Broken: A Paranormal Romance Read online

  “Married?” she asked. Her voice was screeching. “And the woman is with child?Your child?”

  Thomas’s eyes were immediately drawn to her stomach.

  “Yes,” Morgana said, trying to recover some poise. She walked towards him. “It seems your wife isn’t the only one with child.”

  Thomas didn’t move or speak. I’m not sure he knew what to do. He kept looking at her stomach.

  “You told me you loved me, Thomas Gregory. You said there would be no other. I was your one true love.”

  He stammered. I tossed the broach to the ground.

  Morgana spat on him. “You will pay, Thomas Gregory. I have searched for you for months, but never again will you or your family escape me. Every child in your family will pay. You will know pain like I have known pain. From this moment forward your life is forfeit, and your line is cursed to die in their twenty-fifth year.”

  I was surprised. So it wasn’t just the eldest after all. Every child was affected by this curse. Somehow Aunt Marigold had found a way to escape, and that’s when I realized who I actually was. She’d found a way to go back and whisk her infant self forward in time, a little girl that had been adopted. A little girl that looked like Marigold.

  I just wasn’t sure how she had done it.

  Thomas didn’t move. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

  Morgana gave me the same smoldering anger. It was the first time she acknowledged I was there. “And who is this?” she asked. “Another one of my kind to whom you’ve been making false promises?” She looked at my earrings, her eyes squinting for a moment. “Do I know you?”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. I found it interesting she didn’t seem to recognize me. Then I started to really put it all together. This was before my time. She couldn’t see me for who I truly was.

  I looked straight into her eyes and smiled. “You will.” Then I removed the earrings.

  When I opened my eyes, Jonathan was waiting at the door. “So?”

  “Let’s go,” I said, grabbing the little towel. “It’s time.”

  He pulled out his blade. “Did you learn what Morgana wants?”

  “I think so,” I said, slipping out the door. I didn’t have time to explain things to him right now.

  I saw the ring of toadstools, and then Morgana on the other side of the iron fence. I tossed the red stone into the ring of toadstools and watched it disappear.

  “You tried to warn Thomas,” Morgana said.

  I walked over to face her. “You can believe that if you wish.”

  “I remember you now. You didn’t save him. I drowned him after you left. He begged for his life like a fool.”

  Although I knew he had been a condemned man from the start, it still stabbed at my heart.

  “That was my father you killed, Morgana. But you will not take me,” I said.

  Jonathan was now beside me. He was looking at the toadstool ring and frowning. We were both one step away from it.

  I tied the scarf around my neck. Morgana’s eyes were filled with hatred and recognition. “Marigold!” she said. “I don’t know how you’re still alive, but you cannot hide from me forever!”

  I said nothing to her. I just smiled and stepped into the ring.

  And Morgana disappeared from sight.

  Chapter 26

  My arrival in the Winter Court was not quite what I expected. I stepped into a space that was half ancient ruins, half dark forest. Not exactly what I’d expect for Faery royalty, but what did I know.

  I marched forward as soon as it registered that there was a throne here. Jonathan retrieved the red stone and held it for me. He mumbled something about this not being where he’d meant to take us, but I didn’t care. This was exactly where I wanted to be.

  I kept my head held high. Strangely, I was dressed in the green dress in this place and I decided to own it this time. I streamed forward with purpose in every stride.

  I took in what I could as I walked. Everything here was exquisite and dark, terrible yet beautiful — from the dark shine of the tree bark and the eerily twisting trunks of the trees, to the shadowy grace of the beings that mingled here. It was filled with both naked and scantily clad folk of the fey realm, but it was to the throne that my eyes were truly drawn.

  A number of female creatures approached me, caressing my hands and even fondling my breasts. I ignored them and continued forward.

  I heard Jonathan walking behind me. I’m not sure if he knew to let me go about my business, but I was glad he wasn’t interfering. He remained in my shadow.

  Most of this Court was filled with women. There were a few of what appeared to be human males here too, but they were scantily clad, acting as servants. That was when I saw Chris. He was bound in leather and kneeling beside the throne with almost nothing to cover him. My heart leapt at the sight of him, but I kept my composure.

  I continued forward, owning the dress and the scarf. I think my skin started to glow. The air was chilled here, but my body was radiating heat.

  Queen Maeve didn’t rise, but I looked her in the eye as I approached. I stopped before the throne and gave her a slight bow. As much as I wanted her to know I meant business, she deserved a certain amount of respect. She was the Queen after all.

  I waited for her to speak.

  With a quiet reserve she eyed me. I studied her as well. Flawless was the only word I could use to describe her — fine eyebrows, high cheekbones, full lips. She was stunning, but a little on the thin side. There was something about the sinewy muscles on her arms, though, that said if she tackled me in a rugby match, I’d feel it.

  She sat back in the throne. “Welcome,” she said. “I get so few visitors at this time of year.” She looked at the scarf. “Especially from someone outside of my own Court.”

  I nodded. “Thank you.” I wasn’t sure exactly how to play this. I could’ve been coy, but I had never been very good at that sort of thing. I just came right out with it.

  “You have something that doesn’t belong to you,” I said, nodding towards Chris.

  He was shaking his head at me.

  The Queen didn’t notice. “I think you are mistaken. It was a gift from one of my ladies-in-waiting.”

  I didn’t like that she was referring to Chris as it.

  “He was not hers to give.”

  “On the contrary,” called a voice from behind me. It was Morgana. I didn’t turn. I waited for her to arrive and step in front of me. “Your life is mine, and what is yours is mine. I had every right to give him.”

  Maeve looked at Jonathan. “Does this one belong to you?” she asked me. “Did you come to offer him as a gift?”

  “No,” I said. “Neither of these men belong to me. They’re not property.”

  Morgana smiled. “Oh, but they are. In this Court, males are yours when you take them as lovers.”

  The Queen leaned towards Jonathan, somewhat intrigued. She sniffed the air. “Yet this one does not smell of you at all. But he does smell of you, Morgana.” There was a look in her like she knew something more than what she was letting on. “Perhaps he is yours to give.”

  I stood my ground, but I could see the shock on Jonathan’s face. There hadn’t been time to tell him once I had figured it out and I had wanted to get to the Court before Morgana did. We beat her, but she had anticipated our move. What she wasn’t anticipating was I now knew what she had been searching for — a child. A son that Marigold had raised like her own; not one that she had been asked to raise, but one she’d stolen from Morgana. That was why he smelled of her.

  I handed the towel I had taken from the derelict cottage to her. Upon closer inspection there was faint embroidery, similar to the scarf, and faded images of faery children. “This is yours I believe.”

  Morgana snatched it from my hand. She held it to her face and immersed herself in the scent of it. Although there was anger in her eyes, there was love there, and sorrow.

  “What did you do with my child, Marigold?”

&nb
sp; I was surprised she didn’t see it right before her own eyes. Although Jonathan didn’t have the chin of the Gregory family, he could very well have been one. He was the son of Thomas Gregory and Morgana, the boy Aunt Marigold had raised.

  As for myself, Morgana had figured it out. I was Marigold. And Aunt Marigold, or the older version of myself, must have done something to the younger version of me in order to keep me safe from the tea that had killed her. Like her brother, she had taken a trip forward and seen her own death. Then she’d left the blanket with the tea pot as a clue. What she’d taken to the future was both me and Jonathan. I just hadn’t sorted out yet how she’d done it.

  Jonathan’s face reddened. “What? I don’t understand.”

  I winked at him. “He’s right here. Standing before you.”

  The Queen rose before anyone could speak. “Oh, this is entertaining Morgana. You never told me you had been with child. This is why you were banished from the Summer Court?”

  Morgana opened her mouth to speak, but she was silenced by an upheld hand from the Queen.

  She ran her finger along my cheek. It was like ice. “I could make you choose,” Maeve said. “I can smell your lust for this one. It’s strong, equally as strong as for the half-breed.” She fingered the scarf at my neck. “But, perhaps, if you knew that Morgana had soiled this one already, you would choose the Troll.”

  My jaw dropped open.

  Jonathan and Morgana? What?

  “Oh, that’s charming!” the Queen said with a laugh. “You didn’t know.”

  I looked at Jonathan. He looked at me without flinching. His back stiffened, and that elfish innocence on his face melted into a look of cold steel.

  I said nothing, but I felt the crack in my heart rip open. It was just as painful as when I lost him years ago — and then more for the betrayal.

  Maeve raised my chin with her ice cold hand to look into her eyes. “If you really are Marigold, I owe her a favor. She hid something for me once. I could let you go now and you could be on your way. Morgana will trouble you no more.”

  Morgana stepped forward. “I didn’t have a son,” she growled.

  The whole Court gasped, myself included. All except the Queen. “Of course you didn’t,” she said. “I did.”

  What was going on? “I don’t understand.”

  Maeve shook her head. “You know Morgana, you really should learn to keep your mouth closed until I tell you to speak.”

  The anger in Morgana’s face was palpable. She remained silent.

  The Queen turned back to me. “I was trying to make this easy for you and let you go in ignorant bliss. Although I may be the Winter Queen, I’m not bereft of compassion.” She walked back to her throne and perched herself. “Marigold was a friend, as much as any human can be called such, and she took my child to raise him. He was a half-breed himself — Faery and Nymph.” She scrutinized Morgana with a prolonged stare. “And I gave Marigold permission to steal your child, Morgana, to end this senseless curse you placed upon their family.”

  I thought I was going to be sick.

  “She took your daughter, Morgana, and left her to be raised in the very line of humans upon whom you placed your curse.”

  Oh my god.

  I had no idea what to say. I looked at Morgana.

  She shook her head as if in disbelief. “You were not born to James and Joan?”

  “No,” I said. “I’m adopted.”

  Tears filled Morgana’s eyes. “I searched for you everywhere. I knew Marigold had stolen you from me. I just never knew what she did with you.”

  I turned from her. I didn’t want to see her pain. Mother, or not, she’d caused me enough suffering.

  It was Jonathan’s turn to look shocked. “You never told me you were adopted,” he said to me. He looked at Morgana. “And you used me to get to her. I suppose you never cared about me.”

  Morgana didn’t answer.

  Karma was such a bitch.

  “The curse ends here,” Maeve said. “It’s broken, unable to disseminate further because I will not allow you to curse your own. I was banished by my own son from the Summer Court generations ago and I had to hide my other children from him for their own safety, Jonathan among them. I will not have my Court treat their blood in this manner.”

  Morgana’s hands fisted. Tears of anger and pain slid down her cheeks.

  “You will now submit yourself for discipline, Morgana.” She looked at Jonathan. “And as for you, my son, I had hoped to have a child that would have learned something of the human world and taken an interest in it. But you shun it, hoping to enter the Summer Court where they want nothing to do with them. I hate to tell you this, but being my offspring will be automatic refusal to their Court, no matter how much you refrain from intercourse with humans. And, I’m sure that must have been difficult for you, if you’re anything like your father. Nymphs are rarely satiated. I hope Morgana was fulfilling your needs well because it will be a long time before I let you out of my sight.”

  Jonathan looked like he had something to say, but then silenced himself. The nature of his heritage must have come as a shock to him.

  I was next on the Queen’s list.

  “As for you,” she said. “Half-breed that you are, you are welcome in my Court or you may return to your — how is it you humans put it — concrete jungle. You will always have access to the Faery realm, but I suspect after this, you’ll want to go back to the life you had.” She motioned for Chris to be released.

  When he got up I ran over to him. I looked him over to make sure he was unharmed. Then I kissed him, hard. He put his arms around me, and it felt right. Safe. Tears slipped from my eyes.

  “It really is too bad I lost my Troll,” Maeve said. “If you tire of her, you can come back and see me. I will have a special place for you.”

  Chris lowered his head. He blushed.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  The Queen nodded. “You may leave. You’ve given me quite the entertainment and much to gossip about for many months. I’m sure the Summer Court will be interested in this. Morgana was high in their Court when she gave birth to you. She came to us in great shame. We take all of the vagrants they dispose of. If it wasn’t for your human half, you’d be one of theirs. Don’t be surprised if they pay you a visit.”

  I planned on getting back to my concrete jungle as fast as I could. I took the red broach from Jonathan.

  “Ah, yes,” the Queen said. “I gave that to Marigold. She needed to remain out of sight of the Faery realm, not only to save her skin from Morgana, but to help her with raising my son.”

  I looked at Jonathan. It was the one thing that had bothered me about Thomas wearing it. How he had remained hidden without Jonathan there. It had been Marigold that had loaned it to him. “I’m guessing I didn’t need you near me all that time?”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “Marigold told me I had to be near her when she wore it.”

  Maeve’s smile was cunning. “It was meant to hide both of you, my son. In your youth you were vulnerable, and I needed to have you hidden from those that might do you harm. Now that you know your true heritage, I’m going to have to ensure you remain hidden once more. You will remain here, in the Winter Court, until I think you’re ready, and I can safely let you out into the world. The King of the Summer Court will likely come searching for you now that your identity is known. He’s fond of eliminating anyone he thinks is a threat to his throne.”

  “Will this still hide me?” I asked, fingering the broach.

  “Since you are not really human, it will not hide you. It never did. You had the ability to hide yourself. But if you wish to keep it, it is yours.”

  I nodded and turned, marching back to the ring from which I’d come. Chris followed on my heels.

  Jonathan ran after me, but before he could grab my arm, Chris stepped between us. His size increased considerably. “Back off, half-breed,” he growled. “You’ve caused enough hurt.”

  I wasn’
t sure I wanted to hear anything Jonathan had to say. All of this had been too much.

  Jonathan leaned around Chris. There was sorrow in his eyes. “I meant what I said, Katherine.”

  I nodded, turned and walked away, taking my dignity with me as I made for the portal. I didn’t look back, nor did I pause.

  I reached into my dress and removed the carved fox. I let it fall to the floor and reached back for Chris’s hand. He took it with all the warmth and strength I needed.

  Then we slipped through the ring to the sound of Jonathan calling my name.

  Chapter 27

  I didn’t rush to fly home after all.

  I discovered that fear was quite the deterrent — almost crippling at times.

  The aftermath of leaving Maeve’s Court manifested in me in not being quite ready to fly. I needed to know that Morgana wasn’t going to come after me, whether she was my birth mother or not.

  So Chris took me on a tour of England until I felt my nerves had settled enough to go home.

  It turned out the police weren’t looking for us after all, with the exception of wondering if we were alive after they had found the car wreck. They had assumed that we’d come to the house, and my aunt had had a heart attack. They knew we’d tried to phone them due to the records of our call and assumed we must’ve gotten lost after going on foot.

  The interview was brief. Then we were free to go about our business.

  Strangely, they’d never asked who had been driving the car that hit ours. I suspect Maeve had found a way to intervene.

  What Chris managed to glean from the Winter Court, both during his time there and after, was that Jonathan and Morgana were an item, and had been for some time. Eventually, Jonathan had betrayed Aunt Marigold, but led her to believe he was still helping her.

  I suspect Aunt Marigold knew.

  Chris also learned, as I had assumed, that Jonathan had been leading me along. Everything he had done was to get me to the house, hoping I would invite Morgana in. Jonathan was meant to trick me into trusting him. He had been duped by Morgana. She had led him to believe she could help him gain entry into the Summer Court. He had also mistakenly sent me to the Winter Court. The toadstool ring had been meant to take me somewhere else.