AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Merlin chuckled and sounded pleased. “So you have seen it.”
“You’ve seen it too? Why haven’t you talked to Nox?” Nelson asked, turning to Merlin and ready to shake the older man.
“For the same reasons you haven’t and why you’re just now confiding in me after more than three months, I’d imagine.” He stared Nelson down until he nodded, then made a satisfied sound. “You don’t want to accept that he’s changing, that more and more of that eternal light is starting to punch through Nox’s will. Not after how hard he’s fought to hang onto it and to protect yours. And we both know how he’s going to take it. Has he even admitted that he’s slipping?”
“No.” Nelson shook his head. “He didn’t—couldn’t—deny it after the rave. I think he’s scared because he doesn’t know it’s happening half of the time and he can’t control it.”
“And you thought you could?” Merlin guessed, earning a weary groan from Nelson as he hung his head.
“I thought that if I kept him happy and distracted that I could keep it from getting worse. He’s more himself and he has better days when he doesn’t think about the girls as much. Or New Castle or Julian.”
“How often do you think that is? Because from what I’ve seen he rarely goes long without worrying about those girls and gods knows he won’t let me rest. He sends me texts in the middle of the night with ideas and names for me to track down.”
“Not when we’re—” Nelson cleared his throat. He gave Merlin a pleading look, hoping he’d be merciful. “I do my best to keep him out of his study and he’s happy when we’re together and he’s…distracted.”
“Good!” Merlin gave Nelson’s knee an encouraging pat. “And he’s more…himself when the two of you…?” He rolled a hand airily.
“Not always,” Nelson admitted warily. He was generally uncomfortable talking about intercourse, but doubly so with Merlin. Because it was Merlin and Nelson wouldn’t put it past his puckish nature to interfere.
Merlin leaned in. “Go on.”
“I don’t think I should,” Nelson decided. “But I’ve realized that…” He looked around and cleared his throat suggestively and dropped his voice. “The source of all love and light might be using me and that to get to Nox and mess with him so I’m being careful.”
“How remarkable!” Merlin’s eyes glittered as he studied Nelson.
“It’s killing me, but thanks.”
Merlin hummed seriously. “You have lost some weight and I am concerned, Nelson. We have to make sure you’re eating well and getting rest when you can.”
“I’m down ten pounds, but I’m more concerned about him,” he said, nodding at Nox. “The last thing I wanted was to take him back to that place and I don’t want him anywhere near Julian. Not after what happened today.”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing for it. You see how sensitive Nox is to pain and grief and dark magick. But it isn’t…in his nature to rest until he’s found everyone involved in those girls’ suffering and held them accountable. And when I tell you that he will be well soon, you should take that as your warning. We’ll have just as much of a chance of stopping Nox as we would the rising of the sun and he will outshine the darkness, I promise you.”
A soft, hopeful laugh burst from Nelson. “I have a feeling you’re right. It would take a lot more than a curse to stop Nox,” he said, then turned serious. “How do I protect him, Merlin? Because he is going to wake up angry and he’s going to want answers from Julian. What if he slips again or he’s attacked while we’re there? I can protect Nox from bullets and blades and fists, but I can’t stop a god or dark magick.”
“You are more powerful than you think, my lad,” Merlin said with another tender pat to Nelson’s knee, then gestured for him to come even closer. “There’s something else… I haven’t known what to do with this or what it means, but I fear it could cause our boy a great deal of distress.”
“What is it?” Nelson urged, not liking the way Merlin’s eyes flicked between him and Nox.
“He had me look into all of Julian Sherwood’s occult connections and his other activities outside of work and the literacy league. He told me to turn over every stone.”
“And what did you find?” Nelson asked, suddenly nervous.
Merlin’s nostrils flared and he let out a hard grunt. “That sick creature went to college, Nelson. To Georgetown.”
Nelson shook his head, not wanting what was coming next. “No.”
“Not just that. He studied anthropology before he dropped out,” Merlin whispered and a cold knot twisted in Nelson’s gut
“With Clancy?” he guessed.
“Do you want to take a stab at the subject of Julian’s last research paper?”
“The Tuath Dé.”
“The Tuath Dé, but specifically, the Murrayite theory and the survival of the Tuatha Dé Danann1 in the American Appalachians.”
“Motherfucker,” Nelson swung forward, ready to storm across Georgetown and drag Clancy out of bed but froze when he remembered that he couldn’t leave Nox.
