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

stupid. She just hadn’t wanted to be apart from the girl. And she’d wanted to keep her safe.
    Those two things didn’t exist in the same world anymore. They hadn’t for a long time.
    “You still did well.”
    She drew a breath. “And someone shot me last week.”
    He looked over at her. She dropped her gaze to the patterns of shadow on her jeans.
    “She’s scared I’ll die,” Ashe said. “I’m terrified she will. That someone will try to kill me and hit her instead. But I have to stop Jamison. I can’t run. And if I go after the Blood–”
    “I know.”
    His voice was cold though his face was not, and despite his gaze on the middle distance, he didn’t seem to be watching the apartment at all.
    She looked away. Music twisted and danced through the open window, interspersed with clapping from the crowd. On the couch in the center of the room, Lily rolled over in her sleep and sighed.
    “You could send her elsewhere.”
    Air escaped her, despite the fact the suggestion had been hovering in the back of her mind. She’d just wanted another answer. Something.
    But she knew there wasn’t anything else.
    Lily was a target. Equal or perhaps only slightly less so than her sister by benefit of Ashe’s knowledge of how to bind magic. And whether or not she was with the little girl wouldn’t stop Lily from being one. Not as long as Jamison was alive.
    But if he was distracted…
    If he thought there was a better chance of catching Ashe than of scavenger-hunting for the girl across the whole damn world…
    Her eyes found Lily in the darkness.
    Jamison hadn’t won. Not with this. Not while Lily was safe.
    She wondered if this was what her father felt like when he’d sent them both away.
    “Could you do it?” she asked.
    Protests rose on Cornelius’ face, each fighting the others to be the first to emerge.
    “My place is beside you.”
    She said nothing.
    “Your highness,” he pressed.
    “She’s the only family I have left, Cornelius. I can’t let them take her from me too.”
    He turned away, his gaze catching on Lily asleep on the couch.
    “Please,” Ashe whispered.
    “And what are you going to do, your majesty?”
    She didn’t answer. His tone left little doubt he was actually wondering anyway.
    “I should be here,” he said as though she’d spoken.
    “You should be protecting the last of the Merlin’s Children. One of them, at least.” She paused. “How fast can you arrange something?”
    A moment passed. “It would take about a week to put everything in place. Perhaps a bit more.”
    Ashe swallowed. In spite of herself, she’d hoped it would be longer. Several years, maybe. Or never.
    She shoved the thought away. Across the room, she could feel Nathaniel watching them as much as he was keeping an eye on the street, and the pressure of his gaze was almost too much to bear. And Lily would be furious. Incensed. She’d never agree.
    Assuming anyone told her.
    Drawing a sharp breath, Ashe pushed to her feet, suddenly needing to be out of the line of Cornelius and Nathaniel’s gazes.
    “Do it,” she ordered.
    “My place should be here, your highness.”
    She ignored the words, unable to continue the lopsided debate. “Don’t tell me where you take her. Just in case.”
    Her gaze darted to the girl and back. “And don’t say anything to Lily.”
    Before he could respond, she strode from the room, desperately trying to convince herself she wasn’t running away.
     
    *****
     
    Chaunessy Tower looked in better shape than last he’d seen it, though Cole supposed even quasi-invisible wizards wouldn’t want to leave holes blown through the walls and windows forever.
    “Keep the change,” he said to the cab driver, pushing the money through the grill toward the front seat. Without waiting for the man’s reply, and doubting there would have been one anyway, he climbed from the taxi and headed for the revolving door.
    The cherry wood front desk in the center of the room was empty, as was