Merlin's Chosen Book 4 Children of the Chosen© *published work*

Chapter 1 I Dream, Again

My eyes popped open and I sat up. "Dammit, it all to hell!"

"Well, not how I expected to be greeted. It's lovely to see you again, as well, Chandra."

I sent Merlin a glare. "Why are you here?"

He took a seat beside me in the field of wildflowers. He had once told me he loved this spot. When he invaded my dreams to impart information to me back during the war, this is where we always met. I hadn't seen him in nearly sixteen years. If he was here now I knew it wasn't a good thing and I probably wasn't going to like what he had to tell me.

"Please tell me you're here to wish the twins happy birthday and nothing more."

He smiled. "If I could do that then I would."

"Dammit," I muttered. "All right, whatever it is give it to me so I can prepare for our lives to be screwed up again."

He chuckled. "If that is how you wish it. Remember these words, Chandra, they are important. Danger will follow the appearance of twin flames. The children of the Chosen and the son of Excalibur must help to defeat it. A familiar Heaven's light will place a guardian at the sides of the endangered and the canyon's ashes will fight in your favor. It is only when the flames become unbalanced that your victory will be assured."

I glared at him. "Another prophecy? And now you've sucked our children into things. Why do you hate us?"

"I do not hate you." He stood. "I trust you to get things sorted. I don't make these choices lightly, Chandra." He stepped back and vanished in a cloud of white mist.

I cursed him again and dropped back into the wildflowers.

My eyes popped open and I sat up, tossing the covers aside. My hands gripped the edge of the mattress and I bowed my head, gasping for air. My eyes squeezed tightly shut and tried to block out the words that scrambled through my head looking for a place to settle and take root. Trying to block them out was impossible, they continued to dance before my eyes. I forced my lids open and reached for the pad of paper on the nightstand, and flicked the light on. The pencil scribbled across the pad as I wrote down the words Merlin told me.

Our twins Kennon and Alistrina were the Children of the Chosen. Our nephew, Gavin, was the son of Excalibur. This couldn't be happening. It did feel as if Merlin had some vendetta against us despite his assurances that it wasn't true.

From beside me, Chase issued a mumbled groan and I looked over my shoulder to see him propped up on an elbow squinting in the light. "Sweetheart, can you turn out the light? I have to go to work in a couple of hours."

"I'd love to, but we have a problem."

"Can't it wait until morning? If you forgot something for the party I can pick it up on my way home from work."

I sighed. "It's a much bigger problem than the twins' birthday party, magic boy."

He sat up and leaned against the headboard with a frown. "You look as if you've seen a ghost. Did you have a nightmare about Risleigh?"

I shook my head. I hadn't had a nightmare about Risleigh Caulfield in a very long time, he was nothing but a memory. A horrible memory that chose to pop up randomly, but a memory nonetheless. "Risleigh isn't haunting my dreams. Merlin is." I held out the pad of paper to him.

He took it and read it. His features remained carefully blank.

"I think we need to call our dads," I said quietly.

He met my gaze. "They'll both be here for the party, there's no reason to bother them now. Any of them, including my brother. We can talk to them during the party." He handed the pad of paper back to me and I placed it on the nightstand.

"All right, I just—"

He stopped me before I could start rationalizing calling them in the middle of the night. "I know, sweetheart, I'm worried too. We'll handle it."

Chase could always ferret out what I was thinking no matter how I tried to keep my thoughts from him. He knew how this new prophecy worried me. It was inconvenient at times to have him know what I was thinking. But after all these years we knew one another too well for me to keep things from him. I'd never been very good at it and as the Chosen, we had a connection that ran deep. My ability to throw thoughts was one of the gifts given to me as one of the Chosen. Chase had always been able to pick up my thoughts much easier than anyone else.

"Come on, Chans, go back to sleep," he told me as he pulled me down beside him.

I clicked the light off and rolled back beside him. He wrapped an arm securely around me and kissed the top of my head. Seconds later he was once again asleep. I smiled, the man could sleep anytime, anywhere.

Sweet dreams, magic boy. I doubted he was still awake enough to hear that but it didn't matter.

Though I shut my eyes, sleep eluded me. There was no way to know when this prophecy would come to pass or what form these flames would take. My cat, Legend jumped up onto the bed and curled beside my pillow while she purred loudly as if she was trying to soothe my anxiety. I reached up and scratched her between the ears. We had survived so much, I didn't want our children to fight as we had to. To battle for their lives and to see death firsthand. Nor did I want Gavin to face such dangers.

We survived the war withthe wyvern, would our children survive whatever form this battle took?