Prologue
Jadon, age six
I bundle under the fur, as close as I can get to Mum while she sleeps. She’s been sleeping a long time now and her body is cold. Usually we get warm when we cuddle, and sometimes we chat under the blanket, but she’s quiet and I’m tired of lying here. I’m tired of being cold too.
Miss Lang raps on the door and I poke my head out of the blanket when she yells out, “Hurry, boy, it’s cold out here.”
I scramble to the door and fling it open, letting Lang come inside.
She comes to a quick stop when she sees Mum lying under the fur and puts her hand to her mouth as it opens in a silent scream. Her expression is confusing and I put my hand on her arm.
“What’s the matter, Miss Lang?”
She clutches my shoulders and looks in my eyes. “You poor boy. When did she pass?”
“What…do you mean?” My face crumbles when tears start running down her face. I hate it when Mum or Miss Lang cries. “What’s the matter?”
She wails louder and holds me to her chest, and I start sniffling too. I’m cold and tired and it’s been quiet too long. The last thing I want is a wailing Miss Lang.
“You poor, poor boy,” she repeats and I sigh, wiping my nose.
“You’re going to wake Mother if you’re not careful,” I finally say.
“Your mother is dead, child. She’s gone and I’m so, so sorry that she won’t be coming back.”
I take a deep breath and stare at my mother for a few moments, willing her to open her eyes.
“She’s not gone! She’s right there!” I run to my mother and hold her hand up. It feels strange and flops back down by her side. My eyes widen as I try to shake her awake. “Mum, wake up! Wake up!”
She lies there as still as can be and I lean into her neck and cry until I can’t cry any more.
Miss Lang takes me to her house, dragging me out of mine, kicking and screaming.
“I can’t leave Mum! She said we stick together, no matter what.” I’ve said it in every way possible and still, Miss Lang insists that I cannot stay with Mum in our cottage any longer.
“It’s time for Mum to go to heaven. We will have a funeral for her and say goodbye then,” she says. “I need to get in touch with your family, you poor boy.”
I want to tell her to stop calling me that, but it doesn’t matter, Mum will make her stop when I see her again. Mum is my family, the only family I’ve got.
“I want to see Mum,” I repeat, as we walk into her dark place. I step over things on the floor and rub my arms as I try to get warm.
“You won’t be seeing her again, child. I know you don’t understand it now, but your mum is gone.”
A few nights later, I meet a man whose hand trembles when he reaches out to shake mine.
“I’m Neil,” he says.
His eyes are kind. When I shake his hand, I feel safer than I’ve felt since leaving Mum in our house.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t know.” His head bows and he presses his fingers to his eyes. When he lifts his head again, his eyes are wet and he looks sad. I frown at him and he pats my shoulder. “I didn’t know about you until now or I would’ve been here sooner,” he says. “Jadon, I’m your father, and I will take good care of you, I promise.”
I swallow hard. I feel like crying. I miss Mum more than anything, but I’ve always wanted a dad. She told me it was just us though. I don’t understand how I have a dad now, but I really want to go with him, so I don’t say anything. He pats my shoulder again and takes a steadying breath.
“Are you ready to go to your new home? Your sisters will be excited to have a big brother.”
“I’ve always asked Mum for a sister,” I say excitedly. “How many are there?”
“There are two. One is a few years younger than you and the other is just a baby, but you’ll like her too. Even though all she does is cry and smile.” He laughs and I do too.
I can’t believe I have a family. I run and get the bear I have and the little bag Miss Lang put my clothes in and rush to my father.
I still can’t believe I have one.
It takes a long time to get to my father’s house. I fall asleep against his shoulder a few times on the way. And when we arrive, it’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen. A castle.
My insides are shaky as I walk inside, holding Father’s hand. A little girl runs up to me and holds out her doll. I smile and when I don’t take the doll from her, she waves it in my face until I do. When it’s in my hand, she snatches it back and runs circles around me.
“This is Eden. Someone is sure happy to meet you,” Father says.
A woman walks in, holding a baby and I stare at her. She’s beautiful and tall and the baby is so cute. I smile and the woman doesn’t smile back, looking at my father. She stares at him for a few moments but doesn’t say anything, instead turning around and walking out of the room with the baby.
“Kathryn and Ava,” Father says. “She’ll come around. It’ll just…take time,” he says under his breath.
Eden waves her doll in my face again and I start a game of peekaboo behind the doll, forgetting all about the woman and baby.
During the night, I hear the baby crying and leave my room to find her. I’m a little scared because Father tucked me in and I shouldn’t be out of bed, but I find baby Ava’s room not far from mine. I go inside and she’s in her crib wailing. I look around, but no one else comes, so I reach over and hold onto her little hand. She stares up at me, eyes wide, and I sing a little song Mum always sang to me. She quietens and even smiles a little smile before eventually drifting off to sleep.
I fall asleep lying on the floor by her crib, just in case she cries again. I don’t want her to feel like she’s alone, the way I do without Mum.
Chapter One
Jadon
Present
I go visit Kathryn. She’s being watched in the cottage to the east side of our property. She claims to be a bird in a cage, that I’m locking her up to torture her and to put her in her place. If I was that kind of person, I would’ve done it as soon as I became king.
Kathryn Safrin has hated me since the day I came to live in her house. I’m the illegitimate son of her husband, and as much as she loved him, she never forgave him for the affair he had while he was away at war for two years. Apparently, my mother never forgave him either, because he went back to his wife once the war was over. She never told him about me, and until the day he died, he did everything in his power to make sure I knew how much he loved me, to make up for those formative years in my life when I didn’t have a father.
Kathryn isn’t locked up because I hate her. I’ve never hated her—I’ve been hurt by her...there’s a big difference—but I don’t trust her right now. It’s been a month since she tried to kill me and while I know it wasn’t strictly her fault—she was kidnapped, given heavy hallucinogens, and hypnotized nightly with orders to kill me. My sister, Ava, also underwent the same brainwashing and she tried to save me when Kathryn shot me.