Chapter 48 Merrick
Chapter forty-eight
Merrick
Merrick paced the living room, muttering under his breath.
Esmeray had disappeared again and he was sick of her coming and going as she pleased without any of them knowing her whereabouts.
If something happened to her, they could all just kiss their lives goodbye. Adara would spit roast the lot of them.
And the audacity she had to flip him off before waning–gods, how did Keerian put up with her attitude?
He huffed, rubbing a hand through his rapidly growing beard.
From the dining room, he could hear Sparrow’s soft voice instructing and praising Lenna as she worked to project a memory from the Prism into their minds.
A twinge of frustration spiked in his blood.
Of course, Laurent was there with Sparrow, bonding over helping Lenna.
At this point, the only way Merrick felt he may even be blessed to take Sparrow to bed was if Laurent would be there, too.
The thought, supposed to irk him, rang hollow.
Would he be interested in Sparrow’s offer?
Merrick growled, storming over to the couch and plopping down, his wings rustling as irritation wracked up his spine. Maybe it wouldn’t even matter. The odds of them all coming out of the confrontation with Adara alive were slim to none.
Should he take Sparrow up on her offer now? Would this be his only chance? He teetered on the edge, his thoughts growing darker and darker. Offering himself to Sparrow, knowing Laurent had to build a portal over the next three days, was selfish. Fuck. Was he willing to take Sparrow up on her offer?
The blast of golden light flaring through the room pulled Merrick out of his brooding.
Esmeray appeared, panting heavily with that frustratingly wild gleam in her eye.
Her light tan breeches were covered in blood, and her nails were rapidly shrinking from razor sharp daggers back to normal, less deadly, points.
“Fun night?” Merrick asked dryly, as Esmeray doubled over, wheezing. “How many beings did you kill?”
“Fuck you–four.” She slashed Merrick a wicked grin before reaching into her pocket of space to pull out a full bottle of red wine.
“You seem more out of breath than you were at the waterfall,” Merrick challenged, crossing a leg over his knee, earning a sarcastic eye roll from the Queen.
“They were all very highly trained fae warriors from Adara’s private circle,” Esmeray admitted, pulling the cork out with her teeth and spitting the stopper onto the table. “It wasn’t a fair fight. They all attacked at the same time. It was good practice though.”
Merrick narrowed his eyes. “If you were fighting Adara’s warriors…I hazard to guess you just strolled into the Opal Kingdom, horns and all, to make a statement?”
“I had to pick up a package from an old acquaintance in Baubble,” Esmeray innocently corrected as she drank deeply from the bottle.
With a half swallow, half cough, she passed the bottle to Merrick.
“I wasn’t in the Palace. And I used an illusion of well, you actually, to pick it up. Oh, and do I have news.”
Esmeray filled Merrick in quickly as they passed the bottle back and forth.
Adara was indeed up to something sinister for the full moon celebration.
The townsfolk were confined to their homes unless they had royal blood.
Those who did had been forcibly ushered to the Opal Palace to stay until after the Soul Moon.
Queen Adara dispatched her entire standing army to patrol the closest towns, with a strict lockdown in place.
Apparently, Adara was no longer hiding her power, and the beings living in the towns surrounding the Palace were either terrified and trying to escape, or extremely thankful to have such a fearsome and powerful Queen Absolute.
There had been no mention of spell work from what Esmeray gleaned–the townsfolk were under the impression Adara feared Esmeray would try to usurp her rule on the night of Carra’s holy celebration.
And that the armies and lockdown were to protect the surrounding towns from the murderous Queen of Nothing.
“The ones that are scared–those could be allies.” Merrick pondered the new information, swirling the wine in the half-full bottle.
Esmeray hadn’t been keen on sharing the information with only him first, but he threatened to tell Sparrow that Esmeray got blood on the living room rug. So, she begrudgingly relented.
Esmeray rolled her shoulders and rubbed her neck, her black horns glimmering with the light from the stained-glass lamp propped next to her on a thick stack of books.
Merrick glanced quickly at her horns again.
He had never seen horns like hers before.
The curled horns with the deadly points never came up during any of his gargoyle lineage studies, but the beauty and cruelty that they embodied was mesmerizing.
The pointed ears in the center of the curl were especially individual.
While half fae, half gargoyle beings were not uncommon, they usually had a much smaller set of horns.
“Potential allies–or they think Adara and I are both evil, cut from the same cloth. And they’re trying to stay out of both our warpaths.”
She had snuck to her room and changed into clothes that were thankfully blood free, but Merrick could tell she was still riding the high of killing Adara’s loyal guards. “How did Adara’s warriors find you?” Merrick asked.
“I had just picked up a package from an old friend, and apparently, the neighbor of the fae male I visited decided to rat me out after he saw me cast an illusion. He found those four dipshits getting drunk at the nearby tavern and thought his loyalty would be rewarded if he told them I was in town.”
“I’m assuming it wasn’t.”
“No,” Esmeray scoffed, “the guards killed him immediately. They feared the consequences of Adara finding out that I slipped into town without her knowledge. Those bumblefucks came to find me… But I found them first. Two of the guards were stronger than I anticipated–fire magic–but they were still no match for me. Got my blood pumping though. I hate being burned. Even with my fast healing abilities, the new skin itches.” Esmeray leaned further into the couch, her black wings draped at her sides like a royal cape.
“You are bat shit crazy.” Merrick shook his head. “What was so important that you decided to wane to the Opal Kingdom?”
Esmeray, grinning like a fiend, reached into her pocket of space. With care, she pulled out a soft drawstring pouch. A small clinking sound made Merrick’s ears perk up as she shook the bag tantalizingly before opening it.
Six thin, gold bands, with six evenly spaced gems fell into her open palm.
“I figured we all needed an upgrade,” she announced, plucking one ring up to pass to Merrick.
Wide eyed, Merrick twisted the ring around the tip of his finger.
The six gems–a black onyx stone, a bright green emerald, a shiny ruby, a gold gem, a grey stone, and a purple amethyst were embedded into the band, each twinkling in their own snug casing.
“These are mind speak rings.” Merrick’s voice filled with wonder, thumbing the band between his fingers. Esmeray gave him a mischievous grin in return.
“I figured this would be easier than us all talking through the same ring. I am so tired of hearing you and Laurent silently bicker through yours. And you both do it so frequently, I think I have a burn mark on my chest from the damn thing heating up every two minutes.” She pulled Keerian’s ring out from the bodice of her white sweater, the ring zipping along the chain.
“Each gem is magically linked to one person. So, if you want to talk to Laurent only, touch the amethyst and only he will hear you.”
“Woah.” Merrick whistled low, thoroughly impressed. The rings Laurent, Keerian, and himself had cost each of their yearly salaries. These rings, with the ability to mind speak directly to one being or all of them through a system of jewels… The price would have been astronomical.
“I’m a Queen with no Kingdom, literally a Queen of Nothing. If I can’t spend my money on my friends, what should I spend it on? There’s only so many bottles of wine I can drink.” Esmeray shuffled through the pile of rings in her hand before finding the one that was made for her finger.
Merrick grinned, slipping his old ring off and his new one on. The bright gems sparkled. “Adara isn’t going to know what hit her.”
Esmeray chuckled, the sound both cruel and divine. “That, my friend, is the whole idea.”