Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris (Harley Merlin, #6)

He met my gaze and pulled me to a halt, leaning in to kiss me tenderly on the lips. The rest of the coven melted away as I looped my arms around that neck Naima wanted to snap and kissed him back with heartfelt desire. He was the one good thing to have come out of the wreckage. It felt weird to put a label on what we were, but we were officially a couple now, and that was just… amazing.

“So, where to now, since you’ve put O’Halloran in a foul mood and stunted your training for the day?” Wade smiled as he pulled away, interlacing his fingers with mine.

“Infirmary.”

“Why, are you sick?” He jumped into Crowley protection mode, which made my heart swell with affection. He’d been obsessed with my wellbeing since the Suppressor break, which was both cute and sort of annoying. At every meal, I found more food being shoveled onto my plate and an endless supply of superfood smoothies, with a side dish of vitamin pills, being slid across the table toward me.

I shook my head. “No, I want to talk to Krieger about Ephemeras to see if he can make one to help me and Finch with the cult infiltration.” Ephemeras were the one-use magical artifacts that could take the power of another and give it to someone else. I’d been thinking about them for a while, knowing having one in our possession might come in handy for infiltrating either Purgatory or the cult itself.

Wade froze beside me, his muscles tightening. “This again?”

“What do you mean, ‘this again?’ Of course it’s ‘this again.’ Until we can get Finch out of there and get on with stopping the third ritual, it’s always going to be ‘this again.’ You won’t change my mind that this is our best shot.”

“I’m not saying it’s not our best shot, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea to get Finch involved. He’s a loose cannon at best, a very clever double agent at worst.”

I cast him a withering look. “Katherine tried to have him killed, Wade. He’s not a double agent anymore. Loose cannon, maybe, but he’s not still working for her. No way. You saw him yourself—he’s done with her.”

“She’s his mother, Harley. He’ll never be done with her.”

“He’ll never be able to forgive that kind of betrayal. I genuinely believe in his hatred of her, if nothing else. That’s enough to put him on our side.”

He shrugged. “You want to put all of our trust in a ball of hate?”

“Beats the alternative. I’d say putting all our eggs in one hateful basket is a pretty savvy thing to do. Hate is powerful. You just have to look at Katherine to know how true that is.” I smiled at him and squeezed his hand, even though we were bickering. “Love is powerful, too. Katherine killed Adley, and Finch won’t forgive that, either.”

He turned toward me and lifted his hand to my face, brushing my cheek with his thumb. He looked torn, as if he wanted to really let loose with his thoughts, but he didn’t know if he should. We were still trying to work out the kinks in our new dynamic, and learning to keep business and pleasure separate was proving to be the hardest part. I’d lost track of the times we’d been kissing or snuggled up with a movie, only to end up talking about Levi and the National Council. They weren’t exactly mood-setting topics, that was for sure.

Regardless, my heart still pounded like a caged kangaroo every time I was near him, and the pure love and desire radiating out of him let me know he felt the same. We could bicker as much as we liked, and we’d still want to get all tangled up with each other afterward. That was the way we’d always been, aside from the tangling… but I liked that change very much, especially now that I knew the Suppressor had nothing to do with it. The desire to tear open Wade’s very expensive shirts was all my own, no Suppressor leak necessary. Starting to sound like a maniac now, Merlin.

“I’m just worried, that’s all,” he said with a sigh.

“You’re always worried.”

He smirked. “Even so, this situation has me even more worried than normal.”

“The breaking into Purgatory part?”

He shook his head. “That’s risky, which is putting it mildly, but the bit that comes after that worries me the most. Finch’s offer to help might just be a ploy to get himself out of Purgatory. What if he makes a run for it once he’s free?”

“He wants revenge on Katherine as much as we do. He won’t run. He won’t have the chance to.”

“You’re infuriating, do you know that?” He took his hand from my face and dragged me along the corridor toward the infirmary. Victory!

I chuckled. “You do tend to tell me at any given opportunity.”

“Okay, Ephemeras aside for now, considering how rare they are, how would we even begin to go about getting Finch out of Purgatory? Hypothetically speaking, of course.”

I grinned. “Of course. Well, I’ve actually been thinking about using Santana and her—” My voice died on my lips as Levi came barreling around the corner, with Alton at his side. Like a guilty schoolboy, Wade dropped my hand and put his arms behind his back, which made me stifle a giggle.

“Oh. You two.” Levi shot us both his customary glare, which I ignored.

“Good afternoon, Harley, Wade.” Alton dipped his head in a little bow and flashed us a conspiratorial smile. He’d stayed on as Levi’s assistant after everything that had happened, but it was still strange to see him in such a lowly position.

Levi eyed me curiously. “I hope you’re not up to anything untoward. You’re to keep to the coven and refrain from doing anything reckless. I realize that’s a constant struggle for you, but I must insist upon it.” His tone was cold and distant, though his eyes burned with the familiar contempt I’d gotten used to.

I gave him a saccharine smile. “Who, me? Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“After the mess you made with the president, I don’t want you anywhere near the investigation against Katherine. Do I make myself clear?” He puffed out his chest like an overstuffed pigeon.

For the millionth time, geez. “You’ve made yourself very clear, Director Levi. I’ve just been training with O’Halloran, and now I’m off to… uh, attend to some business regarding my abilities. A bit of research. I trust that’s okay with you?”

It was getting increasingly difficult to play the part of diligent magical, when all I wanted to do was scream at him that this was as much my fight as anyone else’s, if not more. Then again, I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of a slinging match. It was in my best interest to stay on his good side.

He arched an eyebrow. “Hmm. Well then, I suppose that’s agreeable.”

“Thank you, Director.” I gave a small bow, similar to Alton’s, and kept the sweet smile on my face.

You’re getting good at this. I didn’t know if it was the increase of Chaos inside me or what, but my ability to be calculated and deceitful was becoming particularly sharp. I wondered if that made me more like Katherine, but I quickly brushed the thought away. No, my manipulation was just a means of getting closer to Katherine and her cult so I could achieve my end goal of destroying them. The old rules didn’t apply anymore.

“I must reiterate how dangerous you’ve become,” Levi continued, just when I thought he’d stopped. “Your very presence here may endanger us all, given the loose grip you have over your supposed ‘balance.’ I, for one, do not believe you have achieved any balance at all.”

“I take it that means I’m still not allowed to do any investigative work? Even outside of the Katherine Shipton issue?” I asked wryly.

“Not until you have truly mastered these abilities of yours. You’re not permitted to join in the investigation against Katherine, nor will you leave the premises. We will leave the hunt for Katherine in the more capable hands of the National Council and their security teams. You are much too personally involved in this to think clearly and act rationally.”