Chapter Ten
MEYER WASN’T SURPRISED when they stepped into the castle to find chaos.
Emory had yelled loud enough that everyone had heard him, including the humans who lived there.
Marlow’s son Jason looked like he was about to bounce off the walls.
He was standing next to his father, who was talking to Jarvis.
Matthias, Parker’s best friend, was wringing his hands together as he and Ansley talked.
Even Graham was there, looking slightly green.
He was probably thinking about his brother and the fact that he was going to have to make a choice.
Graham had already made his, but Simon was still working with Carlyle.
Meyer suspected he’d made his choice, too, but Graham was probably hoping for his brother to change his mind.
He didn’t want to lose him. Meyer suspected that he already had.
They all agreed to have this meeting in the dining room, so they headed there.
Marlow had to fight with Jason because he wasn’t allowed inside, but Matthias glared at Parker until his friend could even consider trying to kick him out.
Meyer didn’t blame him.
Jason was a child, and his place wasn’t in that meeting, but everyone else? They lived here.
They were as much in danger as the mages and dragons if something happened with Carlyle.
Hell, if Carlyle won this time, too, they’d be directly in his line of sight.
Of course they wanted to know what might happen.
“That was very dramatic,”
Jarvis told Emory when he came in.
Emory seemed to be on a mission. His shoulders were squared, and his chin was held high. He didn’t seem offended by Jarvis’s words. Instead, he slammed a piece of paper onto the dining table.
Everyone leaned in, including Meyer. He could see words scribbled there, but he couldn’t read them from where he was. He didn’t have to. He’d find out what the note said soon.
“I found Carlyle,”
Emery said.
“How?”
“I talked to people. I thought I was aware of every one of Carlyle’s safehouses, but I wasn’t. I found someone who remembers Carlyle buying a place from their grandmother.”
“You can’t know for sure he’s there,”
Ansley pointed out.
“The only way to find out is to go there, but I think there’s a good chance that he will be. He never told me about this place. He probably thinks I don’t about it, which would give us the upper hand.”
“Even though he doesn’t expect you to know about this place, there’s no way he hasn’t protected it,”
Bennett pointed out.
“He’s cautious.”
“He’s also full of himself. I’m sure he’ll have planted spells to stop or slow us down, but he thinks he’s better than us. It’s going to be his downfall.”
Meyer hoped that Emory was right. He wanted this mess with Carlyle to be over.
He glanced at Tyne.
He wasn’t one bit surprised to see that his mage was fully focused on Emory.
He was probably resisting the urge to shake the information out of the dragon.
Meyer was glad when he didn’t.
The last thing they needed was infighting, especially now that he and Tyne had worked things out.
“We can’t waste any more time,”
Emory said as he glanced around the people gathered there.
“If I had to guess, I think he’s still healing. He’s never been great with healing spells. We need to take advantage of that.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying,”
Tyne grumbled.
Thankfully, Emory didn’t look offended.
“We couldn’t do anything about him before, but we know where he is now. We need to strike.”
He looked at Jarvis. “Today.”
Meyer held his breath.
Jarvis was a cautious man.
From what Meyer understood, the main reason he was the leader was that everyone trusted him and was willing to follow him.
That didn’t mean that someone else wouldn’t try to take his place if they thought he was doing the wrong thing, though.
Tyne didn’t look like the kind of person who wanted power, but he was stubborn and finally had Carlyle in his sights.
He’d do anything to defeat the man, even if it meant taking the leadership away from Jarvis.
Meyer hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“I agree,”
Jarvis said with a nod.
“But we can’t go right away. We need to be prepared.”
“We’ve been preparing since he was let out of the stone,”
Tyne complained.
“And you saw how that went until now.
We have to take advantage of the fact that he’s wounded, but even though he’s not aware that we know where he is, he’s not going to stand there and wait for us to attack.
He’s going to defend himself and the place where he’s hiding.
We can’t go in half-cocked and expect all of us to come out of this alive. Besides, I’m not risking Carlyle winning this. We were lenient the last time we fought him, but that’s over.”
Meyer was relieved when Tyne nodded.
He knew how much Tyne respected Jarvis, but he also knew how badly Tyne wanted to get his hands on Carlyle.
It was good to see that he wasn’t willing to fight with one of his closest friends just because he was being stubborn about something.
“We’ll go tonight,”
Jarvis said.
“That will give us time to contact our allies and get everything together.”
He hesitated and glanced around the table.
“It will also give us time to be with our loved ones.”
He didn’t have to add anything. Everyone around the table knew what he was hinting at.
They didn’t know who would come back and who wouldn’t.
If everything went well, they all would, and Carlyle would be dead by tomorrow, but it would be a small miracle if that was how things went.
Meyer had only faced Carlyle once before that he remembered, and he’d ended up with a broken leg.
It had been easily healed, but only because he’d been lucky.
Jarvis was already on the phone while the others were drifting toward the people they cared about.
Ansley and Parker were huddled together, with Matthias hovering close by.
Marlow had already left the room, no doubt to find his son.
Meyer turned to Bennett since he was his best friend, but he wasn’t surprised to see that Bennett had pulled Penley into his arms and was whispering something to him.
Meyer swallowed.
He and Tyne had grown closer, and he wanted to think they shared feelings, but Tyne was focused on finding Carlyle.
Meyer was sure that his mage had work to do, and he didn’t want to make Tyne uncomfortable or take him away from something important.
When Dallin and Sol left the dining room, clearly intent on spending time alone, Meyer followed.
He didn’t stay in the castle, though.
Instead, he headed outside to one of the courtyards.
He flopped onto the closest bench and tilted his head to look at the sky.
It was blue, with no clouds in sight.
It seemed too beautiful a day for someone to die, but by tomorrow, things would be different.
He could only pray that all the people he cared about would still be standing.
“You left.”
Meyer blinked at the sound of Tyne’s voice.
He looked at the mage who was coming toward him as if it was completely normal.
Just a few weeks ago, it wouldn’t have been.
Tyne would have headed to his office, as far away from Meyer as possible, and he’d have stayed there until they were ready to leave.
“I didn’t want to bother anyone,”
Meyer explained.
Tyne frowned.
“I’m sure Bennett has time for you.”
“I don’t want to take him away from Penley. They should spend the next few hours together.”
“Do you think we should do the same?”
That sounded like a trick question.
Was Meyer supposed to answer truthfully, or was he supposed to tell Tyne what he thought the mage wanted to hear? That was a problem because Meyer had no idea what Tyne wanted to hear.
Even though the bond thrummed between them, it didn’t speak.
It just told Meyer that he and Tyne were linked.
Meyer would have to guess if he wanted to give Tyne what he needed.
He did.
TYNE WAS RUNNING OUT of time.
He was glad that they were finally about to face Carlyle for the last time, but going tonight meant that he wouldn’t have time with Meyer.
It meant he couldn’t take the space he needed to wrap his mind around everything that had happened over the past few days.
He’d given Meyer a chance.
He still didn’t know whether or not it had been a good idea, but he might never find out.
He couldn’t even think about the possibility of something happening to Meyer, but he also couldn’t avoid facing the truth.
Meyer had already been hurt twice while facing Carlyle.
There was a good chance he’d be hurt again, and if not him, Tyne. They were all in danger, and this might be the last time Tyne had the possibility of talking to his dragon.
He couldn’t think like that.
They were going to defeat Carlyle, and all of them would be alive by the time he was dead.
Tyne would have to be fast, but he’d already decided he would be the one to kill Carlyle.
He couldn’t leave the task to Jarvis when Jarvis had been so close to Carlyle.
He could have left it to Emory, but while Emory deserved to be the one to kill the mage who had tortured him so badly, Tyne didn’t feel they could risk him hesitating.
Emory had been in love with Carlyle for a long time.
He might hate him now, but they’d still shared those feelings, and there was no way to know if Emory would be capable of ignoring them.
Tyne dropped onto the bench next to Meyer.
He was silent as he tried to gather his thoughts.
He was here for a reason, but even though he knew that he didn’t have a choice, he was still scared.
“I know you want to talk about what happened between us,”
he said eventually.
“We don’t have to if you’re not ready.”
Tyne snorted.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready. I’ve been telling myself for so many years that I didn’t feel anything for you.”
“For Peyton.”
“For Peyton,”
Tyne agreed.
“I was still angry when I met you. When I think about what Peyton did, I still am. I’ll always be hurt by what happened.”
“But you know I’m not Peyton.”
Tyne desperately wanted to turn and look at Meyer, but he was also terrified of what he’d see if he did.
“I know you’re not,”
he confirmed.
“And I would have known that sooner if I’d allowed you close.”
“I don’t blame you for not wanting to talk to me. You did eventually, and I’m fine with that.”
“You know how much Peyton hurt me. I’m sorry I held that against you, but I’m done. If we both survive this, if we both make it back to the castle, I want to give us a chance.”
“Us?”
Meyer sounded hesitant, almost as if he was afraid he’d spook Tyne.
He wasn’t wrong. Tyne wanted to run, but he told himself he wasn’t going anywhere. He couldn’t afford to. If he wanted a chance with Meyer, he needed to take it now. “Us,”
he confirmed.
“I don’t love Peyton anymore. I’m not saying I love you, but I know I could if we had time. At the very least, I want to try.”
“Even though I’ll always remind you of Peyton?”
“You might remind me of him, but like you said, you’re not him. I need to let go of what he did. I saw you with Amber, and I’m not worried. You won’t go back to her.”
“I won’t,”
Meyer confirmed.
“I’m not going anywhere unless you kick me out.”
Tyne chuckled.
“You’re going to have to wait a long time if you expect me to kick you out.”
Meyer’s smile was crooked and beautiful.
“How about forever? Does that sound like a long time? I’ll stay here forever as long as you want me here.”
It was too much, but at the same time, it wasn’t nearly enough. Tyne had to resist the urge to run but also the urge to lean over and pull Meyer into his arms. This wasn’t the right moment for him to be emotional.
“Forever sounds good,”
he murmured anyway.
“But I want to date you. I want to make things right because I know how difficult I was.”
“I don’t think you’d be yourself if you weren’t difficult. I’m not saying it didn’t hurt, but we’re past that. I don’t need you to continue apologizing.”
“What do you need, then?”
“For us to win this fight. For you to ask me on an official date.”
Meyer was braver than Tyne because he reached over and took Tyne’s hand. He linked their fingers together and squeezed, making Tyne’s stomach churn in the best of ways.
Tyne wanted more. He wanted more of Meyer and his touch, more of the future they could share. He wanted more time.
“That’s what I’ll do, then,”
Tyne said as he raised Meyer’s hand and kissed the back of it.
“Once we’re back and Carlyle is gone, I’ll ask you on an official date.”
He couldn’t consider the possibility that he wouldn’t be here to do so or that Meyer wouldn’t be here to answer.