Page 28 of My Haven
She nodded.
Bryok stood and stretched. “It shouldn’t take me long.”
Marshall held up his hand. “One moment. If the alliance is broken, can you place portals?”
Meryn just waved her hand back and forth in front of her face. “To-may-to, to-mah-to. In this instance, I’ll ask for forgiveness, not permission. Besides, I hear they’re not tech savvy, so they won’t even know. Pretend you didn’t hear any of this Uncle Marsh.”
His father’s eyes bugged slightly, then he frowned. “Uncle Marsh?”
Caiden smiled. Being called ‘Uncle Marsh’ superseded the placement of unauthorized portals.
Meryn tapped her mouth with her fingers. “No good?” She turned to Lily. “I call you Auntie like my other Auntie, but with my other uncle I say Uncle Bren.”
His mother laughed. “I think Uncle Marsh sounds fine.”
Marshall looked at her with a sour expression. “You would. She is a mini version of you.”
“She is the best gift my sister could have left me,” Lily said, winking at Meryn.
Caiden noticed that Bryok had slipped away while his father was discussing his new name. He had a feeling nothing except an order from their commander could have dissuaded him.
“Caiden, is there a room I can use here to set up some routers?” Meryn asked.
Tristan stood. “I can show you.”
Nigel and Neil also stood. “We’ve got it Meryn. Same set up as Noctem Falls?”
“Yup. This will be the second pillar city we’ve set up wi-fi for.” She turned to Aiden. “Shouldn’t I get paid for this?”
Aiden smiled. “They technically haven’t asked you to do it, my love.”
She scowled. “Later, after we’ve killed all the douchebags, I’ll send them a bill.”
Aiden gave her a sly look. “Did you charge Magnus?”
She shook her head. “Why would I charge the man buying me a rocket launcher?”
Aiden’s expression snapped to a frown. “You said you were asking for pepper gel instead.”
“Actually, I asked for both.”
“We said no explosives, you promised.”
“Bullets are kinda like small explosions and you’re okay with my sniper rifle,” she countered.
His commander looked around the room for some small measure of support. Lily took pity on him. “Meryn, do you really need to shoot rockets? I thought you wanted to learn magic?”
Around the room, Kendrick, Aiden and Thane all said, ‘No!’ at the same time.
Meryn waved around the room. “I am always vetoed.”
Lily smiled sweetly. “Once you find Abrielle, if you want to learn, she will teach you.”
Thane groaned. “She’s right. Mother will absolutely adore Meryn and see her as a challenge.”
“Why would I be a challenge?” Meryn asked.
Thane rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes cut to Aiden before he replied. “Meryn, your premonition and empathy are too strong for you not to be able to do basic magic.”
