by Bailey, G.
“Our blood?” I question as I force myself to stand despite how dizzy I still feel. I touch the side of my neck where it still hurts. Whatever Bethany knocked me out with is not out of my system yet. The woman just circles me, her eyes taking in every part of me she can, I suspect. I grit my teeth, my words laced with anger and annoyance. “I asked you a question.”
“That’s more like it. Your father’s temper is inside you after all,” she all but laughs. “I was concerned only Bethany had it, as Phoebe is too much like your mother.”
That makes me pause. “What do you know about my sisters?”
“Everything.” The word is simply spoken, but it means a lot more. “They will live with me, and so shall you, Anastasia Noble. I’m your aunt, Courtney Violeta, and I am the current leader of the royal house of familiars, one of only three royal houses who have survived the many years since our creation.”
“I don’t believe you. My parents had no sisters or brothers,” I snap, crossing my arms. “And what are the royal houses of familiars?”
“Many would die or hand their children over to be in your shoes, Anastasia. The royal houses of familiars are the leading, the most powerful and richest houses in the familiar empire,” she claims and nods her head to the side. “Follow me.” I don’t exactly have any other option as she walks to the glass window and pushes it gently. It turns to the side, letting in the cold air, and it feels like waking up as it hits my cheeks. I force my tired legs to the window and outside onto the small glass-walled balcony. Roses in pots line the pathway to the edge of the balcony, where Courtney stops and rests her hands on the thick glass edge. I walk to her side, and I’m speechless as I see the sight in front of me.
It’s a city in the forest, surrounded by mountains tall enough to touch the sky. The trees are tall and thick, stretching like a wave in and out of the chubby wooden cabins, buildings and roads below. In the centre of the city is dozens of high-rise flats, covered in moss and ivy that wraps around them so they almost look like something natural in the forest. The distant sound of people talking and the noise of a city fills my ears as I look up at the dozens of different birds flying in the sky.
Familiars.
“Where are we?” I demand.
“North America, the biggest city of the familiars on earth,” she answers but that makes no sense. I was just in Scotland…how long was I sleeping? “And before you ask, we kept drugging you for a few days. I did not want you waking up without me there to explain everything.”
Holy gods.
I notice everything in the Familiar Empire city looks like it is made out of wood and stone, all natural, as I stare at the breath-taking view. I hardly hear Courtney speak at first, and if I’m honest with myself, I almost forgot she was here. “There are over five hundred different houses, which is a word we use for families here, and nearly every single one of them is in debt to our house in some kind of way. We control the empire as much as the House of Dawn does, and you are part of that now that I found you.”
“Bethany found me,” I gripe. “And what is the House of Dawn? Another rich and crazy family?” Her hand shocks me as she slaps me hard and quick. I stumble back, tears pricking my eyes as she glares at me, wiping her hand on the side of her dress. I taste blood, and it reminds me who I am and where I am.
This isn’t a family reunion full of happy memories…no, this is one crazy woman with some kind of claim to be my aunt, and a city full of secrets.
Aunt Courtney, the bitch, smiles at me as she crosses her arms. “I am your aunt, and we never speak a bad word about our house. The Violeta House has been through too much, become too powerful to be spoken about like you just did. Learn some respect, or I will kill you myself rather than let you be an embarrassment to us all.”
“Where is Shadow?” I demand as I’ve had enough of this crap.
“Safe in your room below. I swear on my own familiar that he has not been hurt,” she counters, and I look around for her familiar, not seeing any animal. Suddenly a small blue lizard peeps out of her hair that sways in the breeze before disappearing again.
“Where were you when my parents died?” I spit out. “You want to play the family card, but where were you when we needed you? Hiding in your glass palace?”
She softly smiles at me, taking me by surprise for a brief second. “I loved my sister like you love yours, but we did not get along all of the time. When it came to men, especially. I wanted to marry the oldest son of the House of Dawn, but when it came down to it, he loved someone else.”
“Who?”
“Your mother. It was a scandal here, and our parents would not allow it. Then your mother found out she was pregnant with Bethany, and the story changed. They got married, uniting our houses, and I knew one day I would find the love of my life, and we would get married. If I wanted that, at least. We were all happy, I swear it,” she promises.
“But?” I question, my heart pounding from learning all this about my family. Everything I knew was lies.
“I don’t know,” she honestly tells me. “One second everything was fine, and the next your parents were gone. Just vanished from the familiar world, and we looked for years. The familiars’ best detective passed away three years ago, and no one else here would take the job as it was a dead case. I went to the humans, and they searched. I only found out this year that my sister is gone from the humans’ records. I looked for Bethany next, knowing she had to be out there alone, and I just found you three.”
“Three for the price of one. Not expected, huh?” I say.
“No, but I am glad you are both familiars. I would be surprised if you weren’t at this age; your bloodline is so pure,” she replies with a large smile. “If your parents were here, they would be so proud of you.”
“We both changed...but why weren’t we born familiars?” I ask, gulping down any emotion her comment brings.
“It’s common, do not worry.” She waves a hand and steps closer to me all at the same time. “I want you to embrace your family and make a home here. Phoebe is here, and so is Bethany. We can start over with our family.”
I almost smile at her, lulled into the deep desires I have and long for, but then I remember the truth. My aunt is poison hidden in candy. The sting of my cheek reminds me of that.
“Why did Bethany knock me out and force me here?” I ask.
“Bethany is working for your father’s family...and they found you first. I have Phoebe, and they have Bethany,” she sighs. “I did find you three first, but by the time I brought Phoebe and Bethany back to the empire, the House of Dawn had their lawyers ready when we landed.”
“The court of some kind decided one child each?” I question.
“Exactly...and you are stuck in the middle, Anastasia,” she says with a smile, though her calculating eyes give her away. “The agreement was made to let you choose which family to side with. For now, you will spend a week with me and then a week at the House of Dawn until you make a decision.”
“That’s why you want me in your family. It’s to win one over on them for taking Bethany,” I counter. “And why exactly would our foster grandmother just let Phoebe go?”
“Your three uncles are not a good family for you. They are cruel and act as a company in every decision they make. They are the house that does the most for the familiar empire, but until you see what they do, you won’t understand,” she replies. “I know you think I am evil and cold, but time has made me this way. Everything I do is for our home, our family and legacy. As for your foster parent, she was happy to let Phoebe go, and I gave her enough money to buy her own cruise ship if she wanted.”
“I will make my own decisions, but for now, I want to go home,” I demand. “I want to see—”
“You are home!” Aunt Courtney shouts.
“No, not without…” My words drift off. Alexander, Mason and Liam…I need them.
“Who?” she asks with a taunting smile. I doubt there is little this woman doesn’t know about me
at this point.
“Without us. Her real family.”
Chapter 4
Anastasia
My knight in armour has dark hair and even darker eyes…
I sharply spin around to see Alexander standing by the glass, the sunlight reflecting off his eyes that only watch me like there is no one else in the world.
That’s how my Alex looks at me.
And I’ve been a fool to never see it before. A cold hand wraps tightly around my wrist when I inch closer to him on instinct. His eyes never leave mine as a cold smirk intended for my aunt crosses over his eyes.
“Alexander George...are you here to beg at my feet once more?” Aunt Courtney asks, her voice like a schoolchild asking for candy. The words make me pause, thinking back to the dream I had just before the fire...I saw Alex on his knees. He was begging my aunt.
How could I possibly have seen that?
Does it make all the other dreams real?
“I will never beg or kneel to anyone again,” he growls, his eyes fixed on my aunt’s hand on my wrist. “You cannot hold Anastasia here against her will, and she is over eighteen, so you have no custody of her. It breaks the familiar law you made yourself not so long ago if you try to keep her here. The House of Violeta wouldn’t want to be seen as lawbreakers, would they?”
“Leave and I will never let you see Phoebe again. She is under eighteen and in my custody,” Aunt Courtney whispers to me, and I’m not sure if Alex could have heard her. “Is a boy worth more than your sister?”
We both know there isn’t a decision to be made other than what she wants right now.
“Can Alex and I speak alone for a moment?” I ask Aunt Courtney with a smile, and she smiles back like she has won. For now, she might have won a battle, but the war is just beginning.
She leans down, pressing a sickly kiss on my cheek. “Anything for you, my niece.” I stay silent as Courtney leaves through one of the glass panels, and the second she is gone, I’m in Alex’s arms. He presses me to his chest, and I can only breathe him in like he isn’t real.
Like I’m trapped in one of my many dreams.
“We aren’t alone, so be careful what you say. Remember the secrets I told you never to tell?” he whispers to me. “Tassie, remember us. Remember what is real.”
“Like how you want to kiss me, Alex?” I whisper back, joking a little bit to distract whoever might be listening. I know he means the way I can make Shadow shapeshift into other creatures. “I promise I won’t tell them.”
He chuckles against my neck, his hot breath making me shiver. “I wish I could put you over my shoulder and drag you out of here before you learn the truth.”
“Tell me, Alex. Tell me all your lies,” I whisper back. “Tell me what I don’t know but always wanted to. Don’t you think I knew how many secrets you were keeping from me? I knew, and I’ve always waited for you tell me the truth.”
He sighs, and it’s more than just a normal sound. It’s him finally giving in and telling me their secrets. I wish Mason and Liam were here.
“I work for the House of Violeta, and I am in debt to the House of Dawn for my birth. I am basically a slave to these houses because they each have one of my sisters. My youngest sister lives here, and my oldest is married to one of your uncles,” he tells me, but not a lot of that makes sense to me. Why would his sister live here? Why would he be in debt for his birth?
“I don’t understand,” I say, shaking my head.
“You will soon. Mason and Liam want to be here, but they aren’t allowed in the gates like I am. I am only allowed once a month to see Skye, but I needed to see you. We have an apartment here, and Shadow could track our scents. You just need to find a way to make her let you leave or figure something out,” he whispers to me. “Or we will come for you, and it won’t be pretty.”
“You can’t cause trouble with both our sisters here. I go to the Dawn for a week soon. Maybe they will let me see you,” I suggest, but his face suggests otherwise. “Bethany acted like I was a stranger to her. What have my uncles done to my sister these last couple months?”
“They destroy everything, and you cannot trust them, Tassie,” he tells me.
“Then who do I trust?” I ask around a humourless laugh. “Why were you in Scotland anyway and not in this city?”
“The House of Violeta sent us there to find Dawn and to take over so they had control there,” he tells me.
“Why is Dawn important?” I ask, confused about why my sister’s wolf is something they would have been looking for. He goes to speak, but the glass doors swing open and five men in dark purple army gear come out and stand in a line, their hands on the guns on their side. Behind each one of them stands a bear that makes me gulp. Hands cup my cheeks, and I look back at Alex just before he kisses me. The kiss is brief, not long enough for me to really feel him, and he lets me go. He walks to the line of guards and looks back at me once, a playful twinkle in his eyes even as I feel like falling through the floor right now. Everything inside me is numb, and I don’t know who to trust anymore.
He turns back, and the guards step forward, but his words make me grin. “Be my pain in the ass, Tassie. Fight, because giving up and being docile doesn’t suit you. You’re Anastasia Noble, remember that!”
Alexander is right; it doesn’t suit me to just roll over and accept my life.
And I won’t let myself fall under my aunt’s boot because there happen to be secrets that want to swallow me even when I need to know them. As Alexander is led out, I keep my head high, my blonde hair moving around my shoulders in the breeze.
I’m Anastasia Noble, and the Familiar Empire will not break me. I step through the glass after Alex and the guards are gone, into the ballroom from my dreams. I saw a man shot with an arrow...was that real? He died, I’m sure of it, and I don’t think they were my parents. I still remember what my mum and dad looked like, and that wasn’t them.
So who died in here, on these silver tiles?
Who was the woman in the dress?
“Annie!” Phoebe shouts in joy as she runs into the room, her blonde hair all curly like it was just taken out of braids. She throws herself into my arms, and I hold her as close as I can, breathing how she smells like candy and roses as I meet Courtney’s eyes above Phoebe’s head. I smile at her to put her at ease, and she smiles back like this is a normal family reunion.
But it can never be, because my mum and dad ran away from this world for a reason.
And I’m damn sure going to find out what that reason is before saving my sisters and taking them home to Scotland with my real family.
The ones I know will fight for me no matter what.
This isn’t my home, it’s my nightmare.
Chapter 5
Liam
For our family, the world can wait…
“How is she?” I ask Alex the second he steps out the gates of the mansion, and I hate how we can’t get in there. The glass palace, or place of horrors to most in the Familiar Empire, now holds our girl.
“You were right; she is a daughter of the House of Dawn and Violeta. As fucked up as that parentage can make anyone, she is okay,” he answers, and I suck in a deep breath, whereas Mason looks like he is breathing for the first time since we got back here thanks to a favour from a friend. Anastasia couldn’t have been be more than a few hours here before us and hopefully her crazy family hasn’t talked to her yet. My mind is still in shock at the news of who Ana really is and we only know because of our spies in the big houses. They found out who Bethany was and sent us a note. Funny enough we got the note an hour too late. The fires were just under control and we were worn out, but the second we got the note, we searched for Ana. I knew she was gone before we got home. I sensed it.
We walk down the road that leads to the city and to our home, all of us lost in thought. I know my mum is going to be happy to see me back, but maybe not when I explain why we are home. “I’ve bribed three guards who will watch her and let us know what is g
oing on. Her aunt is playing the long-lost niece card, and I don’t think she is in any danger right this second.”
“Every part of me wants to go in there, punch and kill anyone that gets between me and her,” Mason growls.
“And she might get hurt. So could her little sister and Skye,” Alex points out, always the smart one and usually the angry one. I’m not sure why he is the voice of reason in our group right at this moment. “And Skye is going to sneak Ana out later. We can tell her everything then.”
“Everything?” Mason asks.
“Might as well. She will find out soon. Lies will make it harder for her to trust us,” I say, and they both nod at me. Ana is going to find out about the world she was born into…and realise at the same time we aren’t going anywhere.
She may have just found out where she came from, but she found her family in a cabin months ago.
Chapter 6
Anastasia
Memories become whispers over time.
“I missed you,” Phoebe whispers to me, her head resting on my arm and her tiny hand tightly gripped in my own. We follow our not so lovely aunt out of the ballroom and into another large glass room. This one has several large paintings that hang on the gaps between the glass, and I all but freeze when I see the one so close to us.
Mum, dad and a small baby I would guess is Bethany are holding each other. Mum and dad look at each other like there is no one else in the world, and Bethany sleeps peacefully in their arms. A pang of sadness fills me, almost taking my breath away at the same time I feel oddly jealous that I won’t find a painting or picture of me with my parents.
