to memory. Her hands did the same, cupping my face and smoothing along my neck and running over my chest and across my shoulders. A mental map, so we’d never lose our way again.

  It was all I could do to catch a gasp of air as I delved deeper into our kiss, my fingertips in her hair. I became distantly aware of my Chaos going haywire, sparks of it jumping from my skin. That’d never happened before, but it showed how much this meant. Even my abilities were overwhelmed.

  Reluctantly, with one final press of my lips against hers, I managed to break away. All shaky and hopped up on adrenaline, I sucked in a deep breath. Exhilaration didn’t come close to describing the mayhem inside me right now. Freefalling from thirty thousand feet wouldn’t have felt nearly as breathtaking.

  “Wow,” I whispered.

  Huntress whined, drawing my attention. She lay flat on the ground with her paw over her eyes.

  “I think we traumatized her.” Ryann laughed, and it made my heart soar. If I could’ve bottled that sound, I would’ve.

  “She’ll get over it.” I leaned in and kissed Ryann’s forehead before taking a moment to just… look at her. All flushed and flustered and happy. This was the Ryann I always wanted to see. I didn’t want her to feel weighed down by anything. I just wanted to watch her smile like that, always.

  “You just keep doing what you’re doing, Finch,” she murmured.

  I arched an eyebrow. “The kissing, you mean?”

  She giggled. “Well, yes, but also the other stuff—this Kaya business, and us getting out of here. I have faith in you, Finch. I know you’ll do it. You’ve proven, time and time again, that there’s nothing you can’t do when you set your mind to it.”

  “I’m just sorry you got dragged into this mess.” My happy buzz was rapidly leaving the building.

  “Don’t be. I got myself dragged into this mess. It’s not your fault, so stop blaming yourself.” She smiled. “Besides, if I hadn’t come here, then we wouldn’t have kissed just now. I’d be on the surface, panicking about where you were and whether you were still alive, the way I was when you suddenly vanished after the Jubilee mine incident. I’d much rather be near you, no matter what the circumstances. I mean it.”

  “I wouldn’t have swapped this for anything.” I held her face in my hands and dipped my head, ready for another sweet, sweet kiss. My lips were seconds from making all our problems disappear, albeit temporarily, when Ryann’s eyes suddenly flashed white. I reeled back, as if I’d touched a naked flame.

  “Goodness, all these hormones racing around are making me feel rather nauseous.” Lux had popped up to say hello. Maybe I’d been too hasty when I’d said nothing could ruin this moment. Naturally, I’d forgotten about Ryann’s vapid little symbiote. “I hope you don’t mind; I had to take some air before I suffocated under the weight of this saccharine confessional.”

  I bit my tongue. “At least you didn’t try and trick me into smooching you this time.”

  “That doesn’t mean I was unable to enjoy a taste of our dear Ryann’s experience. It is always the most unexpected ones who ignite the greatest passion. Bravo, Finch. Your lips are not merely tools for ill-timed, poorly executed jokes.” Lux smiled coldly, making me miss Ryann even more.

  I glared at her. “Bit perverted, don’t you think?”

  “At least I let you have your moment together. I could have swooped in to stop it, but I thought you deserved some closure for this romantic little game the two of you have been playing.”

  I didn’t like her turn of phrase. “What do you mean, ‘closure’?”

  “For Ryann’s sake, this moment is all you can have.” Lux’s face hardened. “You must forget any thoughts of loopholes and escape, and go ahead with this engagement. If you care anything for Ryann, you will, and without hesitation.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” I snarled. “I do care about Ryann, which is exactly why I have to get us out of here, preferably unmarried. If you’d just step up and chuck Erebus into the center of the earth, like you said you would, then we could all go home happy. Kaya will marry someone else, you can get on with your life sans Erebus, and we can go on our way.”

  Lux laughed, and the sound made me shudder. “I cannot dispense with my husband until the right moment presents itself. Until then, I cannot intervene in this web that is being woven. If the Atlanteans find out I’m here, they will have me removed. And that will destroy Ryann.”

  “And what is the right moment?” I snapped.

  “It has not yet arrived.” She looked away, giving nothing away.

  “If you’d just friggin’ help us, then you wouldn’t have to worry about getting kicked out!” I was tired of her saying she’d punish Erebus, and then not actually getting off her ass and doing it.

  Lux’s eyes glinted. “I will not intervene, in any capacity, until I have seen my husband brought to his lowest ebb. I will not be satisfied until I watch the expression on his face when the woman he is desperately in love with marries another man. Only then will I act, in order to bring him even lower than he ever thought possible. He will spend eternity in the center of the earth, haunted by that memory—of seeing Kaya with another. That is the least I am owed after centuries of him doing as he pleases without consequence.”

  “You know what, I actually felt sorry for you when I found out what you’d been through, with the whole kid thing. But now… I just think you’re pathetic. Both o
f you. However, unlike you, I’ve got a love worth fighting for.” I held my ground. “And I’m not just going to give up and do what you say, no matter how nicely you ask.”

  Lux chuckled darkly. “I thought you might say that.” With a flick of her wrist, blinding strands of light started to pulsate beneath Ryann’s skin. It lit up the whole network of veins and capillaries, until I could see the inner workings of her body, as if she were being scanned at an airport. Her organs and bones were grim shadows in an orange haze, like the dark outlines on the back of eyelids closed against glaring sunlight.

  “What are you doing?” I rasped.

  “Inflicting pain, to show you that I can ask a lot less nicely if you continue to push me,” she replied. I saw Ryann’s lungs expanding and deflating rapidly, her heart beating way too fast. She really was in pain, but she couldn’t express it while Lux held the reins. She was in there, locked inside her own body, suffering in silence.

  “Stop!” I yelled. Huntress came to my side, her teeth bared. “Don’t hurt her!”

  Lux waved her hand, and the light faded, restoring Ryann to her normal, non-glowing self. “Does this mean I have your obedience?”

  “Yes,” I hissed. I was saying what I had to, for Ryann’s sake. This wasn’t over. We were getting out of here, and when we did, I was going to watch Lux and Erebus burn for what they’d done to me and my friends.

  “Then I look forward to your nuptials.” She smirked.

  I didn’t trust myself to speak. Instead, I took on Nash’s guise again and stormed out of the room, Huntress at my side.

  And I look forward to bringing you down…

  Ten

  Kaya

  I am doing all I can, my beloved city. I promise you faithfully, I am doing all I can. Vexed and with my heart palpitating to the point of arrhythmia from my visit to the Bestiary, I stalked back to my chambers. It wounded me to see my city suffer in this manner. No, that was not the correct term to encompass the breadth of feeling in my chest. Terror, that was what I felt. Rigid, insidious terror, for every individual who resided in the streets I cherished.