Chapter 14
LACHLAN MACBETH
Elena’s wee hand in mine is like a balm to my bruised heart. Every moment spent with her is like water washing away the isolation and loneliness that was damn near all consuming. She’s like the rain washing away all the aches of my soul, and I’ll not take a second of it for granted.
The thought crosses my mind as we walk through the old villa, searching each room for Vivian, but so far there’s been no sign of her, nor anyone else for that matter. Not that I mind so much with Elena by my side.
We walk through the old vestibule, leading to the main bedrooms, as I point out old marble statues and artworks Vivian has dotted around the place, holding my key bearing cup carefully in my other grip.
Elena takes it all in stride, her gaze full of reverence as if we’re on an adventure, and I suppose we are.
Getting to spend any amount of time with her feels intoxicating. The time feels precious and stolen, the unraveling of her secrets and the quiet sound of her excitement leaves me breathless.
The position I’ve forced her into is less than desirable I know.
Most women would balk at having to come here at all, the house of an ex, and I half expected to be leveled with accusations at the least before we arrived.
Instead, Elena has only offered a calm presence and a steadfast loyalty that seems unwavering in its intensity.
“Thank you for coming with me. I mean to make it up to you once we leave here,” I tell her.
“Oh, I don’t mind. Who else can say they visited the Lady of the Lake while they were in England?” she says, amusement clear in the tone of her voice.
The idea that Vivian could be less than thrilled by mine and my mate’s visit isn’t a new one, but my instincts tell me it’ll be like every other supernatural encounter.
Generally, true mate bonds are held in high regard, and it’s usually a point of celebration as such an event is rare.
I highly doubt Vivian will be anything but cordial.
Besides, it’s been so long now, there’s no chance she’s not still put out by my not mating with her.
“Are you sure she’s home?” Elena asks, sounding uncertain.
“We should find out soon enough,” I mutter.
We pass through yet another large entranceway, this one leading to the main bedrooms below stairs in the southern wing, Vivian’s portion of the palace.
The villa is U-shaped, a bathhouse of sorts is seated at the outside courtyard, with the building wrapping lazily around it in stone columns placed like sentries.
The inner workings of the house itself are made up of the bath where my chest was hidden, the main villa, bathhouse, and northern and southern wings respectively.
“This place is huge,” I hear her mutter under her breath.
It is big. A large place built to keep Vivian occupied and in a state of relaxation, and the whole thing is practically humming with her power.
My hand tightens on Elena’s as we approach the main bedroom, a massive chamber I once frequented years ago, our footsteps are silenced by large earthen rugs underfoot as we make our way deeper inside the villa. Just a bit further, I think to myself.
Then we can be on our way, gods be good.
I don’t want or need Elena inside this place for any length of time. I’ve long suspected Vivian pushed her magic throughout her home, and now, I know she does.
The relaxant in the air is subtle, but I can sense it all the same. The novelty of such a thing registers and I grin a bit to myself. It seems Vivian’s plan to keep me here backfired in a big way.
Because of my long stay at Draculas’ castle, held there by a mixture of Vivian and Odette’s magic, I can feel the threads of her magic, something I shouldn’t be able to do, which may come in handy.
“Hello?”
I hear a man’s voice call out, and Elena jolts at my side.
She gasps. Her hand jerks from mine as we reach the bedchambers, and I turn to find out why.
Confusion washes over me as I gaze at a man tethered to one of the large pillars situated just inside the entryway, his body completely uncovered and bare except for the long length of his brown and gray-streaked hair.
The soft sound of music reaches my ears as he turns his handsome face to smile down at us.
“Oh, hello,” he says. He waves one hand awkwardly, manacled as it is to the wall, and a sense of familiarity washes over me as I take in his long beard and the widows peak in his hairline.
“Merlin?” I ask, as recognition slides across my senses.
His head pulls awkwardly from the wall as he struggles to peer closer, angling down to squint at me. “Lachlan, is that you?” he asks, his tone almost giddy with joy.
“What are you doing up there?” I ask.
Sidling next to Elena, who’s doing a good job of keeping her face covered, I glance up at the irons wrapped around the man’s wrist holding him to the pillar, and wonder why he’s not removed them yet.
Merlin’s magic is all-powerful, and there are few whose magic could rival his magic.
Vivian herself even studied under him for a time.
“Oh you know how it is, hanging around until Vivian returns. She somehow got a hold of these shackles a few years back I can’t unlock, and I’ve been letting her have her fun for a time. How are you, old chap? Heard you ran into a spot of bad luck after leaving us,” he says.
A pull of magic, and a blue robe appears seemingly from nowhere to cover his nakedness, though he doesn’t move from the wall.
“Och, it’s good to see you Merlin.” I grin.
“You know the Merlin?” Elena squeaks.
“Know him?” I scoff. “He still owes me twenty silver pieces for our last game of vingt-et-un, and here he is tied to a pole playing house.”
“Do pardon the mess,” he murmurs, his eyes twinkling with unbothered mischief as he casually crosses his legs at the ankles.
Elena quakes a bit at my side and I glance around noticing what I’ve been too late to realize. Vivian and Merlin have been doing much more than just playing.
A large bed sits in one corner of the room, along with a large chaise lounge, and matching couch. If not for the abundance of sexual brick and brack all over the place, it’s a bit sparse.
“Wockety shockety shibari shack, fold up the velvet, put the toys in the sack. Spanking benches, whips and all, shrink yourselves down to a size very small,” Merlin says, rolling his index fingers back and forth as he sings his ditty.
A sardonic smile lifts his lips as all manner of adult pleasure devices float through the air, reducing themselves in size to retire into a large green sack on the floor beneath his feet, just as he bade them to do.
All while he stays plastered and locked to the wall.
I smile to myself as Elena makes an odd noise, and pride swells in my chest when her hand reaches for mine and squeezes tight.
“What brings you two on your visit here?” Merlin asks.
Elena’s touch is a soft reminder of what’s at stake as I struggle with how to begin to tell him why I’m here. “I—”
“We need the Lady of the Lake to fix his trident, so he can go home,” Elena supplies for me, and nudges me to show him the cup.
I do just that and nod down at her, happy to let her take the lead, as I stroke her wee fingers gently.
“Indeed, she should be able to fix that right up for you,” Merlin says, resting his head back against the stone after getting a look at my trident. “Here she comes now.”
Footsteps echo against the stone as Vivian glides into the chamber, balancing a tray with two goblets of wine.
She’s dressed in her usual ethereal garb that shimmers across her body, her dark brown hair flowing down her back and a see-through toga that drapes across her like a second skin.
This one a bright green color that brings out the light silvery blue in her eyes.
She pauses as if taking in the scene, and a delighted grin effuses her face rather than anger.
“Oh, Merlin, you didn’t warn me we had guests,” she purrs.
“Lachlan, is that you?” She glides over and pats my arm playfully before sitting the tray down on a nearby table.
“And you’ve mated at last,” she announces, her attention on Elena.
“I have. This is Elena,” I say, tugging Elena to me.
Elena seems to be delighted to meet Vivian and stares up at her as if awestruck. She holds still under the sea witch’s gaze but seems content to do so, not scared at all.
“You must absolutely stay for dinner. We have so much to catch up on, and the stars are aligned for a marvelous evening,” she says. Another set of golden goblets appear and she begins to fill them.
“That sounds like a brilliant time Vivian, but we desperately need your help.”
I raise my hands, pulling a floating translucent bubble around the small key from the cup and wait as it elongates and fashions itself into my old trident.
Vivian pauses mid-pour, her gaze locking onto the pulsing metal fractures of my house key. The playful smile vanishes from her face, replaced by a nostalgic grin as she no doubt remembers helping me make the weapon.
Once long ago, I came to her for help in making a trident that would help me harness my power and be used like a conduit if I ever needed, before she broke it in her fit of outrage. Not that I regret my choice for a moment.
I take Elena’s hand in mine again, just in case we need to make a quick getaway, and wait to see what the sea witch makes of my request.
“Well, would you look at that,” Vivian purrs, a low chuckle rippling through her voice as she looks up at me. “Three hundred years and you bring me broken toys instead of gifts.”
“I’d say you owe him a repair dear heart, considering you’re the one who snapped the sea god’s prong in the first place,” Merlin offers.
“It wouldn’t have been broken at all, if she hadn’t been trying to impale me for refusing to stay here,” I remind them.
“I was trying to save you from yourself,” Vivian shoots back, crossing her arms with a defensive toss of her dark-colored hair. “You were ready to throw away our friendship and run off into the wilderness, over a possible fated mate. No offense dear, I truly am happy he found you,” she snaps.
“None taken,” Elena mutters as if in a daze.
“I was unwilling to mate with anyone but my fated mate,” I snap, gesturing wildly at Elena and the broken trident. “As is my right.”
“And look how that turned out, with you here yet again asking for help,” Vivian scoffs, though a warm sentimental smirk betrays her, like she can’t quite be angry with me.
Merlin lets out a loud cackle from overhead, reminding us all of how he still hangs there.
“Ugh, get down from there already. It’s been plenty years enough,” Vivian bites out, and with a wave of her hand at Merlin, the shackles on his wrists let go.
“Oww, you could have warned me,” he whines, as he collapses to the floor in a heap.
Vivian’s gaze rolls to the heavens. “Why didn’t you stop yourself before you hit the floor then?” she asks, as if him being hurt is his fault.
“I’ve been in that spot for more than a century. I’m rusty,” Merlin states. He stretches to and fro, and his spine pops and cracks like he’s been there a very long time.
“Oh, do hush. You loved every minute of it,” she barks out at him. The sea witch steps back toward a chaise lounge, casually dropping her weight onto the cushions, Merlin moving to sit beside her.
She reaches out, lazily running her fingers though his silver hair messily before turning back to me, her gaze sharp. “You spent three hundred years chasing a fated prophecy, while Merlin and I realized exactly what we were missing the second you left.”
Merlin leans into her touch with a smug, cat-like expression on his face, and raises a goblet.
“She’s right, mate. I found her yelling and in a pique of fury at your leaving.
She called me to come after you, but when you ran off to find your destiny, you left me with the girl of my dreams. So really, I should thank you for being so stubborn.
She’s a hard bird to toss once she’s of a mind to keep you. As you see.”
“Please sit and get comfortable. The both of you, let me see how I can help,” Vivian offers, her cheeks red from Merlin’s explanation.
We both gingerly sit, and I rest the trident on the side of the matching couch that appears with her magic, trying to be patient.
I glance between them, the tension melting from my shoulders as a genuine smile breaks across my lips.
In all my years, I had an inkling Merlin and her bickering hid a deeper entendre.
We’ve all known each other for years, but they never did get along.
Or so I thought. “It’s about bloody time.
You idiots have been dancing around each other for centuries, haven’t you. ”
Vivian laughs, the sharp edge of the teasing leading into cheerfulness, looking much younger than her years.
Merlin clears his throat and gestures at my trident, reminding her of why we’re here.
“Fine, give me the weapon,” she says, raising off the couch to pick up the heavy pulsing metal. “I broke it, so I suppose I should fix it, though it will take some time to reinforce the weld though, weeks perhaps.”
I wonder what game she’s playing at, with her easy response.
Even if it does take weeks before I can use the trident again, she’s not usually so helpful without a cause.
It’s never wise to do business with any water spirit without items to haggle, which is why I made to grab the treasures I left here so long ago, but Vivian is acting like the old terms need not apply.
A flash of magic, and the trident drifts up into the air, and I wait to see what she does next.
Either way, I’ll be ready with a few surprises of my own if Vivian decides to try and keep us.
I’ll not let anything stand in the way of Elena’s happiness, and I mean to take and keep her as far away from Vivian’s clutches as I can.
Just as soon as my trident is mended, we can be on our way, gods be good.