Daughter of a Monarch (3 page)

He sighs heavily, and his dark eyes are serious. “Just don’t. I don’t want to be the one to tell you if your parents haven’t told you. Talk to them if you want answers. All I can say is that this could ruin everything.”

“What do you mean everything? They won’t tell me a fucking thing!” I yell, slamming my fist on the table. “Somebody needs to start explaining!”

He shakes his head and stands up. “Talk to your parents, Aislin.” Uncle Jett then disappears.

Oooh, how I despise magic sometimes. Ridiculous. How in the hell can he just up and leave like that? I deserve answers sooner than later. I mean, I deserved them like yesterday!

Something crazy is going on behind the scenes of my life, and someone is going to explain. They have to.

I GO OUTSIDE
and see Mom walking through the garden. She hates the garden, but only because it always messes up her allergies. I assume she’s here because no one will look for her here. She rubs her arms as if warding off a chill.

I scrunch my eyes and make my way over to her. “Mom?”

She startles at the sound of my voice and places her hand on her chest. “Aislin! Oh my God! Don’t just sneak up on someone like that! Especially now.”

I cross my arms over my chest and cut my eyes at her. “You’re never in the garden. What are you hiding from?”

She sits down on a bench and laughs, but it lacks humor. “We know each other too well.”

Yeah, we do, but I mean, come on, really? It would be obvious to a rock that something is seriously messed up.

She pats the spot next to her with a shaky hand. “It’s a long story.”

I look down at my feet and bite my bottom lip. I shouldn’t just blurt out a question. I should give her an opportunity to explain, but I can’t help it. “Who was that guy?” It’s the first thing I’m dying to know.

She shakes her head and looks away from me. She tucks dark strands behind her ears and sits up a bit straighter. “He was a part of my past. A past I’ve been hiding from you.” Tears pool in her eyes, but she quickly wipes them before they can fall.

She clears her throat. “We should go inside.”

“Not until you explain.”

She looks defeated. “I can’t.” She shakes her head.

“Mom! What could be so bad that you can’t talk about it with me? We talk to each other about everything! Imagine how I feel!”

Her eyes shift from me to her feet. “I guess it’s time.”

I scoff. “Ya’ think?”

She smiles softly as tears trickle down her cheeks. “My life was… Rather confusing to say the least. Apparently, there were two of me. Mortal and Fae. When I turned a certain age, they combined. For some reason I can only recall events of my mortal life and life as a Versipellis—which happened by pure accident. I don’t remember anything about my life as a Fae in Gaia. Well, except for the brief time I lived there as a Fae.” She sighs and waves her hand in the air. “Okay—that is way too much to discuss and way too confusing.”

“Confusing or not, I want to know.”

She smirks and nudges me with her shoulder. “Of course you do. God, your father is going to kill me, A.”

She takes a deep breath and looks down at the ground before meeting my eyes again.

“There’s so much that happened that not even I can wrap my mind around. What I’m going to explain to you probably won’t make any sense, but I promise to do my best.” She readies herself with a steadying breath. “On my twentieth birthday, I woke up in Gaia. At that very moment, instead of two, there was only one of me, but I only remembered your father and my life on Earth and in Terre. You have an uncle named Harim, an aunt named Stella, and a grandmother, my Fae mother in Gaia. Cohen was apparently my best friend that I didn’t remember but had feelings for that I couldn’t explain.” She looks at me, her expression grave and longing. A sob escapes her, and she covers her mouth, embarrassed she let it slip. “I miss them, A. I miss them so much!”

My mouth falls open. I’m shocked and not really sure how to handle this. I’ve never seen Mom upset to this magnitude. She’s breaking right in front of me, and since I have no idea what she’s talking about, I don’t know how to sympathize with her.

“Let me get this straight. I have family in Gaia?” She nods her head, wiping at her tears, and I attempt to process the information. “Are they Fae?” She nods again. I raise a brow.

“I’m part Fae, Versipellis, and mortal.” Admitting that to me seems to have taken an elephant off her shoulders.

I stare at her in shock. “What does that make me then?” And just like that, I feel foreign in my own skin. I’ve been lied to my whole life from the people I thought I could trust.

“Honestly, A… I’m not really sure.” She looks over her shoulder and then back at me with wary eyes. “Your father will be home soon. We’ll have talk about this later.”

She stands to her feet, so I quickly stand to mine—stepping in front of her. “But why can’t we finish talking about it now?”

“Your father can’t know we’ve talked about this. I swore to him before you were even born we’d keep this hidden.”

“But that’s not fair!” I scream at her.

Her doleful eyes look toward the castle. “Stop it, A,” she says calmly.

“No! I deserve to know! This affects me too, Mom!” It makes me angry how calm she’s acting when I’m falling apart right in front of her.

Nothing else is said. Absolutely not a damn thing. She avoids me, by walking around me. A cop out. I watch her walk into the house.

I scream at the top of my lungs and kick over a pot of tulips.

There’s this whole life I had no clue about…

Lies…

I can’t—

I can’t believe they’ve kept all of this from me!

I look over at the hosta that separates the garden from a seating area. I walk over and kneel down, trying to keep my anger at bay, but I feel it quickly spiraling out of control.

I pick off a leaf which turns into grabbing handfuls of the greenery and tearing their roots from the dirt. The mess of dirt and plants is fogged by my tears, and the will to stop is completely blurred by my anger.

After each hosta is ripped to shreds, I take steadying breaths while wiping my tears on the back of my trembling hands.

I then use my magic to uproot every plant in the garden.

My tirade isn’t over just yet.

I proceed to use my magic to open every goddamn window of the castle and send the uprooted plants, as well as dirt, flying into the castle.

A storm begins to build; charcoal clouds paint the sky. I look up as rain starts to hit my face and try to will it to stop.

Problemo. It’s not working.

I scream and fall to my knees. I sob into my hands. I’m so angry with my mom for leaving my mind to wonder. I need to know what’s happening.

I run my fingers through my drenched hair and take calming breaths, trying to regain my control.

This is scary. It’s becoming more of an issue to calm down. It’s never been easy but I just spiral out of control lately and can’t shut it off.

Chirp—whisss—eeee—crack.

I turn at the sound and see a bird fallen from a branch into the mud next to me. I concentrate on it instead of my anger and I feel the wind die down and everything just…stop.

“Bird, you just saved me from tearing this whole damn place apart.” I laugh lightly and look around at the damage I caused.

Mom and Dad haven’t said a word to each other since we sat down thirty minutes ago for dinner. I watch as Mom pushes food around on her plate and Dad stares hopelessly at her. I push my plate away from me and look at the clock. I sigh and rest my head on my hand.

“There’s dirt under your chair,” I mention to Dad, wondering why him or Mom haven’t acknowledged the effects my tantrum had on the cleanliness of the castle as well as myself. I should have bathed before dinner.

Dad doesn’t bother to look. He forces a bite of food down his throat instead.

I look at them both. “Should I be worried?” They look at each other but don’t answer me. “You’re going to have to be more convincing than that.” I roll my eyes and ask to be excused. Dad barely gets the word ‘yes’ out, and I leave the table.

I obviously wasn’t going to get anymore answers from Mom, and since Dad couldn’t know she told me, I couldn’t ask him. I’m determined to find the answers myself, even if I don’t like the truth.

INSTEAD OF MY
room, I go to the library. My sanctuary, my hiding place, where I find tranquility.

The dim lights from the large chandelier give off a faint glow, and as I move about, dust particles scatter through the air. I turn on my flashlight and scour the shelves trying to find my favorite book.

I point the flashlight upward and huff when I see it’s at the very top. I grab the ladder and make my way up.

Thud-d-d-d-d-d!

I stiffen at the sound of books falling against the floor a few aisles down. I whip my head in that direction, losing my balance.

I feel strong arms around me right before I hit the floor. I breathe out a curse word as my eyes lock on Isaac’s.

“What are you doing here?” I squeak out, scurrying from his arms and stumbling on my feet to catch my balance.

He steadies me. He puts his finger to his lips, grabs my hand, and leads me to the back of the library.

“H-how did you get here?” I nervously shift my eyes, watching for my parents.

“I figured it out.” He furrows his eyebrows and laughs. “Not really sure how, but I did. My dad is going crazy. How’s your mom been acting?”

I fold my arms across my chest. “That’s none of your business.”

“Listen, it took every bit of my strength to keep my dad from coming here! I finally talked him out of it. Do you have any idea what’s going on with those two?”

“Not really. My mom briefly told me a little bit, but she refused to discuss anything further.”

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

I blush when I realize I’m staring. “Sorry. I’ve never seen eyes like yours before. They’re like green. And not just green. Like greeeeen.” I slap my forehead.
God, I’m an idiot.

He laughs. “The princess knows her colors. Impressive.”

I roll my eyes. “Bye, Isaac,” I say and start to walk away.