Author: Bella Forrest

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certainly more loyal than before. But I have a veritable mountain of toil to get through, and now those weak specimens have gone and added to it.”

I frowned. “Does that mean Atlantis is off the table for now?”

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” He sneered. “But no, that is not the case. I may not be able to undo what they have done, but I will deal with the djinn and reclaim my otherworld in due time. Atlantis remains my first priority. Sorry to disappoint you. Now, you said you had what I require?”

I held out the tin box. “Yep, all here and accounted for.” Not exactly true, but he had the number he’d asked for.

He lifted the lid and checked the vials before closing it again. “Good work.”

Good work? Seriously? That creeped me out even more. Erebus had become someone I didn’t recognize, distant and wrapped up in his own thoughts, and a little shaken by what had happened with the djinn. No snark or sass, just a simple “good work” for my efforts. Man, whatever he wanted in Atlantis truly had to be worth it if he was paying this price for it. He’d lost his djinn minions, and therefore his pseudo-omniscience, and he’d lost what was probably the only home he’d ever had—I didn’t know much about his origin story, so I couldn’t say for sure. All for the sake of Atlantis.

“The djinn were meant to be part of my legacy in the mortal world. How easily such things are lost… and how unexpectedly that which we create, with painstaking care, can be taken away,” he said, unprompted. “But I might yet regain that chance, that hope, that dream of a legacy, when I leave my mark on Atlantis. It is all I have now.”

Holy butterballs… is he… emoting? Sincerely? His voice sounded faraway, underscored by a hint of pain. This usurpation by the djinn had really hit him hard. And why wouldn’t it? They were his children, in a way, and they’d collectively decided they didn’t want him anymore. I wasn’t about to put my arm around the guy and hand him tissues, or even muster a “there, there” for him, but it made for some weird spectating. The almighty Prince of Darkness, reduced to a lost, worried semi-human before my eyes. Honestly, I had no idea what to do with that.

“I must be going. There is much to do, and no djinn to assist me. But at least I have you, Finch.” Erebus snapped out of it, casting me a sardonic smile. “This is why making deals with mortals is more efficient than granting life to unworthy beasts. I will call on you again in due course. Expect my summons.”

Taking the tin box, he twisted his hand and evaporated in a flash of black smoke and red light, leaving me alone in the darkened alleyway. The scent of decay in my nostrils and the confusion of witnessing a half-broken Erebus bounced around my head. Had he not been a titanic assclown, I might’ve felt sympathy for him. But, the truth was, he’d hit a losing streak, and that felt damn good. His world was unraveling before him, slipping through his fingers.

As I drew a doorway back to the Winchester House, I patted the spare vials of blood in my pocket—my insurance policy. The prospect of my freedom made it impossible to care for Erebus’s suffering, and now that I’d seen him at his lowest point, it made me realize just how weak this road to Atlantis had made him. Nash and I wanted to punish Erebus for his crimes against us, but it looked like the universe had started that ball rolling. If there was any justice, he’d finally find out what it felt like to be brought to a snapping point by circumstances and forces beyond his control, the way he’d done to us.

If I had my way, Erebus wouldn’t leave any legacy at all. In any world.

HARLEY MERLIN 13: Finch Merlin and the Locked Gateway

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