Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) by Skye Malone, Megan Joel Peterson Page A

what happened that night. And I don’t know what my men misunderstood that they would do such things. But I can promise you, killing you or the girls was never the plan. Not remotely.”
    Cole watched him. “Then what was?”
    “To bring them with us. To see if maybe, as the last of the Merlin’s Children and as the leaders of their people, they could be convinced to help us bring an end to this violence.”
    Cole looked away.
    It sounded so much like what the council had said to him, once upon a time.
    “And if they couldn’t?” he heard himself ask.
    “We believed they could.”
    He glanced back to his father. Victor shrugged, a ruefully optimistic look in his eyes.
    Cole’s gaze fell away.
    Footsteps approached and from the corner of his eye, he saw Brogan walk up.
    “My apologies. You are needed.”
    Victor’s face tightened with frustration, but after a moment, he drew a breath and pushed the expression away.
    “I’m sorry. Duty calls.” He glanced to Brogan. “Are the rooms ready?”
    The man nodded.
    Victor echoed the motion. “Then I’ll see you later,” he continued, directing the last to Cole. He reached over, clasping Cole’s arm with a smile, and then headed for a door on the far side of the room.
    “Come with me.”
    He glanced to Brogan warily. The man’s voice was a growl and his one good eye pinned Cole with a stare that somehow made it clear how unfathomably easy it was for him to kill if he felt the need. Without another word, Brogan turned and disappeared back out the double doors.
    Breathing again, Cole cast a look after his father and then followed.
    People cleared from the giant’s path quickly as he stalked down the hall and, when the elevator arrived, the door seemed to open faster for fear of the man waiting for it. Striding forward, Brogan hit the button for a floor without giving it a glance, and then turned, silently waiting for Cole to join him before the door slid closed. The ride upstairs was no better and when the door opened, Cole fought to keep his pace slow as he fled the confines of the elevator.
    Brogan made him feel like he was trapped in a box with a ticking bomb.
    The giant strode by him. Continuing around the turn, he marched toward a pair of ebony doors and then shoved them open without a backward glance.
    Cole trailed him cautiously into the room. Windows formed two of the walls, extending from the ceiling nearly to the floor, and beyond their glass, the glittering cityscape stretched to the horizon beneath the night sky. The black waters of the lake interrupted the expanse to the south, though the glow of a bridge bordered its edge and suburbs glimmered on the far banks. To the east, crowded highways formed a serpentine river of red and white light.
    He swallowed, continuing farther inside. A sunken space in the middle of the floor was ringed by thickly padded seats of black leather, and glistening crystal lights dangled over the glass table in the center. Where the windows met, a black grand piano stood, and near the entry, a doorway led off to a bathroom with a Jacuzzi inside. A marble-trimmed kitchenette lay in the rightmost rear corner of the room, with a door open beside it. In the bedroom beyond, a bed the size of a truck waited opposite a flat-panel television wide enough to use as a surfboard.
    The door shut behind him. Startled, he turned.
    Brogan’s stare made his blood go cold.
    “Who sent you?” the man growled.
    “What?”
    The giant paced toward him and Cole backed up, catching himself before he stumbled over the edge of the sunken seats.
    “You never answered the others. You will answer me.”
    Brogan’s voice held no anger, just a quiet certainty more chilling than any rage could have been.
    “Who sent you?” the man repeated. “I will not believe you escaped dozens of Merlin without assistance from their queen.”
    “I didn’t–”
    “I will not ask again.”
    Cole swallowed, his gaze locked on the warped skin of Brogan’s face and