Broken (21 page)

“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 brooch 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?”

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.”