Chapter 21 Merrick
Merrick
“Kerym, no!”
Pellie’s scream had both Merrick and Lessia freeze. Soria, who’d walked ahead of Lessia, even dropped the books in her arms, dust flying around her as she turned and sprinted to where her sister just halted before Kerym.
Turning his own body entirely to the aisle beside them, Merrick cursed.
Even with the shelves and the dusty books that lined them covering parts of Kerym’s body, it was clear that it wasn’t voluntary how still the raven-haired Fae stood, how his hands had frozen with his fingers bent by his side as if he’d tried to curl them before something turned his body to ice.
“His eyes,” Lessia breathed as she came up beside Merrick.
“Fuck,” Merrick swore again.
Because Lessia was right. Kerym’s eyes looked frighteningly similar to how Lessia’s had appeared on that ship when they first encountered the wyverns; the cerulean blue that usually glittered in his face was now pure white, almost glowing as he stared unseeing ahead.
Not wasting another second, Merrick folded Lessia’s hand into his own and dragged her to where both Pellie and Soria now stood, their faces almost as pale as the Fae warrior’s eyes.
It was quiet for a moment, apart from the soft rustling of pages from the books Soria had dropped on the floor, played with by some strange breeze that felt not of this world.
Merrick wanted to curse again at the damn helplessness he felt staring at Kerym.
Something else joined the horrid feeling, something creeping under his skin, twisting deep in his chest with a choking foreboding.
He’d trained for fucking centuries, and still…
nothing could have prepared him for Lessia’s plea when she spoke his name.
“Merrick?”
Even before he turned to her, fear thickened his throat. Her arm—the one the stone had merged with—glowed in the dim library, and light was breaking through her amber eyes like the sun shining through a dirty window, streams of it brightening her blanched face.
His grip on her firmed before he could stop himself, and that foreboding—the strange otherness—spread. He didn’t need the reflection of his eyes in Lessia’s to know light seeped from his silver swirls too.
“It’s in all of you,” Pellie whispered.
Lessia’s arm shone brighter at that, and Merrick wasn’t sure whether he was about to take her and get the fuck out or swear or just continue staring, when Kerym’s mouth opened.
“My children.”
The voice wasn’t even close to his friend’s.
If it was a voice at all.
It echoed around the room, yet at the same time sounded so quiet that Merrick wasn’t sure if it had come from his friend or merely existed in his mind.
Soria and Pellie fell to their knees on the stone floor, their heads bent so far their chins rested on their chests as they bowed before Kerym—or whatever had possessed his body.
“Who are you?” Lessia asked, her voice filled with wonder as her gaze drew from her arm to Merrick and back again. “Or what are you?”
Kerym’s face turned toward them, and even though the movement was slow, all the muscles in Merrick’s body coiled, his nerves sparking with such a strong sense of threat that every limb twitched.
A small smile spread across Kerym’s face. “You guard her well, Merrick Morshold. We knew you would.”
He could feel it. The pride. The respect. The… love this… thing… had for him.
But he didn’t care. The foreign sensation blared within him, and he cast a glance at the door they’d left open, wondering how fast this thing could move.
Lessia’s blinking at him made him believe she felt it, too, and he was about to speak when a soft hand on his cheek stopped him.
Whipping his head to the side, Merrick expected to find his mother’s loving touch, but there was nothing there, and he couldn’t help but flash his teeth at the shadows sweeping across the floor.
“To your question, Queen of Death… I am everything and nothing. I’m earth and sky and wind and water. I’m life and death and darkness and light. I’m you and the Guardian of Death and dear Kerym. I’m evil and good and everything in between.”
“Magic,” Soria breathed. “You’re magic.”
Kerym’s soft face turned her way. “Rise, guardians. You do not bow to me. You’re my equals, as it was always meant to be. Keepers of balance. The ones protecting every world from those who threaten it.”
Pellie and Soria rose as one at the command, their faces filled with such awe that Merrick thought that must be what his people had looked like when the gods walked this realm and they still worshipped them.
Kerym’s face snapped his way, and for the first time, something dark glimmered in the light pouring out of his eyes, making Lessia and Merrick take a step toward each other at the same time.
“The gods…” The thing in Kerym almost spat the last word. “They are no deities. They are but a threat that must be quelled, one that has roamed free for far too long.”
“What do you mean?” The words left Merrick before he could stop himself, but he could feel the same question echoing within Lessia, so he continued staring at the strange version of his friend.
“The gods, as you call them, were Fae. Strong Fae, but Fae all the same.” Kerym’s glowing eyes left Merrick’s to land on Lessia, and while the softness of his expression should have calmed Merrick, it only made him more apprehensive.
There was… sorrow in the lines of Kerym’s face.
“Queen of Death. Your life hasn’t been an easy one. And the paths you now face won’t be either. You will have to make impossible choices, child. Ones I don’t envy you, but that are required for one with such power.”
Kerym’s gaze moved back to Merrick’s for a moment.
“Your mate was right when he once told you magic is but a power to be molded by its wielder. It’s a gift from your soul.
From the earth. From darkness and light.
From the source you need. A gift that you should cherish and respect.
Don’t fear it, child.” Kerym’s mouth thinned into a line before he continued.
“The ones you call gods warped what was meant as a blessing. They took more than they were allowed. They abused the balance, shifting it into their favor, playing with the lives of others.”
“How?” Soria whispered. “How could they do that?”
“That I won’t speak of.” That eerie voice remained gentle as it directed the response to the witch. “Such actions shall never be repeated. Never learned. Never imitated.”
“Is… is that why I came back?” Lessia asked, stepping even closer to Merrick, until her hammering heart beat against his chest. “Is that why Merrick could bring me back from death?”
Kerym nodded. “When the balance of the world hangs by a thread, the veiled queens shall rise. The ones who understand the power of a name and abandon it all the same. The ones who’ve learned that sacrifice is necessary.
The ones who are willing to do whatever they can in the name of love.
Because love… it’s the purest form of magic.
And only those who’ve truly felt it—who’ve understood that love can ruin or sustain—will be able to save their worlds. ”
Merrick’s mind raced with all this new information, but even though a million questions flickered through his thoughts, there was one—
“What you search for, Guardian of Death… it doesn’t exist in Havlands yet.” The soft smile on Kerym’s face faded with each slowing thump of Merrick’s cracking heart. “No queen may rule alone. Like earth needs water, like darkness needs light, a queen needs her mirror—the life to her death.”
“She needs her equal,” Pellie said slowly. “She needs the one ‘who clings to life’ like she needs the one who came from death. If not… neither shall live.”
The silence was deafening.
“How much time do we have?” Merrick demanded, taking a step toward his friend and ignoring Soria’s and Pellie’s outraged hisses at his tone.
“Not long,” Kerym responded, apparently oblivious to rage rushing through the Death Whisperer’s veins.
“This world is more broken than I thought. More fragmented. It’s…
it’s not how it was supposed to be. I wish I could give you more time.
But… you should follow your instincts, Merrick.
And so should you, Elessia. They’ve led you here—they’ll lead you onto the right path. ”
Merrick ground his teeth, the hand not holding Lessia’s moving to his chest and clenching the letters there. He’d clung to a small hope that they wouldn’t be needed, but the urgency echoing in him told him it had been in vain.
His eyes collided with Lessia’s sad ones, and somehow, he knew what this wonderful, selfless creature would ask next.
“What will happen to them? To the souls?” Lessia asked. “When… If…”
Merrick closed his eyes even though the love of his fucking life didn’t finish that sentence. He’d asked himself the same question several times—what would happen to the barrier, to the souls, when he died. But not because he was worried about them.
Not even now. Not even knowing his parents were amongst them could he care.
Because the only thing that mattered to him now had a tear sliding down her face, and not because she was dying. Because he and Lessia were dying. He could hear it in that thing’s tone.
“They go where you go. Like they always have,” Kerym responded, but it wasn’t the vague fucking response that had Merrick’s eyelids fly open.
It was Soria and Pellie’s gasp.
It was the hand on his cheek.
It was the presence he could feel all around him.
All around them were those souls again—leaning against shelves, sitting atop the tables spread out, standing beside them—their faces soft, their whispers gentle, and closest to him…
his parents. Thissian holding hands with…
Tears sprang in Merrick’s eyes when he realized Thissian’s mate beamed at him.
Even seeing their kind eyes, worry knitted in his gut, and he was about to tug on the magic when he realized…
Merrick’s eyes found Lessia’s again, and there was no tiredness in her amber ones, no blood snaking down her nose, and so he turned to Kerym once more.
“I will give you a few minutes with them. It’s… it’s what I can offer you,” Kerym said softly, and fuck, it cracked open Merrick’s heart because he understood what the despair breaking through the words was for.
This was an offer to say goodbye.
Merrick swallowed as Kerym spoke again, his eyes throwing their brightness around as they caught each gaze before him. “Trust the pull in your guts. The reflections don’t lie, even if they may twist the truth sometimes.”
With that, the light faded from both Kerym’s eyes and Lessia’s arm, and Merrick knew what he needed to do. His fingers twitched with the pressing need, but he tried to push it away when a smile broke free on Lessia’s face as she faced Thissian, who’d walked up to his brother.
Time. He’d promised her time, Merrick reminded himself as Kerym blinked.
No need to throw her over his shoulder and run this second.
He could give her a few minutes.
Maybe.
“Brother?” Kerym’s voice was hoarse, and it wasn’t only his blue eyes that filled with tears as Thissian smiled and responded, “I’m here.”
A sob wove its way through Lessia’s throat, and Merrick instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulders. But it wasn’t enough when more sobs shook her body, so he pulled her entirely against his chest, leaning his chin on her shoulder as they watched the twins stare at each other.
“Are you real?” Kerym asked, swallowing as his voice shook.
“It’s me,” Thissian said. “I’m real and I’m in the right place and I’m so proud of you, brother. You’re so strong—so much stronger than I thought you were.”
Kerym’s face crumpled, and the witches were immediately by his side, Pellie winding an arm around his waist to keep him up.
“I miss you,” Kerym croaked. “I miss you all the time.”
“I’m always here.” Thissian just smiled, pulling his mate closer. “As long as Merrick and Lessia are alive, I will be here. And even when they aren’t”—Thissian shot Merrick an apologetic glance—“I’ll be in your heart. Always.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Merrick didn’t like the sound of that. He actually fucking hated the sound of that.
A world without Lessia—
“Merrick.” His mother’s voice was low, and Merrick held on to Lessia as if his life depended on it when his parents faced them.
“We don’t have time. But we’re so proud of you.
Everyone here is. We… we stayed for a reason.
We stayed to help you both. And now we’ll stay away until we can’t. Everyone here is rooting for you.”
“We believe in you,” his father added. “You’ve done so well. Both of you.”
Their images started to flicker, and Merrick vaguely heard Thissian tell Kerym he loved him as his parents smiled at him.
“Trust your instincts, my boy. And Lessia…” His mother smiled at his mate. “Trust in your love. Trust that light will break through the darkness. Trust that even in the darkest times, just one ember might light up the entire world.”
Then their faces disappeared, together with all the souls around them, and a crushing silence settled over the group, every person in the room just staring at each other until a soldier strolled into the library and declared that dinner was served.