The Darkest Knight (Guardians of Camelot #3) - Victoria Sue Page 0,1

probably lock him in the dungeon and throw away the key. He knew she was dabbling in blood magic. There had been disappearances and tales of bodies found completely drained of blood. From what Merlin had been told, the people that had disappeared had often been ones that had some minor magical ability. Healing perhaps, or weather workers. Merlin knew of the spells that could be formed from magical blood, and they were too terrifying a thought to believe. Then there were rumors that Morgan was trying to spell an army of otherworldly creatures. Ones that couldn’t be killed with a knight’s sword, and ones immune to his own gifts. It was a horror only great evil could conceive. One that twisted light into horrific shadows that edged every conscious mind. He knew she wasn’t close to succeeding, but the thought she was trying was terrifying enough, and he had tried to caution Arthur against leaving to fight the Romans when a greater danger may lie at home. But he hadn’t been able to convince his king because he was a soldier. Magic and sorcery were abstract concepts that someone who lived and died by the sword couldn’t fathom. How could Merlin hope to warn against a danger that Arthur couldn’t see when there was a Roman army on its way that could be seen, heard, and killed?

“I have been told there is a chance she is trying to gather unnatural power. Tried and failed so far. But the death of a child—the murder of her child—would generate such hate it might give her the power she needs.”

Tristan frowned. “But won’t destroying her army, should she create it, bring forward the same result?”

“No.” Merlin shook his head. “Her army is a means to an end. She wouldn’t care how many lives—how many souls—were lost on the battlefield, but the death of her son is too personal.”

“I doubt Morgan is capable of love,” Arthur countered. “She is unaware that the boy isn’t even with the nursemaid she left him with.”

“Not in the way you mean perhaps, Sire. Her love isn’t selfless. She would think nothing of destroying someone she loved to get what she wants, but if someone else took that from her, I am honestly not sure even I would have the strength to fight her after that. She has not the power yet, but with enough hatred to turn her soul completely black, she may do, and it is not something any of England wishes to find out.”

“He can’t stay here,” Tristan replied. He looked at Arthur. “Shall I send the boy to France?”

Arthur recoiled. “No. I would not want a foreign enemy to get their hands on him.”

Merlin shook his head. The real enemy wasn’t another nation; it was much closer to home, and he needed to be hidden far away, but Merlin couldn’t explain that.

“I can send him somewhere safe,” Mordred said. “I have contacts in Northumbria that could easily hide him.”

A whisper of unease slid over Merlin’s arms.

“And will that be enough though?” Palamedes asked. “If he inherits any of his mother’s immorality, he would be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands. And just because he has shown no sign of magic, doesn’t mean he will not develop any as he gets older.”

“Then I will make sure he is put in the right hands,” Merlin said, knowing exactly what to do. He would make sure his mother’s evil would never touch him. It was the only way.

“But surely we need him close to make sure he doesn’t develop abilities,” Mordred objected. “I know of a suitable couple, and it would take no arranging.”

“And people will talk,” Arthur said and looked to Merlin. “As they always do. I cannot risk this being discovered. I want him as far away from English shores as he can possibly be. It is best left to Merlin.” Arthur rose, and his knights immediately followed. “It is agreed, then,” Arthur said. “We leave for the coast at dawn.”

Years later, standing in a field of blood, littered with the dead and the dying, Merlin took no comfort in being proven right. He’d known killing the child would have risked retaliation, but he hadn’t realized destroying the witch’s lover would have the same effect. And not even he had seen the betrayal closer to home and discovered too late. Mordred—fueled by jealousy of being the younger brother and convinced the crown should be his—simply allied with Morgan because he wanted wealth and power,