Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) (36 page)

“Is that–”

“What is wrong with her?” Jamison interrupted coldly.

“What…” Tanya repeated. “
I
don’t know. Howard just–”

“Did he tell you the nature of her condition?”

“I don’t think he knew,” she retorted, her annoyance for the interruptions clear. “She just lost most of her magic the night the war started. That’s all he’d say.”

Brogan saw Isabella glance to them, but the king ignored her.

“She was there?” Jamison asked.

“Yeah. Council kept it hushed up, but Howard said they found her in the house.” She looked between them. “Why?”

No one answered her. For a moment, Jamison regarded the girl, and then glanced to Brogan and Isabella.

“The old woman,” Brogan reminded him.

Jamison looked away.

Tanya’s brow drew down. “What old woman?”

“Was there anyone associated with the family who shared the girl’s condition?” Jamison asked. “Perhaps someone who was also there that night?”

“No,” Tanya replied, her tone narrowly avoiding outright disrespect. “She was the only one at the house who survived. And nobody ever ended up looking human from an explosion.” She paused, seeming to realize who she was talking to. “I mean…”

Her gaze flitted uncomfortably over them.

Jamison didn’t take his eyes from the conference room door.

The silence stretched, interspersed with the rustle of Tanya shifting her weight and the quiet sucking noises of her daughter investigating the taste of her thumb.

“Would you like me to remove them from the room now, sire?” Isabella asked carefully, an eyebrow arching over her pale blue eyes.

For a moment longer, Jamison studied the door. “Not yet.” He glanced back to Tanya. “You say ‘most of her magic’. She still possessed some?”

“Patrick bound something.”

Again, her tone edged toward insolence, and Brogan could see Isabella tense in response.

“Don’t,” Jamison ordered without looking at them. “It will help the girl to see a Merlin with us.” The barest hint of a smile touched his lips as he watched the woman. “But make certain she stays silent.”

Indignation tried to surface in Tanya’s eyes, but at a look from Isabella, it withered. At the Blood’s direction, she retreated with her daughter to the far corner of the room.

“Wake her,” Jamison said.

Brogan stepped from the girl’s line of sight as Isabella reached over, briefly resting her fingers on the child’s neck.

The little girl gasped, her eyes flying open. Swiftly, she looked around, her gaze lighting across Jamison, Isabella, Tanya and the other child.

“Wha– where–” she started, her magic flickering up in response to her fear.

And then it was gone.

Her attention snapped back to Jamison.

“Hello, Lily,” he said gently.

The girl trembled.

“I’m sorry for that,” he continued. “I promise I’ll give it back soon.”

“You’re Cole’s dad,” she whispered.

He nodded. “I can’t imagine he’s said too many nice things about me lately. We kind of had a fight, you see.”

She didn’t answer. He smiled anyway.

“Cole misunderstood something and it made him angry at me. But sometimes that happens in families. You get into fights. But in the end, you still love each other. You’d still do anything to keep each other safe.”

She barely seemed to be breathing.

“Kind of like he’d do anything for you,” Jamison finished.

The girl didn’t move.

“He wanted to bring you here. Did he tell you that? This was his plan to keep you safe.”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t want to come back.”

“I’m sure that’s what he said. People say a lot of things when they’re upset. You know that, right? How you can say stuff when you’re fighting that you don’t really mean?”

Distrust radiated from the girl in waves, but in the seat, she shifted uncomfortably.

“He told me himself that he wanted you to stay with us,” Jamison continued. “How he hoped you’d help us. We even have a room set up for you, right by his. Does that sound like something we’d do if he didn’t want you here?”

She looked away. Brogan moved silently to stay out of her view.

“Ashley said you killed my mom,” she replied after a moment.

Jamison grimaced ruefully, playing along with the topic change. “Ashley’s right,” he admitted with difficulty. “I did. It was a mistake, Lily. In a war, people sometimes make horrible mistakes. And I know I can’t just say I’m sorry and make it go away. But I am. Sorry, I mean. I just…”

He shook his head, seeming for all the world as if he was at a loss for words. Brogan suppressed a smile.

The king drew a breath. “Cole said you were a smart girl, though. He said you could understand. We never wanted to hurt you. Or your family. We wanted to make peace, but things… they just got out of hand. And I am sorry for that. Truly.”

Lily said nothing.

“Could you help us, Lily? We just want peace. That’s all.”

For a moment, the girl remained silent. Briefly, she turned to look at Isabella, Tanya and the child.

“They said you wanted to kill everybody.”

The shock on Jamison’s face appeared nothing but genuine. “
Kill
everybody?” he repeated. He closed his eyes as though pained. “Is… is
that
what Cole thought?” He exhaled, seeming appalled. “No wonder he left.”

He looked at her imploringly. “We want to stop the people who like this war. The ones who won’t quit fighting. We just need to take their magic so they can’t hurt anyone.”

She paused. “What about you, then?”

His brow drew down confusedly.

“You keep hurting people.”

“No, no. We’re not like that,” he countered, his tone almost begging for her to understand. “We don’t want to hurt anybody. Really. To be honest, we’re a lot like your sister. After all, isn’t Ashley just trying to stop the war?”

The king waited. Her head gave a hint of a nod.

Jamison smiled. “That’s all we’re doing too.”

“But you’re not like her.”

“How so? Your sister defends the ones she loves, doesn’t she? That’s all I’m trying to do. And the people who’ve died…” He grimaced reluctantly. “Well, the people Ashley’s killed…”

He trailed off. “You know she’s killed people, right?” he asked awkwardly.

The girl shifted uneasily and Brogan read the fact that she did from the compassion that filled Jamison’s eyes.

“I really believe she’s just doing it because she’s trying to protect you,” he said as though searching for the bright side of a tragedy. “And I’m sure she’s only hurting the people she thinks are a threat. But we can help her not need to do that anymore. We can stop the war and… and maybe Ashley can just be Ashley again. I mean, I have to think all the stress of worrying for you has left her not quite the same as she used to be.” He waited a heartbeat. “Right?”

She shifted in the chair again.

“You can help her, Lily. I know all she wants is not to be afraid for you anymore. We can give her that, me and you.”

For a long moment, the child said nothing, her eyes on her arms clutched tightly across her stomach, and Brogan could only gauge her expression by the beseechingly hopeful look that remained on Jamison’s face.

“Ashley stops the bad people,” the girl said, almost more to herself than the king. “She just wants us to be safe again.”

“And all we’re asking is for you to help us make that happen,” Jamison urged gently. “For Ashley and Cole, and all the
good
people out there.”

The little girl didn’t answer, but Brogan could tell what was happening anyway. With every second that slid past, she seemed to shrink further in on herself, while slowly, the king’s lip crept toward a smile.

And then she shook her head.

“No,” she whispered.

Jamison’s brow twitched up.

“You’re a liar,” she continued softly. “That’s why Cole left. He didn’t want me here, and he’s probably coming to get me right now.” She trembled. “And Ashley will
never
be like you.”

“Lily, that isn’t the truth. Please, we want the same–”

“I know the truth,” the little girl interrupted.

She looked up at the king.

“I know my sister is going to stop you too.”

*****

Car doors slammed and the murmur of hurried conversation rose and fell in sharp waves. Tension traveled with the sounds, growing stronger as more cars arrived in the parking lot of Joe’s new restaurant.

Climbing from the back seat of the fastest vehicle Bus could steal, Ashe barely noticed. On the outside, she supposed the time between Banston and Croftsburg looked like it’d done a lot toward calming her down, though she wouldn’t have actually described it that way. Focused was more like it, and she could feel it in the fact she couldn’t take her eyes from the place they’d been for the last twenty miles.

There wasn’t anything remarkable about Chaunessy. There never had been. Maybe seventy identical stories of steel and mirrored glass, ending in a flat roof, the building was as uninspired as they came. Other skyscrapers surrounded it, topped with enough tiered crenellations to make a gothic architect weep or sheer asymmetrical slopes that looked designed to cut the air. Dozens of lighted pinnacles glinted faintly in the afternoon sun, all promising multicolored splendor when night finally came.

Among them, Chaunessy was nothing.

Except that it had her sister inside.

“He won’t hurt her.”

Ashe looked over, not having noticed Cole come up. Expressionless, he was watching the skyscraper as though he could see through its walls to his father.

“Why are you helping us, Cole?” she asked.

For a moment, he didn’t move. “I can’t let him do this,” he answered quietly.

Her brow flickered down as he glanced to her, and when he looked away again, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

He still hoped he could change his dad’s mind. She could tell it as clearly as if he’d said the words aloud.

And after everything else the man had done, she couldn’t see how that would be possible.

“Your highness,” Elias called.

She blinked, looking over her shoulder. Halfway across the restaurant parking lot, Elias waited, other wizards filing past him to head inside.

Doubt moved through her as she glanced back to Cole, but there wasn’t anything for it. She didn’t know how this was going to go, or whether
not
killing Jamison would even be an option. But it wasn’t important. Not really, anyway. She was going after Lily and she was going to get her sister back from that man.

No matter what it took.

Without a word, she turned and crossed the parking lot to join Elias.

It was a moment before she heard Cole follow.

Joe’s new restaurant was going to be even nicer than its predecessor; that much she could tell despite the unfinished construction. Large double doors of dark wood and beveled glass fronted the building, giving access to a high entryway. Manufacturer’s stickers still dotted the windows on three sides of the building, and through the reflective glass, she could only see suggestions of the space inside.

Noise hit her the moment Elias opened the door.

The dining area lacked tables or chairs, and the plastic-wrapped fixtures had no bulbs, but the room’s occupants didn’t seem to care. More of the Merlin than she’d known survived filled the space, and portals brought further arrivals through every available door. A corner of the bar was occupied by the cripples, and behind Spider and Bus, she could see Samson muttering dark comments to Blackjack, the content of which she could guess from across the room. Shouted instructions surrounded her as she followed Elias through the crowd, mingled with greetings to her from wizards nearby. At the center of the throng, Cornelius glanced over as she approached, though the guard, Gavin, didn’t look away from the city map lying on the stack of boxes in front of him.

“…wizards patrolling a half mile out,” Gavin was saying. “They’re within visual distance of each other at all times, so grabbing one won’t work, and a direct approach has to deal with the cameras. But if diversionary squads draw their attention at these locations,” he pointed, “we should have enough cover that they won’t be able to get a count on our numbers, which should provoke them into overcommitting reinforcements from Chaunessy. Plan is then for a small squad to infiltrate the building and take down the shields, allowing our forces to…”

“Your highness,” Cornelius said as he left the group and came toward her. With a slight bow, he motioned to one side, and then waited for her to precede him away from Gavin. “Katherine has requested your assistance. The wounded–”

“No,” she interrupted. “I’m not staying behind. Elias and I already covered this on the way here.”

The wizard looked beyond her to the councilman, and from the way his jaw muscles jumped, she could guess at the exasperated look that must have been in Elias’ eyes.

“You are not a soldier,” Cornelius said, returning his attention to her. “You are the queen. If we lose you–”

“He has Lily. Chances are, he knows how to recreate the spell. If we don’t stop him, it won’t matter what protections you put around me. I’ll be dead all the same.”

The man looked away. News that the spell could kill them hadn’t hit well among the Merlin. Most seemed to be determined to ignore it, though the tension around her had a different flavor than what she’d become used to over the past few months. Battles against the Taliesin were one thing. But fights where the enemy could kill you, your loved ones and anyone else you knew, no matter where they tried to hide, were something else entirely.

“I’m going after my sister, Cornelius,” she finished. “End of discussion.”

His gaze slid back to hers, and her chest tightened at the fury she saw in his eyes. Determinedly, she kept herself from looking away as the seconds stretched on.

“You said you could gain us access to the building?” Cornelius asked icily as he pulled his focus from her to pin it on Cole.

A breath escaped her. Working to hide the reaction, she turned to the boy. Standing a few steps behind Elias, Cole looked between her and Cornelius, misgivings flashing over his face.