She shook her head in amusement. No matter what was happening, no matter how busy they became, she always tried to make it back to spend some time with Lily. It helped that the joint headquarters for all the wizards had been placed in a city not too far from their new home, and that with their stronger powers, the wizards had discovered they could push the distances of portals farther than before. So far, she’d managed not to miss a day, even if sometimes she had to resort to playing the trump card of the whole queen thing.
Life had become so different since the end of the war. Politics now dominated everything, and demanded balancing acts that sometimes even Elias and Cornelius couldn’t believe. Half the Merlin still wanted the council to speak for her, while the rest wanted each former member removed. The Taliesin were much the same, despite Brentworth’s agreement to acknowledge Cole as heir to the throne, though they had the added trouble of some among their number who still believed the Blood had been right all along. Maintaining the peace process was hard, especially in light of those who’d rather do anything but compromise, and it had swiftly become a full-time job that, if they weren’t careful, would perpetually keep her and Cole away from home.
It made them both crazy, even if she knew he was as grateful as her that they’d at least reached the point where their people were talking, rather than just trying to kill each other all the time. And though they technically represented what most continued to view as different sides, it was still a relief to be able to come home and vent about the stupidities they both perceived.
There’d never really been a discussion of the three of them not staying together. Lily wouldn’t hear of leaving Cole now that, like them, his family was gone. Within a week of the war’s end, they’d moved to the manor in rural upstate New York that, along with the rest of Jamison’s property, now belonged to his son. It’d been hard for her, at first, to stay where the man who killed her family had lived, but with the constant flow of wizards coming and going and the pressure of day-to-day needs from all sides, the discomfort was slowly beginning to dissipate and just leave the place feeling like home.
Overall, she had to admit the changes had mostly been for the better – not counting the politics and nonsense that seemed to accompany it. The threat of the ferals had vanished overnight, owing to the fact their prey could not only spot them a mile off, but had become magically impervious to boot. Those who could be identified had been taken into custody, and plans were in the works to try them according to the laws that existed before the war. And of the rest still out there, the advantages of seriously considering a new lifestyle seemed to be quickly sinking in.
For their part, the former cripples kept their distance from the wizards, though Spider and Bus had still been by to see her plenty of times. Their work kept them both busy, as most of their efforts now were focused on setting up shelters where their own people could come and start rebuilding their lives after the war. Nothing much identified the buildings beyond the symbol of Bus’ own creation that he said meant ‘nice place, bring food’, but when they’d last stopped by, they’d told her they already had twenty such locations throughout the country, mostly courtesy of the network Carter had built. And although they still tended to go silent whenever someone else walked into the room, they didn’t let their feelings toward the majority of wizards stop them from helping her from time to time. Two months back, they’d uncovered the Blood, Isabella, hiding in a five-star hotel in San Francisco, and every few weeks seemed to bring another short phone call to tell her where more troublemakers could be found.
Thelma had been given a new home in the care of some of Katherine’s best healers, and gradually, she was rediscovering life among her own. She still clung to her cats – though most of the wizards had taken to owning a pet or two, simply for the novelty – and occasionally drifted into talking about the distant past like everyone else had been there, but she was steadily becoming a favorite of the historically inclined on both of the former sides, and was loving every minute of the attention.
Harris had moved into an apartment not too far from the manor and spent most of his time flying around the country, helping Cole piece together his father’s empire and locate the money Brogan had hidden away. The detective had only returned to Utah once, owing to difficulties with his department about which he’d never really gone into detail, but after the short trip with Katherine, a weight seemed to leave him, and lately he’d looked more at peace than she’d ever seen.
“I can still bring back a few of Butterscotch’s new kittens, right?” Lily asked.
Ashe blinked, the question pulling her from her thoughts. “Yeah, Cole’s already warned the pilot he’ll be taking them back for us on the plane.”
“Cool,” Lily said, her lips twitching with an excited grin.
She buried a smile as the girl kept walking. It’d been a good three months, despite the stress of working out some new issue between the wizards every day. And if negotiations and politics were the worst things she ever had to deal with again, there was no way she’d claim to be anything but happy.
The trees parted as the path came to an end, leaving them on the broad swath of grassland leading to their home.
“So where to tomorrow?” Lily prompted.
Ashe smothered a chuckle. Miles of forest and hills surrounded the sprawling manor, and she was developing the sneaking suspicion that Lily planned to explore every inch of them.
“There’s the path south of the conservatory that we haven’t tried yet,” she offered.
“Perfect! But can we start early? I think I saw a family of deer not far from–”
A crash from the house brought them up short. The door to the patio flew open and Cole raced out, his feet skidding on the ice and snow.
His eyes swept the yard and then went wide at the sight of them.
“He lied!” Cole yelled.
Ashe didn’t move, her shields dropping cautiously. Behind her, Lily began to squirm in her grip.
“What?” she shouted back.
He didn’t answer as he rushed down the steps. “Come on!” he called, waving an arm at them.
With an uncomfortable noise, Lily broke out of her grasp and started through the snow.
Warily, Ashe followed. “What’s going on?”
“Nathaniel and Gavin are waiting at the portal,” he replied, taking Lily’s hand and hurrying back into the house. “I’ll explain when we get there.”
Brow drawing down, she continued after him. “Get where?”
He didn’t respond. Swiftly, he helped Lily out of her winter coat and tossed it aside, and then turned, catching himself as if suddenly recalling that her sister rarely bothered to use one.
“Cole, seriously,” Ashe stated flatly.
“Come on,” he said again.
She followed him to the portal. Nathaniel and Gavin bowed at the sight of them, half a dozen of the royal guard at their side.
“The doctor has been told to expect you,” Nathaniel said to Cole.
She looked up in alarm, but the wizard didn’t say anything more as he headed into the portal. Exasperatedly, she went through after him.
Light and sound blurred, depositing them in city after city. Gavin and Nathaniel traded off, creating portals as the other stood guard, until finally they stepped out onto a sidewalk beneath a cloudless blue sky.
“Cole, where the hell are we?” Ashe asked, eyeing the palm trees swaying in the faintly salty breeze.
“San Diego.”
Without another word, he started across the street, heading for a white mission-style building. An archway stood before the entrance, with gold letters glinting in the sunlight.
Her brow drew down at the words and she glanced to Cole. He seemed as tense as she’d ever seen him.
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…” H
e 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
Title
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
Afterword
Acknowledgements
Blurb
Back Cover
Table of Contents
Title
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
C
hapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
Afterword
Acknowledgements
Blurb
Back Cover
Table of Contents
Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) Page 39
