Page 36 of Kings and Monsters

"And if it weren't for me being an ass, you wouldn't have ever been a king."

"An occupation I never wanted and I'm glad to be relieved of now," Arthur countered hotly. "Rosa, your cousin is intolerable at the moment. Can you tell me a story instead?"

Merlin made a sarcastic sound in the back of his throat and rolled his eyes at them.

"What story would you like?" Rosa asked, incapable of turning Arthur down when he fixed his stormy eyes on her.

"You did say you'd tell me what an Outlander is," Arthur said, and Merlin choked on his cigarette smoke as he laughed.

"Listen closely, my king!" Rosa exclaimed, dramatically flicking her middle fingers up at Merlin at the same time. "And I will tell you the legend of the great Scottish hero, Jamie Fraser."

As they walked, Rosa talked. Arthur listened attentively as she rehashed the plot ofOutlander, and only interrupted when he was unsure of historical or political events.

Within an hour, the forest around them changed, growing darker and more overgrown with each step. An itching began in between Rosa's shoulder blades, a tingling of tense watchfulness pressing in on her.

"Am I the only one who is feeling a bit?—"

"Yes," Merlin snapped, giving her a meaningfulshut uplook. "I love these trees. This is by far the most beautiful forest I have seen in the Aos Si. Wouldn't you agree, Rosa?"

"Oh…oh, yes. I'll have to bring our father, King Bleddyn Seren Du back here to admire it," she fumbled, and the tension in the air eased ever so slightly.

What the Hell?She mouthed silently at Merlin.

Later, he replied. He held out the map, tracing a line to a red circle. They weren't too far away, but the closer they got to the temple, the stronger the aura of danger grew.

"It's like it's beaming a big 'Fuck off, you are not welcome here' signal," she whispered.

"This part of the forest belongs to Gwyn and the Hunt," Merlin said, looking around him at the moving shadows. "It's trying to scare people off in order to protect the temple."

"But wouldn't Gwyn want people to find it so they could pay him homage?" Arthur asked.

"He might not want to risk it with the Autumn Queen's soldiers always on a rampage." Merlin pulled a bar of black metal from his pack, and it took a moment for Rosa to recognize it as a torch from the throne room.

"Did you steal that?" she demanded.

"I borrowed it. I wasn't going to be stupid enough to burn the smallest of sticks in this forest." Merlin pulled out his lighter, and a flame sprang to life, chasing the creeping shadows away from them. "Arthur? Do you remember that song you and the lads used to sing before going hunting?"

"Aye, good idea, Merlin." Arthur started to sing in a language that sounded to Rosa's ears like a complicated mixture of Gaelic and Welsh.

"It's a song to get Gwyn's blessing for a hunt," Merlin explained to Rosa before he joined in, his beautiful lilting voice making her heart pound and hair stand on end. Whether Merlin knew it or not, magic poured out through his song. She could feel it reaching out to her. Rosa didn't know the words to the song, but she focused and gently pushed her power out to join him, offering it up to the forest and the god who ruled it.

The trees leaned back from where they had been encroaching around them. In the distance, Rosa spotted a dilapidated structure of stone and wood.

"Look, there it is," she pointed.

"I can't see it," Arthur said, moving behind her so she could see where she was pointing. The building looked organic, roots and tree branches supporting the structure, but it was right in front of them.

"It's there," Rosa insisted. "Can you see it, Merlin?"

He shook his head. "Lead us to it, Rosa. There is a glamour at work here, and for some reason, it chooses only to reveal it to you."

"It's because I'm so pure of heart," she insisted.

"I doubt it," Merlin said. "More like whatever happened with Gwyn when you were a child made it so you could see through his glamour. A dangerous trick to have."

"He doesn't have to know," Rosa said, her stomach doing an odd flipping the closer they stepped to the temple.

Merlin and Arthur followed her off the road and into the trees. Merlin took hold of her back and Arthur grabbed his.

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