“Now will you tell me what is really wrong with you?” Merlin asked, suddenly next to my elbow.
With a sigh, I channeled the water so it fell neatly back into the bucket I had originally pulled it out of.
“It’s Bedivere,” I finally admitted.
Merlin’s brows rose before he nodded. “Ah.”
“Ahis right,” I mumbled, turning away from the wizard to throw myself onto the settee that I was pretty sure served at Merlin’s actual bed. “When you pulled me into this time you forgot to mention how damned hard it would be to actually get them to like me.”
“I told you that you were fated mates, not that it would be easy,” Merlin pointed out as he perched next to me. As always, the wizard smelled of nothing except for the scents from his rectory that clung to his tunic and oversized blue robe.
Every living human on the planet smelled of something whether they were betas, alphas, or omegas. It didn’t matter what designation you were, you had a scent. It was like someone’s fingerprint—unique only to them.
But Merlin had none of that which was confusing on a whole other level.
“Then you should have picked an omega that flirts better than me,” I said with a shake of my head, trying to chase away the sad look on Bedivere’s face that seemed to be seared into my memory. “Anyway, let’s not dwell on it anymore and finish our lesson.”
Merlin looked as if he wanted to say something else, his ethereal green eyes full of concern, but then he nodded and held his hands out to me.
This had quickly become my favorite part of our training because as soon as our hands connected and our eyes closed, we were no longer in the rectory but somewhere in the recesses of Merlin’s mind.
“Where are we today?” I asked as I stared out at the softly glowing underground lake in front of us.
“It is my favorite place to go when I meditate,” Merlin told me from where he stood on top of the water, proving yet again that human physics did not exist in this magical place.
He reached for my hand, his fingers sliding through mine, and tugged me out onto the water with him. It felt just as real as if he’d done it in the real world, but here it felt even better.
Our magic danced between our clasped hands, sparkles of green and blue erupting from where we touched.
It was… intense. Like a headrush and jolt of adrenaline all at once.
My heartbeat quickened and I was sure he could feel it. I just wondered if Merlin also felt this good when he touched me.
The mysterious wizard had somehow become my closest friend and confidant ever since I’d arrived to this timeline—and this point of our lessons had quickly become my favorite part.
“Sit,” Merlin directed once we’d made it to a moss covered island in the middle of the lake.
I settled down cross legged in front of him, settling the white silk robes that I wore around my legs. They were the same ones that I always wore when we travelled into his mind.
“Find your core,” Merlin began, speaking the same words he always did.
Weeks ago when we first began these lessons, I couldn’t even tap into my magic enough to even come to a place like this, but now I could easily reach within myself and find that kernel of magic that allowed me to control water.
I could also feel Merlin’s magic and it rose up to meet me like an excited puppy, dancing around us with glee despite Merlin’s neutral expression.
“Now work on growing that core. The more you are able to grow it—”
“The more I will be able to do,” I finished for him, shooting him a cheeky grin as I imagined my core growing three sizes like the heart of Grinch inHow the Grinch Stole Christmas.
I’d tried to explain the movie to Merlin once but he kept asking clarifying questions so I was pretty sure he didn’t get the metaphor for capitalism… or what capitalism was in the first place. Must be nice.
Either way, my core still grew bit by bit—not largely or very fast—but it had doubled in size ever since we began our lessons.
Now, when Merlin drew the knife down his arm to try and test me, I was able to heal the cut with relative ease. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do anything to a bigger wound, but it was reassuring.
My plan to change the future was going about as well as it could for someone who didn’t know when or where the penultimate battle would take place, but I had a feeling Morgana’s banishment from Camelot would have something to do with it.
In some iterations of the legend, Morgana had sold Arthur out to the Saxons in favor of her own son, and while I wasn’t completely sure how she would do it, I knew that whatever was coming in the future would definitely have her hand in it.
