Sword in the Stars (Once & Future #2) - Cori McCarthy Page 0,59

great things. After all, questions and quests had much in common. “What is it like to consort with the person you once were? The rest of us have the mercy of leaving our finished days behind us.”

Merlin took a moment to consider. “Old Me is myopic at best, murdery at worst. But the more I think about it, the more I doubt that I’m the only one keeping bad company with my past self.”

Arthur laughed. “Gods, you really do sound like him.”

And the king of Camelot was starting to sound a bit like Gwen and Ari. This was a very odd sort of time travel exchange program.

“You won’t tell him about me, will you?” Merlin whispered.

“I swear it,” Arthur said, as solemn as a freshly turned grave. “You have more than earned my loyalty, young Merlin.”

The king dove back into the conversation about Camelot–Avalon relations as Merlin brought a very strategic cup to Gwen. Only the finest water for his very pregnant queen, purified in Old Merlin’s tower, tinted amber to resemble the mead everyone else was drinking.

If Arthur wanted to keep ignoring the impending baby storm that was about to touch down in Camelot, Merlin certainly wasn’t going to stop him. Perhaps he was allowing Gwen the space to figure it out on her own. Or perhaps his chalice vision hadn’t included Gwen’s assignation with Kay, also known as The Weirdest Lancelot Situation Ever.

Merlin put Gwen’s cup down, expecting a secret smile or a few coded words. Instead, she grimaced, cutting her eyes toward him and quickly looking straight ahead, as if anything else would be too painful to bear. Was Gwen upset with him? Upset in general? Were Arthur’s tragic feelings rubbing off on her?

Or… was she having labor pains and trying to hide them?

Merlin kept a close eye on her as he plopped down the next cup, where Sir Kay would have been sitting, had he still been welcome in Camelot—and dropped an entire glass of mead into Val’s lap.

He then dove into Val’s lap, trying to clean up the mess.

“Umm…” Val said, as the entire table looked at them. Merlin nearly died. That was part of his looming childhood it seemed; the slightest problem felt like a catastrophe of indescribable proportions.

Val waved the knights along, and the talking continued.

“It’s so good to see you here,” Merlin whispered. “I mean, I’m glad you made it to Arthur’s court, and he so quickly acknowledged your prowess as an advisor.” For some reason, the use of the word prowess made him turn retroactively crimson. Gods damn innocence. At least he wasn’t giggling every time someone swore, right? “Are you dry? I can get you a rag from the kitchens if—”

“Breathe, Merlin,” Val whispered, not unkindly. It wasn’t Val’s flirting voice, though. Merlin would have to figure out how to stop this backward aging once and for all if he wanted Val’s romantic insinuations in his life.

Which meant enduring more time with Old Merlin.

They’d tried a few spells together the day before, but nothing had taken root. “You really are a conundrum, nothing like you in any of the books,” he’d admitted, sending Merlin away so he could do more research and devise new tests.

He’d told Merlin not to return to the tower until he was called for, which meant that once the meeting dispersed and Gwen slipped him a whisper that they needed to talk, he had the freedom to do it without fear that his old self would punish him with more peat duty.

They gathered in Ari and Lam’s room in the servants’ quarters, a narrow slot of a space that was hardly large enough to hold Val, Lam, Merlin, Ari, and a very round Gwen. Merlin found himself smushed between the door and a concerned Lam. Apparently Merlin hadn’t been the only one to pick up on Gwen’s distress during the round table meeting.

“I need to talk to all of you,” Gwen said. “Last night, I went to Arthur and… I asked him to let me drink from the chalice.”

“And?” Lam asked, pushing with the gentlest tone.

“I asked about the baby,” Gwen said. “I saw myself holding them. I felt them in my arms. So tiny, and beautiful, and…” They were all holding their breath now, because it felt obvious that Gwen wasn’t done.

“What happened?” Val asked.

Merlin found himself upset on a level that he couldn’t even fathom.

“Someone took the baby from me. Not just to hold, but… to keep. I don’t get to keep this baby