Ever My Merlin (Book 3, My Merlin Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

his head. “You are right. I do need to rescue… Excalibur. Someone must, I suppose, since you seem to have the uncanny ability to invite danger.”
    I stared at his smooth expression. It was too easy. One of things that always disturbed me about Vane was how complex his games could be. Now, he possessed a bit of Poseidon inside his body. A destiny he took from Matt.
    I picked through his words carefully until I found the flaw in them. “Can you save everyone?” I added carefully, “Not just me. All of us. Sri Lanka up the coast to Chennai. Kolkotta. Around to Thailand and Indonesia. This whole area.”
    Vane’s lips curved into a chilly smile. “I rather hoped you would ask. Alas, to do that, requires a great expenditure of magic, even for the Earth Shaker. I would have to relieve pressure at the fault lines of two massive tectonic plates. You’re asking me to move a mountain of rock.”
    “Can you do it?” I repeated.
    “If I do, you can rest assured, this entire region would be safe.”
    I gazed over the gulf that separated us, merely a few feet in this imaginary hallway, but a grand canyon of ulterior motives. “In exchange for what, Vane?”
    Hunger sharpened his smile. “You know me too well.”
    The smile set my teeth on edge, even as it strung an already tight chord inside me.
    “Merlin,” he said. “I want his magic. All of it.”
     

CHAPTER 3 – THE LIBRARY

    CHAPTER 3
    THE LIBRARY
     
    “ Y ou are unbelievable!”
    He shrugged.
    I strove to calm myself. I failed. “It’s impossible!”
    “I always thought so, but now that I have the Earth Shaker’s insight—the answer seems so simple. Imagine magic as one layer of a golden onion. It surrounds us. I have the ability to strip it off him and layer it on myself.”
    “You want to skin him?”
    “It won’t kill him,” Vane said.
    I shook my head. “It’s not my choice to make. Matt—”
    Vane moved so quickly I only had time to blink before he was standing directly in front of me. He caught my wrist and pulled me back until I stood toe-to-toe with him. “Merlin is no longer your crutch. This is your decision, sword-bearer. Do you have what it takes to make it? Do you want to stop this tsunami? Or will you allow millions to die because you can’t make a move without Merlin holding your hand?”
    He spat the words out and they fell on me like blows. His fingers gripped the vulnerable part of my arm, fingers that, until quite recently, held me with care. The fingers around me now, though, felt like steel manacles. These fingers would just as easily snap my bones as mend them. The truth was, I didn’t know. While I did depend on Matt, I’d always thought I made my own decisions. After Vane, I wasn’t sure. Had I listened to Matt too much?
    I looked at him steadily. “I don’t trust you.”
    Vane dropped my hand as if it burned him. I let out a breath—of relief and sorrow. I missed him so much even his touch hurt. Watching me, his eyes flashed for a brief second. Then, the mermaid hue of green hooded them again and his expression blanked.
    “You shouldn’t trust me. However, I won’t kill him. Taking his magic won’t give me Merlin’s knowledge so I still need him alive.” He retreated, putting some distance between us. “We are on the same side for the moment. Your friends don’t have long, DuLac. I need your answer now.”
    Mentally, I pulled myself away from him and focused on what was happening. “Why do you want Matt’s magic? You already have more than enough power.” I didn’t expect him to reply. Ideas tumbled around in my head until one stood out. “You need his ability. The Lady said the power of the Earth Shaker would show us what is to come. She meant visions. But she meant for Merlin to take Poseidon’s power. To enhance it. Only Merlin has visions. Not you. When you took it, Poseidon’s power didn’t grant you anything new, only enhanced what you already possessed. Therefore, you will never be able to have