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

I quickly realized that these weren’t simple questions. They were intended to gauge my body language, my hesitation, and any deceit that might be lingering in my words. I figured I’d done well so far, but it wouldn’t be enough to win Katherine over. She didn’t like the ordinary. She didn’t like the same old people, with the same old answers.

“And what would you say are your greatest strengths and weaknesses, aside from your abilities?” Katherine continued. I was about to make a very risky move, and I prayed it paid off.

I smiled. “I get why you’re doing this, Eris—asking all the simple, businesslike questions to try and gauge my body language and read between the lines. Also, I’m pretty sure you’ve got people at the hut right now, checking for the surveillance hexes. I should warn you, you won’t find any. We aren’t stupid. That was the first thing we looked for. If you want to know our deepest, darkest secrets, then ask us outright. You don’t need to bother with all this fluff. We’ve got nothing to hide.”

Dangerous silence drifted across the arena, peppered by a hissing gasp that rose up from the crowd. I doubted anyone had ever spoken this boldly to Katherine before, but I was certain I was doing the right thing. Either that, or it would get us killed. The thing was, she admired strength and ferocity above all other things; that was why she had a freaking tigress as her lieutenant.

Beside me, Finch had turned pale, gawking at me in disbelief. But the truth was, I wasn’t willing to play Katherine’s game. If I did, I got the feeling it would get us both rejected. She wanted exceptional soldiers, not your everyday, run-of-the-mill sheeple.

I fixed my gaze on Katherine. Her expression hadn’t changed. It still carried that hint of dark amusement that always rested on her face.

“I’m curious, Volla. Why are you choosing to do this, in the middle of your last trial? You know it could get you killed, right?”

I smiled brazenly. “I’m aware of the consequences, Eris, but you need people who think outside the box. You need people who have minds of their own, not coven drones and hapless rejects with nowhere else to go. Pieter and I have stayed alive, and under the radar, for this long precisely because we’re neither of those things.” I put my hand on Finch’s shoulder and squeezed it. “Pieter might come across as compliant, but that’s because you made him nervous. Beneath all that, he’s just like me. We’ve answered all the simple questions we’re going to. If you want the truth, the really good stuff, then it’s time to lay it all out in the open. Just say the word.”

For the longest time, Katherine said nothing, and I began to think I’d made the wrong move in calling her out like that. Finch’s shoulder was as tense as a rock under my hand, letting me know he was thinking the exact same thing. Well, go big or go home, right? Although, here, the option was live or die.

And then, she laughed. A bright, wild laugh that shattered the tension in the arena. “I have to say, I’m impressed by you, Volla. You remind me a little of myself at your age. Fearless. I like fearless.”

I’m not a Shipton, Katherine. I’m a Merlin. And Merlins don’t bow down to people like you.

“Good, because I’m not in the market for a skin-slashing. Do you know how many moisturizers it takes to get skin this smooth?” I shot back, grinning through sheer relief.

She held her stomach as she collapsed in hysterics. “You know, others bend over backward to try and win me over, but you—you seem to have gone for a different approach. And it’s so very refreshing. Really, it’s like a breath of fresh air.” She paused. “Although, naturally, it doesn’t mean you have won me over. That remains to be seen. Yes, this should be interesting. Very interesting.”

“Ask whatever you want.”

She stopped laughing and smiled strangely. “Very well, then I have my question. If you get it right, you get to live. If your reply doesn’t satisfy me, you die. Sound fair?”

“I’ve got no complaints.”

Her eyes darkened. “Who is your intelligence source on the National Council?”

“You heard about that, huh?”

“Naima tells me everything. I want to verify your source with my own, to make sure we’re all on the same page here.” She chuckled wryly. “You see, you aren’t the only ones with information. I’ve got my own mole in the National Council, and I’d hate to get any wires crossed.”

Bullcrap!

“You don’t have a mole in the National Council, Eris. If you did, you’d know who the traitor within this organization is.” The words poured out of me before I could stop them, impulse and adrenaline driving me to call her bluff. “You’d have had them strung up like a Christmas ham and let them dangle from one of your titans like an ornament. You’d have made an example out of them so everyone would know what happens to snitches. They don’t get stitches, they get a noose around their neck.”

Katherine smirked but said nothing, while another gasp went up from the crowd. Nobody spoke to Katherine like this and got away with it.

“I won’t reveal our source to you, Eris, because it’s the only way to keep our source safe. A secret isn’t a secret once more than one person knows about it, Pieter being the obvious exception,” I continued, spurred on by pure energy. “And, no offense, but I don’t trust anyone. You’d be foolish not to feel the same way, and I know you aren’t a fool.”

The tension around the arena was at an all-time high, everyone’s gazes flitting between me and Katherine like they were spectators at a tennis match. They were clearly shocked by this exchange. Beside me, Finch looked like he was about to keel over.

“Oh, I like you, Volla Mazinov,” Katherine purred, at last. “Here I was, thinking I’d get the usual bowing and scraping, and then you come along like a blonde bulldozer and make my day that little bit more interesting.”

“You’ll have to spell it out for me, Eris. Are we dying today?”

She chuckled. “You could set cities on fire with that fighting spirit. I’d love to let you loose amongst some of my more stubborn enemies. As for whether or not you’re going to die today?” She tapped a finger on her chin. “Let’s just say, I’m content with the answers you’ve given. Well, I can’t do anything if you suddenly get bitten by a poisonous snake the moment you leave this arena and end up with jelly for blood. But you won’t be dying by my hand or anyone else’s here.”

“So we’re in?” I asked. Finch visibly relaxed.

“Welcome to the Cult of Eris, my children,” she replied with a nod.

I thought I might unravel with relief, but I had to keep up the act. I dipped my head in a casual bow and kept my gaze fixed on the devil herself. “Thank you, Eris. We won’t disappoint you. You won’t find more loyal soldiers than my brother and me.”

“Don’t ruin it now, Volla. My ass has been kissed enough for one day,” she retorted, grinning. “But your day is not yet done. Now that you’ve been welcomed into the cult, it’s time for the pledge. The last step before you can call yourselves true followers of Eris. Naima, if you would care to do the honors?”

I turned over my shoulder to find Naima prowling toward us with a small iron pot in her hands. I could see a surface of solid gold inside, and my heart lurched at the sight of it. Behind her, Tess carried the rest of the tools needed to make the Apple of Discord tattoo. Although, “tattoo” didn’t really cover it. This wasn’t a simple tattoo—this was going to be a freaking pot of molten gold poured right into the skin, branding me forever.

This is going to hurt.





Twenty-Six





Harley





“Kneel,” Naima growled. Finch and I didn’t wait to be told twice, even though I wanted to run across the black disc of the arena and dive over the edge, just to avoid this. Molten metal combined with skin could only mean a world of pain.

“This is going to tickle, right?” I tried to keep up the devil-may-care attitude of Volla, but it was proving difficult.

Naima cast me a stern look. “The pain is part of your rite of passage.”