left, my mind swam with the details I collected from researching, but a silent hand seemed determined to keep it all in separate boxes, and I couldn’t make the connections I desperately needed. Finally, I ditched the library in defeat and went to work out. I hoped pushing my body to exhaustion might push my mind to flow.
I walked into the converted cathedral to meet Mark and a few other candidates. Past stained-glass windows and white-stone walls on the ground floor, curved archways led up to a turret with a winding staircase. On the second floor, the large gym had gleaming wood floors, intricate wood moldings on its windows, and rustic racks of weapons along the walls. Inside the medieval training room, a very modern gel mat outlined a workout space.
It was hard to be in the room. Every single time I stepped in I expected to see Vane, and every single time I didn’t, I felt a little broken. His office lay down below another winding staircase, off the side of the gym. I did sword forms with Mark and four others. Two friends of Blake and two more of Vane’s candidates. Three girls and three guys. Mark and I ended up being the mismatched pair since we pushed ourselves the hardest.
The arrangement had been working fine until Mark whacked me across the stomach with a sword. It wasn’t a practice sword. We were the last ones left. The others had already gone off to dinner. Mark dropped his sword. I sat down hard on the mat.
“Shit, DuLac.” He dropped down beside me and tried to heal the wound. Unfortunately, the cut exacerbated the healing wound and he wasn’t strong enough to combat the widening gash.
“Get Merlin.” I lay down on the mat, holding my stomach. My hands quickly became wet with blood.
Mark ran to his duffel bag. He cursed. “He’s not online.”
“He’s probably in the library.”
Mark hurried off. I closed my eyes.
Around my neck, the Dragon’s Eye heated.
I lay on a beach. Soft blue waves rolled gently into a curved cove. I hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t the same one from the Medusa visions. This one boasted smooth yellow sand. A lush green mountain with a hint of black on its peak served as a backdrop. Rain clouds misted the top, but down on the beach, the sun shone brightly. No threatening clouds hovered in the horizon. Warm blue-green water tickled my toes as I lay just above the surf.
I could have stayed forever.
“Leave you for a bit, DuLac, and you wind up with blood on you.” Vane’s voice washed over me. I blinked. The door between our minds gaped open.
“Nice place for a rest,” he said. The ocean turbulent behind him, he emerged from its furious waves. The mermaid walked on the beach. His hardened torso glistened under the soft rays of the sun. His hair wet and coarse with saline, I wondered if his lips would taste salty too. The wondering made me angrier.
Vane knelt down on the sand beside me. On top of my stomach, my hands curled into fists. Green ringed his pupils. He looked exhausted. I told myself I didn’t care.
I was not happy with him.
He gave me a wistful smile as if he read me, but offered no explanation.
“I’m going to put you to sleep,” he said.
“Not a chance!”
“You’re going to bleed to death if I don’t heal this.”
He’d healed me twice before while I slept. I didn’t know how or what, only that it worked. I had a feeling I didn’t want to know. That was before. Before he left me in pieces for Matt to pull back together.
“So do it.” It couldn’t be worse than what he’d already done to me.
“You don’t want to see this. Trust me—”
“You’re right. I don’t. Trust. You. At all. Because you’re a big egotistical jerk.”
I stared off into the blue sky and waited.
After a few seconds, he growled, “Fine. Be stubborn.”
Green intensified in his eyes. It overtook him. The monster snarled free. A shadow fell over Vane. Against my will, my eyes fell shut. Red eyes, horns curling out of his head, and the face of a bull melded into Vane’s sculpted chest.
The Minotaur sat on the beach. I lay spread out like a bonfire buffet before him. I took in a panicked breath. The monster I helped bring to life would be the end of me.
CHAPTER 19 – FAITH IN WESTMINSTER
CHAPTER 19
FAITH IN WESTMINSTER
“Don’t move,” the bull’s mouth commanded. Its hands pushed