“Merlin,” she finally said. “As intheMerlin? King Arthur's Merlin?”
“That's the one.”
“Holy shit.” She sat back, processing. Her eyes went distant for a moment, then sharpened with recognition. “That's why Armand and Jason looked at you the way they did. Why Ana said you knew more than Armand about magical artifacts. The way they all deferred to you—I thought it was just respect, but it was more than that, wasn't it?”
“The Emrys name carries weight in certain circles,” Brandon admitted. “Most people don't know the connection, but spymasters like Jason and scholars like Armand—they know.”
“And you just... never mentioned it?”
“It’s not something I share. My bloodline, like yours, puts a target on my back. The Consilium has been trying to eradicate us for years.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How many years, exactly? You said less than three hundred.”
His lips quirked. “I'm one hundred and seventeen. Not exactly ancient by magical standards, but not young either. The Emrys line ages slowly. My father lived several centuries.”
“That’s why you know so much about magic and artifacts.”
“Yes. My family’s collection is unmatched. It’s quite extensive, and includes everything Merlin left behind—journals, grimoires, artifacts.”
“The underground library,” Muriel said slowly. “That's where you keep it.”
“Yes.” He met her eyes. “It’s been the mission of my family to collect, preserve, and protect magical knowledge, as well as keep it out of the hands of those who would use such things for their own gain.”
“Like theLiber Terraeand theCodex.”
He nodded. “Merlin spent his entire life searching for theCodexAnimarum. He believed it held the key to understanding natural magic—the original source that all elemental magic derived from. He documented everything in his journals. Every lead, every dead end, every theory. He never found it.”
“But I did,” Muriel breathed. “In my mother's root cellar.”
“You did.” Brandon reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together. “Merlin's legacy and theCodex's keeper, brought together after centuries. The Consilium has been trying to prevent exactly this kind of connection for generations.”
“Why?”
“Because together, we can move mountains. Literally. That's why the Consilium has spent centuries hunting your bloodline and mine.” Brandon's voice went rough. “They fear what we represent. Not just power, but the return of something ancient. Something that existed long before their rules and structures.”
Muriel was quiet, her thumb tracing patterns on theback of his hand. He sensed her processing that, sorting through implications.
“There's something else,” she said finally. “Something I felt during the rescue. Your magic didn’t only feel like mine, it felt stronger.Muchstronger. Was that a result of the bond too?”
Brandon's breath caught. She'd noticed.
“You felt that?”
“Yes.” Her eyes searched his face. “What does it mean?”
This was it. The truth he hadn't fully understood himself until yesterday, when their magic had combined. Not only had he unleashed his bloodline magic, something in him hadunlocked.
“Merlin's journals talk about natural magic,” Brandon said slowly. “How it flows, how it connects to the earth. I could call it forth, channel it, use it, but it never felt complete. Like I was accessing something through a barrier, instead of connecting directly to the source.”
“And now?”
“Now it's different, because of you.” He raised his free hand, and aquamarine light flickered around his fingers without effort. “When the bond formed, you unlocked something in me that's been dormant for generations.”
“I don't understand.”
“Merlin's line started with natural magic,” Brandon explained. “But over centuries, as his descendantsmarried into mage families and learned structured magic, that direct connection faded. We kept the ability to channel natural energy, but it became diluted, until it was more theory than practice.”
“But not anymore.”