Page 48 of Fates Fulfilled
Mertha was gone? How could she be gone? She was just here. Lex had never witnessed anyone die, and it was as horrible as she’d imagined it to be.
She stepped closer and gently rested her hand on Mertha’s ankle, closing her eyes.
A willowy strand of energy weaved out. Not something Lex could see or feel with regular senses, but she sensed it just the same. Her eyes flew open, and she stared at Mertha.
Mertha’s chest rose. Infinitesimally, but enough that Lex leaned over the woman, waiting on bated breath for it to rise again.
Her husband had leaned closer too, as though he sensed the energy as well.
Mertha’s eyes blinked open at the same time her arm rose and she flattened her palm to Lex’s head.
“Aaah!” Lex cried out as a pulse of energy burst through her, lighting up the room and what felt like Lex’s insides. She flew backward, landing hard on the stone floor.
Garrin ran over to Lex, and Zirel returned to Mertha, who was utterly still now.
Mertha’s magic and life were gone. Lex knew—because Mertha had just pushed the last of her energy through Lex.
Along with her knowledge.
20
Lex cradled her head with her palms, attempting to keep her brain from exploding with information overload.
“Are you okay?” Garrin said. “What happened?”
Lex winced. “Head hurts.”
She couldn’t explain what Mertha had done because she didn’t know. But the old woman had most certainly done something.
Lex’s brain was firing on all cylinders, as though every neuron worked at once, making connections Lex couldn’t track. And some that she could.
She’d been here before. To Dark Kingdom. Memories swept through her mind of running through a snow-filled village on a sunny day. Being served food at a table with Jas and his family, though Lex had never met them before. Only she had. Many times. She just couldn’t remember it until now.
And it wasn’t only a few memories of her childhood that were returned to her, but several of Mertha’s memories too. Lex processed the images of her past with ease, but Mertha’s memories came in pieces, like a skipping record.
“What did Mertha mean when she said your father was why we are here?” If Lex could figure out Mertha’s purpose in sending the information shock wave through her, maybe she could make sense of the visuals filling her head.
“I imagine she blames my father for why we are stuck in Dark Kingdom,” Garrin said. “And the truth that has long been hidden.”
“You trust Mertha?” she asked.
He gave a curt nod. So even Garrin was disturbed by all that had been discovered this day.
“Will you be all right for a moment?” he asked.
Lex nodded, and Garrin rose and spoke quietly with Mertha’s husband.
After a moment, he returned to Lex and helped her stand, placing his arm around her waist. They made their way through the village and back to Garrin’s court through back doors of the castle, if there were back doors in a castle. But Garrin didn’t take Lex to her room. He took her someplace farther away, with Zirel following quietly behind.
“Is this your bedroom?” she said as they entered a massive chamber with two rooms just beyond, one that looked like the room she’d hidden in earlier and another that held the biggest bed she’d ever seen. And, of course, her first thought was of Garrin taking women to the bed that was large enough to sleep four. “I don’t want to be here.”
He’d admitted he felt the same pull for her that she did for him. But if they both wanted intimacy, what was to stop them from being intimate? And if they didn’t stop, what would become of her? Would she leave this place with a broken heart? She certainly didn’t see Garrin leaving Dark Kingdom and his court to be with her in the Earth realm.
His eyebrows drew together. “It is safe, Lex. We can talk here.”
She shook her throbbing head, not caring that Zirel was listening. “You’ve been here with them.”
“With whom?” He looked confused.
