“It’s bigger than that.” Ari needed to tell them about Arthur’s body. About the deal Nin offered to send them all home. But she wasn’t ready for them to reject the plan. She needed an emergency get-the-hell-out-of-the-Middle-Ages button, and ugly as it was, this was it.
Morgause whistled, causing them to all glance up. “The queen approaches.”
Hoofbeats pounded the ground, coming to a stop above. Ari scurried out of the trench to find that Arthur had put Gwen on a dainty, prancing roan—the fool. “We only have minutes,” Gwen said, putting the spurs to her speech. “I suggested taking a ride with Arthur, and thanks to Lionel’s tireless horsebots I have much more practice in the saddle. He’s way behind.” She glared at Morgause. “What’s she doing here?”
“Alternately spying and making out with Lam,” Val said. “But the enchantresses should be on our side in general. They’re not fans of Nin. Avalon is one of the only places Nin can’t spy in on.”
“Okay, I missed something. Recap,” the queen commanded.
“Nin is sometimes hot but possibly evil as fuck,” Ari said. “We’re torn.”
“What was that first part again?” Gwen asked.
“Also, Merlin might have the power to stop her.” Ari took a deep breath. Now that Gwen was here, she had to say it. “King Arthur’s body is in her weird cave. She’s holding him hostage, making the cycle repeat.” Ari tried not to stare at the child who used to be the most powerful magician in the known universe. “She said the cycle is your… prison.”
All was silent in the peat bog, until Gwen spoke. “I suppose time is also passing in the future, and we can’t go home to the night we left.”
“How did you know?”
“We don’t make mistakes like that. I knew there had to be another explanation. So I thought about all the possibilities and… we sent Jordan back wounded into the middle of a planet-wide siege.” Gwen closed her eyes and took a deep, trembling breath before she could continue. “We go home as soon as possible. Before Mercer can do more harm to my people and destroy Ketch. Where’s the chalice?” Merlin looked at Val. Val looked at Merlin. “I saw Arthur give it to Old Merlin at the party.”
“See, that’s the trick,” Merlin rubbed the back of his neck, peat speckles on his face. “When I was going after it, Nin let me know Val was drowning. So I rushed to save him! Which cost me a little too much magic…” Merlin looked down at his body as if exhibiting evidence. “The old monster has had a chance to hide the chalice by now, which could make it impossible to find.”
“Impossible,” Lam repeated slowly.
“Too bad we don’t know someone who thinks exactly like him,” Val said in a scalding tone. It seemed to rile up Merlin in both a good and bad way at the same moment.
“That’s hardly going to work! I don’t remember where I put things down two days ago, let alone several millennia. Not to mention the hole where my memories are meant to be. To ask me to find something I hid in Camelot… Well, if I didn’t want to keep it in Camelot, I’d probably stash it in my crystal cave, but—”
“Your crystal what?” Ari asked.
“Crystal cave,” Val said. “It’s Merlin’s secret apartment that exists out of space and time. I’ve never seen it,” he added with a clip.
“You look for the chalice there,” Ari told Merlin. “I’ll cover for you with the old jerk.”
Val nodded his approval. “I’m coming with.”
Gwen gave a sharp cry. She held her side. “Nobody freak out. It’s false labor.”
“Not… freaking out,” Ari tried to lie as her heart beat rather pointedly. She decided against telling them about Nin’s deal to send them all home at the cost of her own eternal spirit. It’d already been too much for today. Ari looked up at Morgause who was leafing through Jordan’s MercerNotes on King Arthur. “Should she be reading that, Lam?”
“Oh, she can’t read Mercer.”
“Still.” They all watched her. “Is the book on track?”
“No empty pages this morning,” they said.
“So there is good news,” Ari said. When everyone stared, she shrugged. “What? I needed some good news.”
“Lamarack?” Morgause’s voice slipped like ice across hot metal. She turned the book around to reveal a blank page.
Ari snatched the book. “What did we forget to do now?”
Lam exhaled through their teeth, flipping a few pages either way as if confirming their worst suspicions. “This is when Arthur finds out that Lancelot has stolen Gweneviere’s heart.”
Everyone had an opinion as to how Ari and Gwen should get busted by Arthur. Some were more X-rated than others, but in the end, Ari decided on a scenario she’d been dreaming about for what felt like years.
That evening, while the king and his nobles and knights feasted in the great hall, Sir Lancelot entered in gleaming armor. Ari walked straight through the drinking, celebratory masses to the head table where Gwen sat beside Arthur.
“My king, I’d like to dance with your wife.”
“Of course,” Arthur said with such a wide, trusting smile that Ari felt her first true pang. They were going to hurt him. It was the goal.
Gwen graciously got up, and Ari did her best to mimic the patterned and simplified dance styles of the time. They were not alone, dancing with several other partners.
Gwen had a worried little knot between her eyebrows. “I’ve been thinking,” she said under the music. “This isn’t just about making sure the whole stupid love triangle plays out. There are other things we need to make happen. Like the knights of the round table and… I just don’t know when we’re going to be able to leave, do you? We can’t stay, considering the future is growing worse by the hour, and yet if we duck out on
