“No. In fact, I’ve never heard of such an ability.” Merlin narrows his eyes at me. “When you look at me, what do you see?”
“Chaos. Your soul is unlike any that I’ve ever seen. It’s a mixture of great good mixed with horrible evil. It’s a bit like looking through muddy waters.”
“That sounds about right.” He grins but not happily. “I’ve done things in my life that I’m not particularly proud of, Eve, but I did them hoping they would contribute to the greater good.”
There’s still one more thing that I don’t quite understand about the evening.
“The invitation to this party was sent to my mother,” I say. “How did you know I would steal it and come here instead? Did you have a vision about it?”
“No, I didn’t have a vision,” he says with a small shake of his head. “But, I did notice you decided to live away from your mother when you moved to Las Vegas. It seemed like you were ready to start your own life. I decided to ask The Proprietor to send your mother the invitation in hopes that you would do exactly what you did and come here yourself. In a way, it was a test.”
“A test to determine what, exactly?”
“Whether or not you were strong enough to defy your mother to do what you felt was right.”
“I wanted to meet you and see if you had a cure for her.”
“Then, I guess, you got what you wanted even though it’s probably not the cure you were hoping for.”
We both fall silent, and there’s only one more question I can think of to ask.
“What do we do now?”
“I suppose that’s up to you, Eve. I won’t force you to come back to Camelot with us. If you don’t do it of your own free will, then what’s the point?”
“If I decide to go, how does that work? Am I supposed to find you before you leave here?”
“That won’t be necessary. The Proprietor has agreed to send you to Camelot at the end of this party when the fireworks are set off and everyone is transported back home the same way they were brought here. If you’re holding Lancelot’s hand when that happens, you will be transported to Camelot. If you’re not, then you will be sent back to where you were before you came here. It’s that simple.”
“Why are you giving me a choice?” Considering the state of my father’s soul, I have a hard time believing he would simply let me decide the fate of his world. “It sounds like Camelot is in peril. Wouldn’t it be better to make me go back with you instead of allowing me to choose what I want to do?”
“I tried to force my agenda on you the first time. I won’t make that same mistake twice. This is my second chance to do things right, and I refuse to let my ego screw things up again.” My father takes a tentative step forward. “Eve, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you while you were growing up, but I felt like I had to abide by your mother’s wishes at the time.”
“I would say she’s changed her mind about you over the years. She was extremely excited over the prospect of seeing you again here at The Ball.”
“Was she?” Merlin looks pleasantly surprised by this revelation. “I wish I had known.” He holds out his hand for me to take. “Do you think you can find it in your heart to give me a chance to prove myself to you? I promise not to let you down a second time.”
I seriously debate whether or not I’ll accept his offer to become a real father to me. It’s the expression in his eyes that helps me decide. He looks vulnerable and unsure of himself. I get the feeling showing raw emotions isn’t his usual style. He has no idea if I will accept or reject him. The one thing he doesn’t seem to realize is that I’ve been waiting for this moment all of my life.
I accept his hand and take it a step further by walking forward and wrapping my arms around his waist. As soon as I lay my head against his chest, I feel him hug me tightly and sigh in contented relief.
“I can’t tell you how many times I dreamed of this moment,” he says, his voice filled with a mixture of emotions. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you while you were growing up, Eve, but I did what I thought was best for you and your mother at the time. There hasn’t been one day in all these years when I didn’t think of you.”
“You could have at least written a letter or something,” I chastise lightly.
He chuckles. “I worried any direct contact with you would disrupt your life and make you even more determined to find me.”
I lean back so I can look at his face. “Would that have been so bad?”
“There are people in this world and mine who would love nothing more than to see me dead. If they knew you existed, your life would have been placed in jeopardy too. That’s why I had Lancelot threaten that private investigator you hired. He was getting too close to the truth about our connection to one another. I never would have been able to live with myself if someone hurt you because of me.”
That certainly solves the mystery of who broke into Royce’s room when he traveled to Dublin. I reach up and place my hand on the side of Merlin’s face to gently coax him to turn his head to the side. There on his neck is the branded Dara Knot that Royce told me about.
“Why do you have this?” I ask, running the tips of my fingers along the edges of the raised, intricate design.
“It’s a reminder that I’m not infallible.”
I look into his eyes. “You did this to yourself?”
“It keeps me humble.” Merlin grins, but there’s only sadness behind the expression.
I drop my hand away from the brand and turn to look back at Lancelot.
“I guess he and I need to get to know each other better if he’s supposed to be my baby daddy.”
Merlin laughs. “My hope is that the two of you will be married before that happens, but I suppose that might just be wishful thinking on my part. He’s a good man, Eve. If I wasn’t in the room, I would say he’s the best of us.”
When I turn to look at my father, I see that his joke has left a roguish grin on his face.
The time bubble surrounding us begins to shimmer like water at the edge of a horizon, drawing my father’s attention.
“I’m afraid our moment together has to come to an end.” He returns his gaze to me before saying, “I promised The Proprietor that I would leave after I spoke to you, so I’m afraid this is farewell for now, but I hope to see you again very soon.”
As the time bubble vanishes, so does my father.
“Where’d he go?” Rory the ghost asks, looking at me as the crowd surrounding us resumes exactly where they left off. Momentary confusion infuses those gathered, but they all seem to shrug it off, citing that every year something strange always happens at The Monster Ball.
Lancelot walks over to me as everyone else goes about their business.
“I feel like I just missed out on something important,” he says, looking as confused as everyone else. “Where did Merlin go?”
“Camelot would be my guess, Lancelot.”
Lancelot smiles as if he feels embarrassed by being caught in his little white lie. “I see you spoke with him at least. I wasn’t aware he intended to make a time shield here to keep your conversation private.”