He snorted as if he didn’t believe me any more than I believed me. I hurried our pace and then suddenly we stood at the bottom of the “goat trail.” I’m not sure I’d even call it that. When I’d seen it the night before it had looked bigger, wider somehow. The narrow twisting path was barely a foot wide, and in many spaces crumbled into nothing. A true switchback trail, it wove its way to the top of the fifty-foot cliff. The giants were fifty feet tall at least. Which meant we had to be all the way to the top before they got through the barrier I’d made.
Staring down at us from the top were several goats, brown and white with tiny nubs for horns. And then one of them grinned at me.
Not goats, or not only goats.
A satyr waved at me from the top.
Fucking hell, the last thing I needed was a bunch of randy goat men leaping around us. They liked to cause trouble just because they could. I grabbed at the necklace with the thick man’s ring on it, the only true talisman I carried. We could do this, we had to.
I put one foot on the bottom of the path and from behind us there was a massive crack and a boom as if a rock had been split and tossed out of the way. I didn’t look, I didn’t need to. I could feel the rumble of the giants’ feet as they pounded toward us.
This was going to be tight.
Chapter Two
Merlin leaned back and steepled his hands under his chin as he stared into the crystal ball. They’d been watching Steve and Zamira steal from the giants, watched now as Zamira fought for her life. He itched to help, but they had to see if the young woman would be able to save herself.
“Flora, what do you think?” He touched a finger to the glass of the ball and the image tightened on Zamira’s face, the green eyes and swath of dark hair tipped in auburn as it swept around her.
His companion, a young voluptuous woman with stunning raven-black hair and bright green eyes, snorted at him in a most unladylike fashion. “You can’t be serious about her? That . . . girl is barely a shapeshifter. She’s a runt, Merlin. She has no power, so to speak; how exactly do you think she’s going to bring down the western wall exactly? Not to mention that curse she’s carrying. If that gets loose, there will be no helping her then.”
He ran a hand over the spinning ball in front of them again. The girl was trying to push her horse up a trail that had very little footing. From the angle he looked, he could see the flash of fire in her eyes. “Reckless, determined. I like her.”
“You would. We need someone who actually has a chance at the task at hand. Someone who could face the challenges and has the potential to survive. That other one, the one who has the jewel in hand would be better to help, I think.” Flora leaned forward and tapped a finger on the sphere, changing the image to show the blond man and his horse, racing down the left branch of the gorge. “He has a strong sense of survival.”
Merlin’s eyebrows shot up. “You can’t be serious? He’s out for himself, he just left his partner there to deal with the giants on her own after she saved him.” This turn of decisions was a surprise. Flora had been a champion of any underdog she could be in the past; now, though . . . it seemed that gaining back her youthful visage had made her a bit more ruthless.
“I know. But if we give him a reason to go after Maggi and her three guardians, then I think he could be persuaded.” Flora leaned back, her green eyes thoughtful. “Why don’t we each help our champion of choice?”
He sighed. This was the side of Flora he’d hoped was gone, but as it was, he would deal with it. She loved to win, at any cost. “A challenge then?” he asked.
She smiled, and there wasn’t an ounce of malice in it, nothing but excitement which made it easier to accept that this was fun for her.
“Exactly. We need to see this through. You can’t directly be involved, and I will hold myself back too. We can be like fairy godmothers to our chosen champions.”
His lips turned up in a slow smile. That did sound like a bit of fun. After all, as serious as this was, he wouldn’t turn down a challenge like that, especially if it got him something he’d wanted for a good period of time now—well, the last week if he was truly counting.
The bigger issue that Flora was unaware of concerned the emperor. The emperor was still alive and well and was one of the few people Merlin couldn’t outright stop, which were two rather problematic points. The emperor was the reason he couldn’t take care of the Ice Witch himself. The reason Merlin was trying to figure out this mess. He sighed.
If Flora knew about that side note, she’d be gone faster than a snowflake disappearing in the desert. He had to make her think this was nothing more than a silly game with only a hint of danger. Not enough to scare her, just enough to intrigue her.
“And if I win?” He leaned forward and caught the edge of one loose raven-colored lock off her shoulder and wound it around a finger. “What will you give me, Flora?”
She smacked his hand away. “Get over yourself, Merlin. I’m too old for that shit.”
He laughed. “Please, you’re Greek, and you’ve been returned to your youth. You’ve probably got so much pent-up sexual energy you’re ready to take on a satyr just to release some of it.”
Her jaw dropped. “I may be a priestess of Zeus but that does not mean I’m like him!”
Merlin winked. “Too bad. I always liked you, Flora.”
Color swept over her high, pale cheeks, and her green eyes glittered. Perhaps he was not so far off the mark after all. This would work in his favor if he could keep her eyes on him, and not on what was out there behind the wall.
She looked away from him and to the sphere. “Fine. We will each choose a champion. You want the little girl?”
He nodded, trying not to breathe a sigh of relief. “Yes. We can help them, but not directly influence. If we do that, we’ll draw the attention of the Desert Guardians, and we do not want that.” Worse, they’d draw the attention of the emperor. They did not need him showing up, not until they were ready for him.
She snorted. “No, we don’t want that.”
“We could have them work together,” he paused, “like we are doing. Burying their differences and learning to love perhaps?”
“She’ll never go for it. She hates him.” Flora’s eyes softened. “Worse, she doesn’t trust him—or anyone for that matter. That much I understand.”
In that he did agree, but it had to be offered on the off chance they could make the two desert shifters work together. They would be stronger together, and the oracle had pointed out that it would take two from the desert to tackle Maggi and her guardians.
Flora frowned. “Perhaps in their journey, they will learn to work together.”
“I’m with you on your initial assessment. I doubt it.” He leaned back, but his eyes were not on the sphere. “I mean, look at us. Together, but not working together.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s because you’re a donkey.”
“But a handsome donkey, with much power and a great need to feel your lips on mine.” He grinned as she blushed once more. Yes, there was something between them. He just needed the time to make her see it too. Apparently, he was losing his touch; normally a week was plenty of time to bring the ladies to him.
Of course, taking down the Western European Wall would elevate him in her eyes. He wasn’t entirely sure she realized he’d been the one who built it. At the time, it had seemed prudent to keep the emperor contained. To put the supernaturals inside a very, very large cage, and keep the humans out. Only it hadn’t worked that way. The supernaturals were already too far spread to be contained properly. Which had only meant more walls.
More divisiveness.
Now, the emperor was building his power again. And Merlin was the only one who seemed to realize the danger they were all in. Which meant he had to move fast, and with great discretion to get someone else to do the work for the job he should have done if not for problems he was dealing with. He rubbed the back of his neck. If there was so much as a hint of his magic on the wind, the emperor would sniff it out. He’d have to be damn crafty to help Zamira without using magic. Zamira’s life would be on the line and he wasn’t sure he could so much as light a fire for her without drawing unwanted attention.