Once & Future (Once & Future #1)(44)

“Lam, Kay, and Val woke up days ago. They said they’d been stuck in their worst memories. You and Merlin… We were starting to worry that you wouldn’t wake up.”

Ari pulled away from Gwen to face the small body next to her. Her hand was clasped in his as if they’d been that way out of raw necessity. She squeezed his fingers. He didn’t squeeze back.

“Merlin,” Ari said, leaning over him, shaking his shoulders. “Merlin!”

When that didn’t work—when his thin, young face stayed pale and still—she leaned over and pressed her cheek against his. “Wake up, old man. We’ve got a universe to save.”

His eyes fluttered open, and Gwen let go of a huge breath. Together, the girls helped him sit up. They gave him water. When his gaze finally came back into focus, he looked at Ari—and then away, shame turning his cheeks red. “You know now. I chose more power over Arthur,” he hiccupped. “I caused his death. And the cycle. I never—”

“Merlin,” Ari said. “We’re not back there. We’re here now. Together. Gwen,” she turned toward her girl. “Can you bring the others in?”

Gwen nodded and left the room.

Ari put her hands on his shoulders. “Whatever the hell Morgana wanted to happen backfired. I don’t hate you. I don’t blame you. I want to help.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I want to help Arthur. We’re going to end the cycle. I’m so fucking fired up now, that damn blue witch has no idea. So, what do we do?”

“The steps,” Merlin murmured. “The next step in the cycle is to face the greatest evil.”

“Mercer. Wonderful. And then?”

“Unite humankind.”

“And then?”

Merlin shifted. “I’ve never gotten that far. Not even with the first King Arthur. He died before his vision of Camelot could spread and help others. Well, you saw.”

Ari blew out a huge breath. “So, defeat Mercer. Unite humankind.”

“Ari’s already on her way with that,” Kay said as the room filled with relieved faces. Her brother crossed his arms before the end of the bed. Val pounced on Merlin, smothering him in affectionate squeezes that made his pale skin bloom with the best shades of pink. Gwen came back to Ari’s side and folded herself into the corner of her arm and hip.

Lam and Jordan stood by the door, gorgeous and gloriously different sentinels, one in purple silk, one in silver armor.

“What did you say, Kay?” Ari asked.

“Ari is a damn hero. Isn’t she?” Kay looked at the others, and they nodded.

Gwen sat forward and sort of batted her eyelashes. “Don’t freak out, baby girl, but the situation with Mercer has gotten a little operatic.”

“Oh, I love where this is going.”

“Honestly, this entire situation is a damn miracle,” Val said. “We all could have been arrested by Mercer and sent to Urite.”

Urite. Ari couldn’t help going cold as she remembered the Administrator taunting her about her parents. That felt like years ago, but it had only been a few days, hadn’t it? “Tell me what happened after Morgana messed with us.”

Jordan stood forward. “She disappeared after she attacked you. We had to get you all out before associates descended like carrion flies.”

“Gross, Jordan,” Gwen said, holding up a hand to her knight. “People on Troy came to help us. They carried all of you back to Error and made sure that we could take off.”

Ari could hear the mournful undertones in Gwen’s voice. “What happened to them?”

“They were arrested. Some were killed. But not before sending out these rebellion beacons. They’ve reached every Mercer-controlled system. The entire galaxy is waking up, and they want you to lead them.”

Ari blinked. “Excuse me?”

Val held out his watch. An image leaped forth of Ari pulling the sword from the stone courtyard and destroying the Mercer Company logo in front of the galactic state department. And then the image cut to Merlin throwing magical green fireballs, fighting off Morgana. The scrolling text beneath it read:

KING ARTHUR HAS RISEN. MERLIN HAS RETURNED. RISE UP WITH HOPE.

“Oh!” Merlin explained. “I’ve never made the highlight reel before!”

Ari looked to her magician and found his wide-eyed expression matched hers. “Did you know this was going to happen?”

“I’ve never seen it done so efficiently,” he said. “And while I slept, no less!”

“But it’s part of the cycle,” Ari said, trying to clarify. “I have to do this. To help you.”

“To help everyone,” Gwen added. “We have a chance to break Mercer’s stranglehold. To help billions of people. First we have to—”

“Save Ari’s parents on Urite,” Merlin said loudly.

Kay’s arms dropped, and he stepped forward. “My parents are on Urite?”

“There’s plague on Urite,” Val said, face falling. “It was all over the media on Troy.”

Ari stood and went to her brother. She grabbed his elbows. He was shaking his head, but it was more than that. His whole body trembled with a potent combo of fear and anger. “I know, Kay. We’ll help them.”

“I don’t think that’s a good—” Gwen started to say, but Ari whipped around, causing Gwen to drop the rest of the sentence.