Page 31 of The Dark Rises
“They won’t leave her the fuck alone,” Vargas grumbles.
She waves a hand to shush him, and understanding crosses Meri’s face when she realizes the light Fae have been asking for Solandis to return and be their queen.
Her hand reaches out to grab Solandis’. “Don’t worry, the crown will choose the right person. You would be the perfect queen, but we both know your heart isn’t in it.”
Solandis sags slightly in relief. “It’s not. I don’t want it to choose me, but who else is left?”
Rivan steps forward, and everyone stops talking.
“This is Rivan, my friend,” Meri informs them, looking sadly at Rivan.
He immediately looks away, and it takes everything I have not to knock some sense into him. I glance over at Cormal and see his narrowed eyes locked on Rivan.
Meri darts a glance at Arden.
“Why don’t Valerian and I show you around? We’ve got pretty much anything you need here. Food, fantastic rooftop…” Arden suggests, stepping in to save Meri. Her voice trails off when Rivan lifts a hand.
“Do you have a training facility?” he asks her.
Solandis, along with the rest of the cadre, groan at his question, but Vargas and Arden light up.
“State of the art,” Arden says in a singsong voice. “And it changes based on whatever you need. But the best part… it comes with trained warriors who will kick your ass every day.” She waves a hand at Vargas, the cadre, and herself. “Want to see it?”
Rivan nods, and Vargas claps him on the back. The three of them head off to see the room that’s going to be Rivan’s salvation. I eye the glee in Arden’s and Vargas’ faces. He may regret asking them for help.
Solandis turns back to us. “I heard Brixton escaped and is vowing the usual vengeance.”
Cormal rolls his eyes. “Good word travels fast. Your sources didn’t happen to say where the bastard is hiding, did they?”
Solandis’ twinkling laugh fills the hall. “No, but if I find out, I’ll let you know.” Surprisingly, there’s a murderous glint in her eye that tells me she’d gladly kill him herself. Good. She frowns. “I also heard the island woke up.”
I scowl, not liking the fact myself. As if we needed another problem added to our plates. “If I’d have known the origin of Meri’s runes was Avalon, I wouldn’t have let her step foot on the land.”
The repercussions could be severe. Old magic has a sentience not present in modern magic. My eyes are drawn to the walls of The Abbey, brimming with the magic flowing inside them as if they’re alive. Case in point.
Meri’s eyes dart between the two of us. “Why does it matter?”
“Old magic doesn’t follow the same rules,” I explain to her. “It doesn’t need someone to wield it. It has a will of its own. But it’s wild and untempered by control or a conscience, which means it’s omnipotent. Avalon magic only listens to the descendants of Avalon. There are too few of them left to maintain its balance.”
Turquoise eyes look at me suspiciously. “You seem to know a lot about it.”
“My father told me the stories,” I tell Solandis. Needing to get off this subject, I look at Cormal. “Where are we going first?”
He raises an eyebrow at Meri. “Your call.”
Her nose scrunches up as she thinks. “Hiemal. We spent an entire winter there. It was wonderful.”
Cormal’s mouth quirks up as if she said something that pleased him.
“Is it a nice place?” I ask, trying to understand why they’re happy.
Meri snorts. “It has subzero temperatures and is covered with ice, but thankfully, Cormal found us some gear.”
And she happily lived there an entire winter. Meri rarely talks about her childhood. All I know is she lived in The Underworld with her guardian Leandra. I have a feeling this is going to give me a rare inside look into her past. One she has never let anyone see except Cormal.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MERI
