Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) (49 page)
Read Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) Online
Authors: Megan Joel Peterson,Skye Malone
If not more.
“You said–”
“I found a journal,” Cole replied without looking back. “There was a safe in the library floor, hidden under some carpets. We were moving the desks and…” He shook his head. “It talked about everything.
Everything.
What he did, what happened to her. Why he thought she’d…”
“Who?” Ashe asked when he trailed off.
He paused, his hand on the door handle. “My mom.”
She stared as he yanked open the door and strode inside.
Cool air filled the lobby and sunlight streamed from the windows set high beneath the arched ceiling. Corridors stretched off the enormous room and on the other side of the expanse of earth-toned tile, the front desk waited against the wall. A man in a white coat stood by it, and as they entered, he turned.
“Welcome,” he said with a smile. “Would one of you be Mr. Jamison?”
“Cole,” came the short response.
Ashe glanced over. He barely seemed to be breathing.
The man gave no sign of noticing as he crossed the room and then reached out, shaking Cole’s hand. “The director called to say you’d be coming.” He gestured to the leftmost corridor. “If you’ll follow me?”
At Cole’s nod, the man turned, leading the way. Cole started after him and then hesitated, glancing back as though feeling the pressure of her gaze.
“My dad bound her,” he whispered as they followed the doctor. “After… after he started the war. He told Brogan he’d kill her, told him he
had
killed her, because he worried that, as a Merlin, the Blood would see her as a threat to all they were trying to do. And he was afraid of what she’d think… how she’d look at him in response to what he felt had to happen. So he said he’d kill her himself, and then he bound her and took her away. He’d been paying for this place out of some account Harris and I hadn’t found yet, and he told the doctors she was crazy. That she thought she was a wizard and had magic and all sorts of stuff, and then he paid them to have her stay here under another name. Claimed he didn’t want to shame the family or whatever to keep them quiet. But he didn’t kill her. He couldn’t. He wanted her to understand. To see that what he’d done was right and made the world safe for… for us.”
Cole paused. “He thought he could explain it to her someday.”
The doctor came to a stop ahead. “Despite her medication, she’s been relatively agitated these past few weeks, which forced us to sedate her several times. We took her off the current dose, however, when we received your call. She should be becoming more lucid shortly.” He hesitated, looking to the door. “If you need anything, please let me know.”
At their nod, the doctor walked away.
Cole didn’t move.
“It’s okay,” Lily said quietly, taking his hand.
He glanced down, trying and failing to mirror her small smile. His eyes closed as he reached for the handle, and when he drew a breath, Ashe could hear it tremble.
Cole pulled open the door.
On a narrow twin bed, a woman was seated, her gaze on the window taking up the far wall. Sunlight poured through the glass, lighting on long brunette hair the exact shade of Cole’s own and catching on her pale skin as she turned toward the sound of the door.
Tremulous shock and joy rose in her warm brown eyes. “Cole?”
“Mom.”
He crossed the room as she rose, her hand clutching the bed for support, and when he came near, she reached out and then pulled him close, hanging on as though she’d never let go.
Ashe leaned on the doorframe, watching them both, and smiled.
The End.
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Other titles
The Awakened Fate series
(published under the name Skye Malone)
The Children and the Blood trilogy
About the author
Megan Joel Peterson lives somewhere between the cornfields of Illinois and fantasy worlds filled with magic and wizards. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Illinois, and has worked a little bit of everywhere over the years. Now she spends her days and nights creating new stories, and thinks writing is the best job for which she ever could have asked.
Connect with Megan:
Website:
www.meganjoelpeterson.com
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/meganjopeterson
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/meganjoelpeterson
Acknowledgements
This trilogy,
The Children and the Blood
, started out as a 30,000 word novella I wrote many years ago, and back then, it was known simply as Merlin’s Children. Ashe, as well as Lily and Cole – who were, at the time, called Hannah and Paul – were characters that never left me through all the years that followed.
I’m so grateful I’ve had the opportunity to share them with you now.
My thanks go to you for reading this series, and to all those who have left such positive reviews, shared book news, talked about how much they enjoy these stories, and encouraged me in publishing this trilogy. Your support means more than I can say.
My thanks also go to my friends and family. You all are a gift for which I am immensely grateful and I am so glad you are in my life.
To my mom and sister, Mary Ann and Keri Offenstein, you keep me going. You believe in me even when I don’t always believe in myself. Thank you.
Eugene Peterson, my husband, deserves so much credit for these stories. From talking with me through myriad plot points, to spending hours formatting the electronic editions, to even taking a jeweler’s eyepiece to printed fonts just to learn their point sizes down to the millimeter, he has had a hand in almost every stage of this process. Simply put, these books wouldn’t exist without him.
And last, but of course not least, to God. For everything in this journey – twists, turns and all – thank you.
Blurb
The stakes of the war have never been higher.
But what will be the cost to win?
Ashe knows loss, knows sacrifice and pain. Her allies are scattered and too many lie dead. The Blood are stronger than ever and more connected than she could have imagined.
But the worst is yet to come. The war has taken so many people she loves.
Now it just might take everyone who’s left.
Table of Contents