Kingdom of Thorns and Dreams Read online

  Rory grinned at her before turning to me.

  “Martha, this is...”

  “Carabosse,” I said, extending my hand to the woman. “But my friends call me Cara.”

  “Lovely to meet you, Cara,” Martha grinned before pulling me close and kissing me the same way she had Rory.

  “Can we have the chocolate, Mama?” The smallest boy, a cute little thing aged around four with too long hair, a too thin body, and doe eyes stared up at her.

  “Of course, you can.”

  The sounds of sandwich bags and chocolate bar wrappings filled the air as the kids munched down on the food. They looked like they hadn’t eaten in a week.

  The little boy sat with his eyes closed the whole time he was eating his chocolate bar. I could tell by the blissful look on his face, that chocolate was a treat he didn’t often get. When he was about halfway through, he stood up and walked around the table to me.

  “Here Cara. Would you like to share my chocolate bar? It’s super yummy, and I saw that you didn’t get one.” My heart melted as I took in his gorgeous, innocent face. This chocolate looked like it was the only thing he owned in the world, and yet, here he was, offering half of it to me. Despite myself, I pulled him onto my lap. Beneath his clothes, he was all skin and bones. I hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear. “I already ate. You finish it off.” The smile on his face was huge as he took another bite.

  Once the children had eaten their fill, they crowded around Rory begging for a story. He sat one of the younger ones on his knee and told them the story of how he was chased by ogres, but a beautiful fairy had flown him away from them and saved him.

  “And do you know who that fairy was?” he asked them. “It was Cara here. Cara really did save my life last night.”

  The children, on hearing this, ran over to me and hugged me. My heart swelled as little arms wrapped themselves around me. I’d never seen such love and appreciation in my whole life.

  When it was time to leave, I was almost reluctant to go. I’d had such a wonderful time.

  “It’s an orphanage, huh?” I asked once we were back on the street.

  “Yep. One of the few I deliver food to. I guess my dirty little secret is out now. I steal from bad guys and give the money to those who need it. I try to help out where I can. I feel that it’s my duty to give something back. I love those kids as much as life itself. ”

  “But why cheat and steal? You are the crown prince of Eshen. You have so much money yourself.”

  Rory sighed as he pulled on the reins of the horse. “Actually, I don’t. I get a very meager allowance from my parents. It’s them that are rich. I’ve begged my father to give more of the tax money to the orphanages, but he didn’t think it was a good use of the royal money. Eventually, I got sick of asking. A little over a year ago, I came up with the idea to win at poker. The thing is, I wasn’t that good, so I had to resort to cheating. I guess I picked a particularly rough bar last night. Thank you for saving me. I owe you. . . I know I do.”

  “It’s fine,” I replied, and this time, I meant it.

  He walked me back to the palace, the reins of the horse in his hand. On the way, he told me about the other establishments he helped out. It was quite a list. At the gate, he invited me in.

  “I’d like it if you didn’t tell my parents about any of this. I’ve managed to keep what I do under the radar so far, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  I nodded my head and gazed up at him. He wasn’t the ass I took him for after all. He was the nice guy he was always made out to be, but with a little added danger. It was a good combination.

  “I’ll tell them that you are an old friend.”

  “I don’t think so.” While it was nice to be asked, I couldn’t see the king and queen being overly impressed with their only son bringing home a fae. Besides, in my leather pants and ripped t-shirt, I was hardly dressed for meeting Eshen royalty. “Another time maybe.”

  He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. It was exactly how Martha had kissed me except this time my heart reacted very differently. His lips were warm upon my cheek, and beneath that ripped t-shirt, my heart pounded. The kiss lingered on my cheek a little longer than was considered polite, and for a second, I wondered if I should move my head slightly so that his lips were on mine.

  “There he is. Get him!” We both turned to see a huge group of men...ogres with flaming torches racing towards us. Rory pulled me up onto his horse, and we rode quickly through the palace gates. As the gates closed behind us, Rory raced up the long, straight driveway towards the palace. We’d just made it to the front door as the gates were breached behind us and hundreds of the ogres careened through.

  Rory pulled me through the front door and helped the two guards push it shut, pulling a long bolt across to lock it.

  Within seconds, the ogres were pounding on the front door. I watched in horror as their fists began to pummel right through the thick wood.

  “What in the blazes is going on?”

  I turned to see the king on the stairs behind us, wearing his pajamas. Behind him, the queen appeared, also dressed for bed.

  “Get back!” shouted Rory as the door was almost broken down, sending broken wood sliding across the highly polished tile floor.

  I wasn’t the most powerful fae, but I knew I had to do something. There was no way I was going to be able to stop the ogres. There were just too many of them, so instead, I turned to Rory.

  I closed my eyes and brought all my energy to my very core before pulsing it out towards him. I watched as his body sagged, before falling onto the tiled floor. I’d done it. I’d put him to sleep as though he was dead. Half a second later, the king and queen fell in exactly the same way. It was of no concern. I could wake them up when I woke up Rory. It would actually make my argument with the ogres much more convincing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two more bodies fall. The guards. Just how powerful was my magic? I didn’t have time to ponder it because at that moment the ogres burst in to find me standing over a heap of bodies.

  The ogres came skidding to a halt and gaped at me. It was then I realized that these ogres might not have been here to get Rory. There was every chance they were here for me.

  Chapter 3

  “They are dead!” I proclaimed to the ogres, hoping beyond hope that it was Rory they were looking for. The ogres and I went way back, and I knew I was a person of interest in the ogre world. By person of interest, I meant, they wanted to kill me, no doubt as painfully as possible.

  The biggest one at the front gawked at the bodies behind me. He didn’t recognize me at all which told me that Rory was the reason they were here.

  “Tell your leader that he has won,” I shouted to him, hoping he would turn his army around quickly so I could wake the royals up. “You came for the prince, and he is already dead. I killed him, so you don’t have to.”

  The leader brought his thick fingers up to his chin and regarded me with a look of confusion. “Our leader told us to come back with his money,” he grunted.

  Shit! I could hardly let them ransack the place.

  I pulled myself up to my tallest, which wasn’t much and shouted loudly.

  “This is mine. Come any closer, and I’ll do to you, what I did to them. You got your revenge on the royal family, now be gone!”

  Something in my tone must have worked. Either that or the sight of the “dead” guards was enough to convince them that I was not to be messed with because they all retreated. Once they found out the truth, that I’d only put the royal family to sleep, they’d be back, but at least then, the king could round up enough guards to fight them all.

  I closed what was left of the door behind the last of them and pulled the bolt across. With the little magical energy I had left, I mended it. Fragments of wood flew back up and slotted together until I could no longer see outside.

  I’d need to sleep for a week after all this.

  “Rory!” I shouted running towards his recumbent form. “Wa
ke up!”

  I shook his shoulder to wake him, but he didn’t stir. Shouting louder, I tried again.

  “Rory!”

  He wasn’t breathing. I put my hand down on his chest, to feel the up and down motion, but there was none. He was completely still.

  There was no life in him at all. His heart had stopped beating.

  What had I done? In trying to save the royal family, I’d killed them all. . .

  Panic engulfed me. Panic and dread, and my head began to spin with the magnitude of what I’d done. The thoughts running through my head were cluttered and messy, and I couldn’t think clearly enough to figure out what to do next.

  My parents were going to kill me for this. They already thought I was a complete waste of space and this was not going to help to convince them otherwise.

  Why are you thinking about your parents? Priorities!

  I mentally reprimanded myself and tried to keep it together.

  Attempting to keep my breathing under control, I stood up and looked around me, trying to figure out what to do first. Through a window, I could see the long driveway up to the palace and beyond it, the road where the public were going about their daily business.

  In a panic, I ran around the whole palace, closing and locking all the outside doors to the palace, manually shutting the blinds and curtains along with them. It wouldn’t stop people wondering where the royal family was for long, but I just needed to buy some time while I thought of what to do. I had to step over bodies as I made my way from room to room, shutting the curtains. Every single person in the palace was dead. I’d killed them all.

  I tried to keep calm, but with the dead bodies of all the palace staff laid out all over the place, it wasn’t easy. There were so many of them. The easy option would be to just leave and pretend this had never happened.

  I strode purposely to the back door to make my escape. I’d lay low for a while, and when the royal’s bodies were found, I’d tell the police that I’d seen the ogres do it. Of course, if I did that, I’d have to explain why I was at the palace in the first place. Maybe I wouldn’t have to say anything to anyone at all. No one knew I was here. I had no connections to Eshen’s royal family.

  All these thoughts rushed through my mind as I turned the key in the lock.

  An image of children flittered through my mind. I did have a connection to Rory after all. I’d been with him at the orphanage. . . Martha had seen me with him only hours ago as had all the children. Would they keep it quiet? Of course, they wouldn’t. Why would they? They all loved Rory and would want to know who did this to him. I’d told her my name. While Cara was relatively common throughout Eshen, Carabosse was a fae name. It wouldn’t take long for the police to come looking for me. It was then I realized just where they would look. They’d go straight to my parents.

  Thinking of how to get away with this was impossible. It didn’t matter if I’d get away with it or not, or if my family found out. How could any of that matter when I’d killed so many people? The panic I’d been feeling turned to despair. My heart felt weighted down in my chest as I took in the magnitude of my actions.

  Slowly, I ambled back to the entrance hall where the bodies of Rory and his parents lay. Their bodies had fallen where they had stood, and all three of them lay crumpled on the floor. It felt so wrong. Using what little strength I had left, I picked the king up and laid him out at the bottom of the stairs, clasping his hands together over his chest. I repeated the action with the queen and finally with Rory. All three of them could have been sleeping. . .

  I sat down next to his body and stroked his hair as one would to a new lover. But I wasn’t a lover. I didn’t even know the guy really, but there was a lock of hair out of place, and it felt rude to leave it that way.

  Indecision paralyzed me. I hated being out of control in any situation. My poker playing had me weighing up any situation five steps ahead of everyone else. Admittedly, I couldn’t have foreseen me killing the entire royal family and the palace staff. I stood up and paced the floor. The scent of freshly cut flowers filled the air which was fitting given the circumstances. I always associated flowers with death and funerals. I followed the smell to a large vase full of spring flowers. Most people would think they were beautiful. I just wondered how long it would take before they no longer covered up the stink of rotting corpses. Feeling my stomach rise, I pulled the flowers from their vase and threw them to the ground, using the vase to throw up in.

  Get a hold of yourself! I hissed, wiping my mouth on my sleeve.

  It was then, I remembered that the police knew how to find people through their DNA. I may as well have left them my calling card with my vomit in the vase. Oh, who was I kidding? My fingerprints were all over the place as it was. There was no way I was going to get away with this. If only my magic was more refined. I won’t say stronger. I’d already proved that my magical powers were strong, but I’d proved I couldn’t control myself. If I could, I’d have used them to rid the palace of any trace of me. Actually, hold that thought. If I could control my powers in any way at all, I’d not be in this mess in the first place. I’d have gotten rid of the ogres some other way and would more than likely be sitting down to a delightful tea with the king and queen around now.

  There were only two people I knew who would be able to help me find some way around this mess. Unfortunately, they were the two people most likely to tell my parents what I’d done. Not that I had any choice in the matter. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I came to the name I was looking for. Pressing dial, I waited. It rang once, twice, three times.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not able to come to my pho...”

  I hung up. Damn! The one time she doesn’t pick up her phone.

  Scrolling down again, I hit dial on the second number. As expected, it was answered on the third ring.

  “Carabosse. What have you done now?”

  “Hi, Auryn. I need your help.”

  Chapter 4

  “What did you do?” my sister Liliana asked, her mouth open wide in shock at all the dead bodies at her feet.

  “I told you. I was trying to make Rory look as though he was dead, but the spell was much stronger than I anticipated. He was only supposed to be asleep. I don’t know what happened to everyone else. I guess my magic radiated outward.”

  My elder sister, Auryn, raised her eyebrows and sighed. “Only you could manage a fuck up of this proportion. When are you going to grow up?” She stepped over the prince as though he was a slumbering dog.

  Liliana looked like the typical fae princess she was. Long white blonde hair almost to her ankles, delicate wings, slim body and the most startlingly beautiful light green eyes set in a perfect almond shape. I think my parents had kept having children until they had one they actually wanted; hence, they stopped when the wonderful Liliana was born. My elder sister, Auryn, had started out looking like Liliana, but somewhere around her third birthday, she’d decided that long blonde hair was not her style and had used a magic spell to chop it short and turn it black. She’d looked that way ever since although she had expanded on it somewhat by wearing dark makeup and black clothes for every occasion. She’d also expanded somewhat in other areas too. Mainly, her thighs. I was neither thin nor fat, blonde or dark. I was somewhere in between with my average weight and medium brown hair. The only thing we did have in common was our height. We were all short. . .

  “They’re all dead you say?” Auryn asked, peering around at the recumbent bodies.

  “Yes,” I replied, my eyes cast to the floor. “Everyone in the castle.”

  “What about the people who work outside the castle? The gardeners, the stable hands?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. “I never thought to look.”

  Auryn sighed again, pulling her purple feather trimmed coat closer around her. “Don’t you think it would be prudent to check? If anyone walks past and sees a dozen dead bodies on the grass, suspicions will be aroused d
on’t you think?”

  Auryn never missed an opportunity to make me feel stupid. I don’t think she did it on purpose, it was just a part of who she was. She liked to feel superior.

  “I’ll go check,” I said, turning to the door. A hand slapped on my chest.

  “Don’t bother. I’ll take care of it.” Auryn waltzed past me and left out of the front door, slamming it behind her.

  “This is such a mess,” declared Liliana, tears already forming in her eyes. Where Auryn was strong, Liliana was soft. Ok, calling her soft was a bit harsh. She was sweet and innocent. I was firmly in the middle. Well, not the innocent part, but I was strong enough to take care of myself most of the time without the haughty indifference to most things that Auryn favored.

  “Meet Liliana, the queen of the understatement,” I said aloud to no one in particular.

  Liliana burst into tears, making me feel bad. It was hardly my place to mock her after what I’d done.

  “I’m sorry, sister,” I said, drawing her into a hug.

  “I’m not crying about what you said,” she sobbed. “I’m scared about what Daddy will do to you when he finds out.”

  I closed my eyes. . . She’d echoed my own fears. He could hardly disown me. He’d already done that once, but I doubt he’d welcome me back with open arms after this.

  Getting into my parents’ good graces was the reason I had been frequenting illegal gambling dens. I needed the money to buy back something of theirs. Something I’d lost a long time ago.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked my wailing sister.

  “We?” Auryn strode back in the door. “Why should we do anything? This is your mess. Oh, and by the way, you’ve also managed to kill the outdoor staff along with sixteen horses, two dogs, and a cat. I’ve tidied them up for you.”

  I pulled back from Liliana and put my head in my hands.

  “Oh, for goodness sake,” Auryn sucked in a breath and spoke to me with haughty derision. “Don’t you start blubbering too. I get enough of that with Lily.”