Free Ever My Merlin (Book 3, My Merlin Series) by Priya Ardis

brother and apparently second-in-command, carried the torch, setting the six funeral pyres ablaze. His eyes were red with unshed tears. We stepped back as he said his final goodbye to the dead wizards, his friends, and his brother.
    Six. It was not a good number, and I had to wonder at life’s design, which extracted souls so capriciously. My mother. Alexa. Blake.
    Blake wasn’t included in the pyre. Matt contacted the First Member of the Wizard Council and Blake’s body was to be rushed home to England by special arrangement. It helped to have connections in the British government.
    Tears fell from my eyes for all of them. I didn’t have the energy to brush the drops away. So many had died today, ultimate sacrifices for those they left behind. I pictured Blake’s kind eyes and the way he used to fiddle with his geeky, black glasses whenever he was nervous. How he’d always been there for me. He embodied everything it meant to be a knight.
    My hands tightened on the strap of the fabric bag I was holding.
    I would not forget this day.
    Fierce wind blew dust in my face. I glanced at Matt’s silent profile next to me. He stared, stone-faced, at the glorious blaze lapping at the sky. Light danced across his high cheekbones, shadowing them, in a remarkably similar way to his brother. Despite Vane being slightly older, they could have almost passed for twins. Except for the eyes. Matt’s usually brooded. Today, they just looked bleak.
    He didn’t return my look. Instead, he stared at the blazing conflagration. I turned back to the funeral. A wizard, dressed in the wrap-around, white sarongs that priests wore in India, stepped forward, muttering a long phrase. He threw a handful of white rice into the fire as part of a last rites ceremony. Nearly a hundred wizards stood in the clearing, a somber crowd all clad in white funeral dress. I took a deep breath, inhaling heat and smoke. It scorched my nostrils and burned the hairs a bit. Its sharp scent went straight to my brain, leaving me a little dizzy; and although it made me feel somewhat more alive, it did nothing to alleviate the cold, hard weight pressing down on my chest.
    I turned and began to walk away. My restless legs refused to hold still anymore. Grey, who was standing just behind me, caught my sleeve. He gave me a questioning look. His skin pallor looked like ash, and and Gia held him onto him to keep upright. The gash on her head was healed, but she still wasn’t okay. She didn’t look at me. Or anyone. Instead, she stared off at a point in space, silent tears streaking her cheeks as she looked for something that was now long gone.
    I couldn’t breathe. I swayed in place. Grey’s grip tightened. I let myself draw from his support and straightened. Slipping out of his hold, I kept going. I crossed the edge of the clearing and went down the dirt path to a white concrete house, nestled deep within the woods. The sky darkened over the rectangular house. Two stories high, it had a huge, covered veranda in the front. The SUVs we’d been driving hugged the side of the house. I also noticed a Jeep and several sedans. The place was some kind of safe house for the wizards.
    I went up a short flight of steps and hurried past empty rocking chairs that invited you to enjoy the balminess of a sultry evening. I spotted a doorway that led straight into the main part of the house. I stumbled across a tree stump as large as an easy chair and sat down. Inside, open-air seating around a square courtyard revealed more blue sky. Gauzy, white curtains framed the open wall of the seating area. As functional as they were decorative, they would be closed as soon as night fell, to ward off mosquitoes.
    Like many traditional houses in India, it was built around a central, square courtyard. At its core, a thick mango tree showed small green fruit starting to emerge from dense branches. I crossed the seating area and went to the next section of the house, where two long, wooden tables took