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“I think that’s a good idea,” Nox slurred at the sparks and pops of color in front of him. Everything grew dark and he dropped when his legs gave out.
1 Mo leanbh (Muh lYAN-iv): My child.
2 Deoch (DjockH): Drink
Four
It was almost midnight when Nelson carried Nox through the front door of the townhouse in Georgetown. Nox had only come around enough to mumble and cry about the locket and the King and Queen Seat while Nelson raced back from New Castle with his lights flashing.
“Take him straight upstairs,” Merlin said, waving Nelson through the front door. “Into the shower.”
Nelson nodded at Nox’s unconscious face as he carefully climbed the steps and turned down the hall. He was still so pale, even his lips looked gray. “Why did he faint? Why is he still out?”
“Get him into the bathroom and get him undressed,” Merlin ordered, right on Nelson’s heels. “I’ve set up everything we could possibly need in there.”
“For what?” Nelson angled Nox through the opened bedroom doors, hurrying past the bed and through to the bathroom. He halted and held Nox closer when he saw the copper cauldron on the counter and a small flame burning in a shallow bowl on the tile in the middle of the room.
“He’s been cursed.”
“Cursed?” Nelson set Nox down on the floor in the shower and quickly went to work on his boots and clothes.
“We need to cleanse him and purify his aura with smoke and prayer.” Merlin lit a bundle of herbs and began chanting as he circled the room.
Nelson quickly stripped Nox and then himself and began ladling salted moonwater over the both of them. He didn’t want anything from the MacCrorys’ sticking to him either.
“Wash him with more sea salt and this!” He passed Nelson a delicate crystal decanter, guiding a plume of smoke into the stall and swirling the bundle around their heads. “It’s a blend of cleansing and healing oils—juniper, lavender, cedar. Pour it all over him and massage it into his scalp,” Merlin directed, then began reciting a low, rumbling incantation in what Nelson now recognized as Gaelic. He didn’t understand the words but he felt like he was returning to something safe and familiar whenever Nox or Merlin or Clancy slipped and said something in the ancient language.
They worked together in the dark, smoky bathroom for close to an hour, anointing Nox with more oils, fresh and smoking herbs, and sharp-smelling tinctures. Nox’s limbs and back were scraped with crystals and Nelson had to look away when Merlin sliced the inside of a forearm and bled him into a copper bowl.
When they were done, Nox was carefully and thoroughly bathed and Nelson was bid to carry him out onto the terrace and he was laid on the stones in the moonlight. “Won’t he be cold?” Nelson worried as he circled Nox’s naked body. He was so still and there wasn’t a hint of a mischievous smile on his lips to tease Nelson.
“He’ll be well soon,” Merlin whispered, sounding forlorn and looking unusually tired as he went to take a seat on the kitchen steps.
Nelson didn’t want to leave Nox’s side, but he had so many questions and he needed to tell Merlin what he had seen. “Did we…undo the curse?” He lowered next to Merlin and allowed the older man to rest his head on his shoulder.
“I don’t think that curse was very successful. At least, not in the way it was intended.”
“No?” Nelson’s voice rose hopefully, but he wasn’t encouraged by Merlin’s sad sigh.
“Not with the way I’ve warded that boy. I took great care and I taught him well. That was dark, dirty magick, for sure. Yet it’s no match for our Nox. He’s far too strong and too good for a curse like that to touch him.” He straightened and humphed defiantly. “He will be well soon,” he repeated, making Nelson frown in confusion.
“Then, why did he faint? Why is he…sick?”
A watery gasp burst from Merlin. “He has been defiled! He was attacked, Nelson!” He dabbed at his cheeks with his silk handkerchief as he cried. “You have to understand that Nox is…” He paused and lowered the cloth so he could lock gazes with Nelson. “He is a child of light and he is connected to the source of all love and life,” he mouthed. “The curse itself did nothing, but it was the darkness and the evil that had been done there that’s made Nox sick. And he must be…beyond horrified to know his mother’s good, loving magick has been tainted and used against him. That would be my guess as to why he fainted and is sick.”
Nelson swallowed hard and nodded. “I might have noticed the light and the source of love part.”
“What have you noticed?” Merlin asked intently, scooting closer so he could study Nelson’s face in the moonlight.
“It started that night in New Castle after the rave,” he said, then shook his head. “I think I noticed the day we met… Most of the time, he’s a cocky kid who’s too smart for his age. But, sometimes, Nox seems too old for his age and like he’s…”
“Having fun and along for the ride?” Merlin suggested.
“When in Rome…” Nelson murmured and nodded, recalling the many times Nox had said it.
“I can’t recall Nox ever saying that before he met you,” Merlin noted sadly. “That’s not like him.”
“No,” Nelson agreed, suppressing a shiver. “There have been a few times when it’s like Nox isn’t there. Not my Nox. And he—” Nelson threw an apologetic grimace at Nox, afraid he was violating his trust. Nelson didn’t know what else to do and grew more scared by the day. “He started to fly and some of those tattoos you designed started to glow. Sometimes, his eyes turn gold.”
