“Sounds good to me,” I said, placing a forkful of egg in my mouth to ensure I couldn’t say anything else.
“Yeah, well, yeah . . .” Selene breathed out. “This shouldn’t be hard. I’m over four thousand years old. I’m the daughter of a Titan.” She sighed. “I want our relationship to move forward.”
I swallowed the food. “You mean making it public and the like?”
“Yes . . . no . . . no, not really. I mean move in together.”
That was unexpected. I put my forkful of bacon back on the plate. “Seriously?”
Selene nodded. “I love you, Nate. I’ve always loved you, even when I wasn’t allowed to. Even when I was forced to be married to . . . well, you know. I still loved you. If there’s one thing I learned in the last few years since I finally found my freedom from Hera and her people, it’s that I want to be with you. I missed you. I don’t want to miss you anymore. I don’t want to try to make up for all the time we lost; I just want to make new time.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said, and ate the food on the fork.
Selene stared. “That’s it? I was sort of expecting a little more, you know, excitement.”
“Sounds good to me,” I repeated, but this time I waved my arms in the air.
“You’re an asshole, Nathaniel Garrett.”
I smiled. “I love you, Selene. I’ve probably always loved you. Even when I thought I hated you, I still loved you. If you want to move in with me, then I’m good with that. But are you okay with living here?”
Selene reached across the table and took my hand, rubbing her thumb over the back of my index finger. “Yes, always.”
“Then welcome to your new home, Selene.”
Selene stood and walked around the table, kissing me on the cheek. “I stink,” she whispered. “I need to shower.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” I whispered back. “I didn’t want to sleep on the sofa.”
Selene laughed, which quickly turned into a weird coughing, choking fit that only stopped after she took a drink of water. “Who knew I’d find love with a man less than half my age.”
“Does that mean I’m your boy toy?”
“No, because that’s fucking stupid, and I don’t want to have to hit you when you say it.”
It was a fair point. I finished off my breakfast as Selene went to shower, and had placed my plate in the dishwasher when the alarm to the motion sensors sounded. I walked over to the screen that was fixed to the kitchen wall, one of three in the house, and pressed the button to activate it. A black BMW 5 Series sedan was driving up the winding road to my house. It looked like there were two people in the front, and the rear windows were blacked out, so it was impossible to say if anyone was in the back. I sighed—the morning had been going so well—and removed a Heckler and Koch VP9 from a nearby drawer.
I knew the pistol was loaded—I’d done it myself—but checked anyway. It was indeed loaded. While I could have always used magic against anything that might be considered a threat, not everything in the world of magic and monsters can be hurt with magic, and not everything can be hurt with a bullet to the head. But pretty much everything can be hurt by one of the two, so I knew with the gun at my side and my magic ready to go that anything turning up better be friendly, or better be ready for a hell of a fight.
The last three years, ever since Hera had taken control of London from Brutus, had been fairly quiet. No one had tried to kill me or rule the world, or been a problem that had required me killing a large number of people. Since getting back together with Selene, I’d told Tommy I was going to take a few months off. He’d agreed it was a good idea, and that Avalon and its people appeared to have everything under control. It looked like with Arthur back in the driver’s seat people were behaving themselves, at least for a little while.
I walked through the lower level of my house until I reached the bottom of the stairs. “Selene, you out of the shower?”
“Unwanted guest?” she asked, and walked to the top of the stairs, looking down at me.
“Not sure yet.”
The doorbell rang, and I activated the nearby screen, revealing who stood in front of the door. “Holy shit,” I almost whispered.
“Yeah, I can see who that is. I’ll stay up here, if that’s okay?”
I nodded, waited until she’d walked off before placing the gun on top of a nearby table, and opened the front door, revealing Arthur. King Arthur. Arthur Pendragon. My friend. A man who I never thought I’d be able to see walking around again after Mordred put him in a coma all those centuries ago. A man who mysteriously got better, and took control of Avalon. A man whom I wanted to trust, wanted to believe was going to usher us all into a better age, but I just couldn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him; I just didn’t know where I stood with him. Besides, he was still working with Merlin, and Merlin was all kinds of nasty. He was someone I’d almost thought of as a father figure, but now he wanted me dead. It meant my time of visiting Avalon was past. Frankly, the whole thing made me more than a little weary.
“Nathaniel,” he said. The BMW was parked behind him, and two large bodyguards stood beside it, trying very hard not to look like they were watching the exchange.
“Nate,” I corrected.
“Nate,” Arthur said with a smile. “Can I come in?”
“Sorry, of course,” I almost stammered, pushing the door open and allowing King Arthur to enter my house.
Arthur removed his long black coat, revealing a gray and black business suit. He looked around for somewhere to put his coat.
“In there,” I said to him, pointing to the cloakroom door.
Arthur placed his coat inside and ran his hand through his chestnut hair before offering an awkward smile. He motioned toward the gun. “You expecting company?”
“I’m never sure these days. Too many angry people want me dead.”
“And they’d knock first?”
“I never said they were smart.”
Arthur laughed, and his demeanor changed, revealing just how tightly wound up he’d been beforehand. “How long has it been?”
“I’m not sure if you think it’s a little early for alcohol, but do you want a drink anyway?”
Arthur smiled. “Good Lord, yes.”
I took Arthur through the lower floor of my house to my study, where I removed a bottle of Yamazaki eighteen-year-old whiskey and poured two glasses.
“Japanese whiskey?” Arthur said, lifting the glass and inspecting it. “I expected you to be a Scotch man.”
“I’m a drink-what-tastes-nice man, and this is one of the best I’ve ever had. Certainly better than that swill we used to drink back when we were young.”
Arthur was ten years older than me, but we grew up as friends along with Galahad, Mordred, and several others. It was a friendship that had been tested many times over the years, and not all the bonds that we’d formed had weathered those storms. Mordred had been expected to be the king of Avalon back then, before he was taken and turned into a monster. Before everything we’d been working toward had to change.