“But what if he—”
She turned to face her brother. “Merrick will not hurt me. Or you. Do you understand?”
He nodded solemnly.
“What he did for me… Danny, he might be suffering because he helped me. I need to check on him, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be back.”
She grabbed her flashlight from the nightstand and left the room, closing the door behind her. Clicking the flashlight on, Adalynn made her way down the hall toward Merrick’s room. The flickering light visible beneath his door suggested he was within.
Every so often she caught a whiff of vomit, and she cringed, wondering if any was caked in her hair. A glance down was enough to tell her she was in a different shirt than before she’d fallen unconscious; she had to assume Danny had changed her, that he’d cleaned her face, but it would take more than a wet washcloth to get rid of that smell. She would’ve liked to have taken a bath and brushed her teeth, but her concern for Merrick was foremost. Tending to herself could come after.
When Adalynn reached his bedroom door, she raised a fist and knocked. “Merrick? Are you okay?”
“Leave,” he said from inside the room.
“Please, come to the door.”
“I’m fine. Go back to bed, Adalynn.”
“No. Not until you talk to me.”
“Tomorrow. Go to bed.”
That’s it.
Grasping the door handle, she pressed the latch down, pushed the door open, and strode into the room without hesitation. “I’m not a child to be ordered to bed, Merrick.”
His bedroom was large and surprisingly open. A wide bed—king size, at least—stood against one wall, its headboard and footboard both made of thick, dark, carved wood. It was flanked by matching nightstands. Across from the foot of the bed was a grand fireplace with a large rug and two upholstered chairs set before it. A small fire crackled within the fireplace. Straight ahead stood a pair of tall glass doors that must’ve led to the balcony, and two more doors on either side of the fireplace likely belonged to a bathroom and a closet. A small writing desk—piled with books and papers—was in one corner; it was there Merrick sat with his back toward Adalynn.
He didn’t turn to look at her, but his voice carried clearly when he said, “I did not give you many rules to follow, Adalynn. Staying out of my study and my bedroom was the first of them.”
“I don’t care about your damn rules. I came to check on you. Danny said you were bleeding.”
“You are the one who had a spell. I’m fine, Adalynn. Good night.”
Adalynn remained in place, closing the door behind her. She clicked off her flashlight, tightening her grip on it, and crossed her arms over her chest.
Merrick’s posture stiffened. He placed his hands on the desk and sat up straight, turning his head slightly to look at Adalynn over his shoulder. “You should be resting now.”
She met his eyes. “Funny thing about that, I feel completely fine. As though I wasn’t just dying moments—no, hours—ago. What did you do, Merrick?”
He shoved away from the desk, stood up—toppling his chair over—and spun to face her. “Haven’t I given you enough? I helped you when I was not obligated to do so, and I am continuing to help you! What have I asked in return but some courtesy? Now do you mean to wrench every secret from my soul?”
She could feel power radiating from him, could feel it tingling over her skin, and realized now that she’d felt whispers of it from the moment they’d first met—though never this clear, this strong. Yet despite his anger, she didn’t fear that power. She didn’t fear him.
Adalynn remained where she stood, holding his gaze. “Then make us leave, Merrick. Why do you put up with us when all we’re doing is eating your food and intruding upon you?”
“What does it matter? You don’t have long.”
The words might as well have been a slap across her face; their sting caught her off guard. Adalynn flinched.
His brows, which had been slanted sharply in anger a moment before, leveled out and dropped low. A crease formed between them as the hard light in his eyes faded. His jaw muscles ticked, and he averted his gaze. His voice was raw when he said, “You’re still dying, Adalynn.”
The hurt from his words diminished that easily; he was angry and lashing out, but he wasn’t angry at her. It was the same sort of rage she’d seen in her family after her diagnosis—an anger born of helplessness, the anger of someone who was forced to watch her waste away knowing they could do nothing to save her.
“I’ve been dying,” she said gently. “I’ve known it and I accepted it a long time ago, Merrick. My only concern has been to find a place where Danny will be safe when I’m gone.” She lowered her arms to her sides and closed the distance between them. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? One of the…others.”
Only shame, resignation, and sorrow remained in his eyes when they met hers again. “I am not human.”
His confirmation didn’t change the way Adalynn felt about him.
“And you used something—magic?—to heal me twice now, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Yes. And I will use what power I possess to save you as many times as necessary.”
Her heart thumped, and warmth suffused her. His voice was hard with conviction and raw with deep emotion.
“But it does something to you, doesn’t it?” she asked. “Danny said you had blood dripping from your face.”
“A small price to pay.”
“But it’s not. It’s hurting you and it’s…I don’t know. I think it’s doing something to me.”
Merrick’s face paled, and he stepped closer to her. “What is it doing to you, Adalynn?”
Adalynn tilted her head back, frowning as she searched his eyes. “It’s like my body was making up for all those days that I’d felt good. The days I didn’t feel sick. Like I wasn’t really any better, and it was just building up, and when it hit a certain point it just burst. It really felt like this one was it, Merrick. Like it was the end.”
He lifted his hands and cupped her face between his palms. A faint blue light had sparked in his citrine eyes—and it wasn’t a reflection of the firelight. “I am going to keep you safe here, Adalynn. And I am going to find a way to stop it. To truly heal you.”
Tears stung her eyes and blurred her vision. She blinked them away and smiled softly. Raising a hand, she settled it on his jaw and brushed her thumb over his cheek. The short bristles of his beard tickled her palm. “Thank you for telling me the truth about you, Merrick…but no.”
Confusion contorted his expression. “No? What do you mean no?”
“It’s hurting you, and that’s a price I’m not willing to pay. We don’t know how bad it will get, but this time was enough to prove that it will get worse. No, Merrick. I accepted my fate. Knowing that Danny has a place here, with you, that he’ll be safe, will let me go on in peace.” Warm tears continued to stream down her cheeks, gathering on his hands. “I just want to live the rest of my life in happiness here, too.”
The crease reappeared between his eyebrows, deeper and more worried than before. He shifted one of his hands back, combing her hair behind her ear and trailing his fingertips along her scalp. “I will take that suffering if it spares you, Adalynn. I want you to have decades of happiness. Not mere weeks or days.”