“That can’t be.”
“It can and it is. The pendant. I touched it again while she wore it. A rush of magic I have never experienced washed over us, and the tune of the realm echoed throughout the hall. It was…beyond euphoria. Surreal.”
“Then there is no need to tie her to you if the realm has bound to her.”
Mergle retreated when my head snapped in his direction. Like mirrors, his glassy gaze reflected the shadows spinning wildly in mine. They threatened to spill over and suck him into the abyss that lay beyond my reach where I tossed that which will be forgotten.
My words came out on a low decibel that shook the dirt and pebbles between the bricks separating us. “She will become one with me, not an extension. I have made my decision.”
With a thud, Mergle dropped to a knee and bowed his head. “As Your Highness speaks, so shall be done.”
Tired of Mergle’s genuflecting, I departed from the inner sanctum of the garden, angry and confused by his contradictory statements. Mergle urged me to bring her here, hold her to our bargain, and reclaim my magic. My feet stopped moving. He didn’t care about the bargain. He didn’t care about her wellbeing, or my happiness, for that matter. Mergle wanted the magic returned. I spun a slow circle, a bloodsuckle vine reaching out to kiss my hand. I offered it a taste before walking back the way I came.
Mergle rounded a bend and stopped when he saw me. Trepidation rolled off him in waves threatening to sweep him off his stubby legs.
“Tell me, old one. How long have you been planning this?”
His voice quivered. “Planning what?”
“No need to play coy.” I stroked a leaf on the vine, and it unwound from the trellis to slither toward me. “Divulge your secrets the way you trained me to spill mine. To you.”
“I keep no secrets from you, Astaroth.”
The vine danced over my hand and teased my fingertips. “We are back to names now, Mergle?”
“I don’t understand what you’re playing at.” He watched with rapt attention. “Your lust for the girl is warping your mind and priorities.”
A deep, guttural laugh shook my chest. “I am not paranoid, Mergle. Whose priorities are at jeopardy here… mine or yours?”
He watched as the vine chased my hand farther onto the path. Bloodsuckles sprouted along it, searching for purchase. Mergle swallowed. “You are my priority.”
My brow raised as I tilted my head in thought. “My magic, you mean.”
His chest puffed up as he sputtered defiantly, “It is my duty to see to the occupants of the realm and help them return to their rightful home.”
“So, I am but a tool. A means to an end.” Something I knew since they proclaimed me their savior. But this level of deceit burned all we built to the ground and scorched me. Mergle guided me from youth to manhood. Our friendship blinded me to any ulterior motives. “You never served me. It has been I that have served you all this time. I am only the face of your anarchy. Nothing more.”
“That is not tr—”
The vine shot out and coiled around him from ankles to right under his nose, muffling his words. His eyes screamed at me as the little blood suckers latched onto any available flesh to feast.
I squatted in front of him. “You have a choice to make, my dearest friend.”
The vine loosened, drooping below his chin. He winced as the suckers tore from his cheeks, leaving behind skinless bloody patches. “I serve you and our brethren.”
“Wrong answer.” My fist tightened. The tips of my nails dug into my palm the way the bloodsuckles tried to bury beneath his skin.
Mergle groaned when the vine squeezed tighter. “I cannot tell you.” He labored for breath. “I am bound to another.”
Bound? Impossible. “No one besides me is strong enough to bind you to an oath.”
Sadness filled his eyes erasing all signs of his discomfort. “There is still much you do not know or understand, Astaroth. But you will.”
“Is that a threat?” I snarled.
Mergle shook his head. “My oath to you.”
“You’re saying that to save yourself.”
