The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set

by Heidi Catherine

  “We won’t give up on Lily,” he said, as River rose from her chair and jiggled Jacob, until his eyes began to close. “We’ll find out what happened to her.”

  “How can you be so sure?” she asked.

  “You’ve met my mother.” He winked at her, although it was true. His intuition did seem more finely tuned than most people’s, as if some of Ariel’s talents had been passed down to him. Maybe if he listened to his instincts a little more, he could hone these skills and grow to be the kind of King his mother believed he was.

  “Who’s that man?” asked River, looking out the window as she rocked Jacob side-to-side.

  “What man?”

  Tate joined River at the window and peered out.

  “The one talking to Ariel.” She pointed and Tate’s heart skipped a beat.

  “I know him,” he said. “That’s the man I told you about. The one I saw in the streets who was staring at me. The one who was wearing Edison’s necklace…”

  “Oh, Tate…”

  There was no need for River to finish her sentence. The necklace explained it all.

  The man looked across at the window as if he’d felt the gaze of his son. He held up a hand to Tate, and unlike the last time he’d seen him, he broke into a smile that was filled with pride.

  His father. A man who was proud of him, instead of ashamed. A man who saw the good in him, instead of his faults. A man who knew how to open up his heart to let in love, even if that meant exposing it to the possibility of pain. A man who was so different from the man who’d raised him.

  Tate had the same feeling as when he’d been a boy and had slid that last piece into place in the squares in the dirt and declared his win. Everything was where it was meant to be. They hadn’t been able to save Princess Lily just yet, but hopefully one day they could help put that right. She deserved her Evernow, just like he’d found his.

  He had the most wonderful wife, a healthy son, a mother who’d proven she loved him more than herself, and now his father had returned. On top of this, his Guardians were healthy and his sister was growing into the woman she was meant to be.

  If Edison had had his way, none of this would’ve happened. Tate would be dead and everyone he loved would be in danger.

  He glanced at the sky, wondering if Edison was watching him now.

  “Checkmate,” he said, nodding his head to the clouds.

  AFTER THE EVERNOW

  “Next! Step up. Next! Next! Next! Step up.”

  The children shuffled forward, their pace slow and measured, their heads kept bowed. The overalls they wore were filthy and their hair was hidden under scarves, making them look like mirror-images of each other. As each child reached the front of the line, they paused and waited for the King to make his assessment, aware he was selecting which of them would be given a new life.

  It would be such a relief to be asked to step up. A joy to make his shortlist. This group had been chosen for their size and age, but only a handful would make it to the next stage. And only one would make it to freedom. But they were all grateful to have been given the chance.

  For these were no ordinary children. These children were Fossickers, mining the kingdom of Feldspar for treasures to please their King. Their bodies were made of bones, born to dig and trained to work. The Fossickers’ duty was to their King. There could be no greater purpose than serving him. All the generations of Fossickers before them felt the same, male and female alike.

  However, they’d never been asked to step up in this way before.

  There was one Fossicker waiting patiently in line who was different from the others. She wasn’t different on the outside, though. She walked in step with the rest, doing what they did, dressing as they dressed and saying what they said. She was the same malnourished height as the others, had the same skeletal build, and the same filth on her skin. Just like every one of these Fossickers, she spent her life underground, mining for shiny treasures to please her King.

  In fact, so similar was this Fossicker on the outside that she’d almost forgotten she was different. But there was no question about it. For this Fossicker was destined to alter the course of the Kingdom. This Fossicker was no ordinary Fossicker at all.

  “Next! Next! Next!” The King shuffled some gemstones in his hand as he shouted. This was a leader who liked to dig up treasures in his kingdom and was rarely seen not covered in gemstones, almost like his clothes were made from stars.

  The Fossicker reached the front of the line, keeping her gaze low so as not to make eye contact with the King unless asked to do so.

  “Step up.”

  Her heart swelled to have made the shortlist.

  “Ne—” The King set down the gemstones he’d been holding to concentrate on the potential treasure before him. “No, wait. The last one. Step back.”

  She stepped back, disappointed at being returned to the pack of Fossickers, but determined not to show it.

  “No, not back to the pack,” the King said. “Back here.”

  She stood in front of her master and waited.

  “Look at me,” he instructed.

  Trying not to focus on the King’s ostentatious show of wealth, she locked eyes with him, feeling her life change with each moment that passed.

  “Remove your scarf,” the King instructed.

  She untied her scarf and let her hair fall to her shoulders, the orange strands sparkling like sunbeams.

  “Yes! This one. Send the rest away.”

  She steadied her breathing and waited. Others may not be able to see that she was different, but the King had.

  “Send for my Queen immediately,” the King said, leaning back and strumming his fingers on the arms of his throne. “Tell her I’ve found her a daughter.”

  THE END

  The Angels of Evernow

  BOOK FIVE

  For Granny - I wish you could see this.

  BEFORE THE EVERNOW

  The Queen stood on the highest balcony of her lighthouse, her mood mirroring the anger of the sea below.

  “Where’s my treasure?” she called into the wind as it whipped at her hair, tangling the long strands into her eyes and mouth. She clawed them away with her jewel-encrusted fingernails.

  The King was taking too long. He normally visited her far earlier than this. And it was a special day, too. He’d promised her a treasure. Her greatest treasure yet. Taken from deep in the mines and brought to her lighthouse for her to keep forever.

  And now the sun was almost at its highest point in the sky and still, there was no sign of the King’s boat. Sometimes he didn’t visit her when the sea was too rough or if he was on a treasure hunt, but that excuse would be unacceptable today. She needed her treasure and each moment she waited was a moment too long. How dare he keep her waiting like this!

  “You’re a liar!” she called, gripping the railing with such force that her knuckles turned white. Perhaps he wasn’t coming at all.

  Letting go with one hand, she reached into her pocket and took out a large purple amethyst. It glowed now, just as it had when the King had first given it to her. Later, the stone had given her a vision of a daughter with her same red hair and fair skin. A daughter she was to name Angel. A daughter who’d be her greatest treasure of all.

  The Queen had kept the amethyst with her always, waiting for the day her Angel would be born.

  But there’d been no daughter. There’d been no sons either. Her belly had remained as void as her arms. This was when she’d moved to the lighthouse. If she couldn’t have her daughter, then she didn’t want anybody, her husband included.

  Now, she was too old to carry a child, yet the amethyst continued to lie to her, just like the man who gave it to her and it glowed brighter than ever, her vision of a daughter the clearest she’d had yet. But what use was a daughter who lived in her head?

  On the King’s most recent visit, he’d told her he’d found her an Angel. He just needed to have her cleaned up so that she sparkled and shone like the
treasure she was. Maybe that’s what the stone had been trying to tell her?

  But he must have lied. Otherwise, he’d be here by now. He wouldn’t have left her hanging like this. He knew how long she’d already waited.

  “You’re a liar! Everyone lies!” The wind took her words and swept them out to sea. She imagined them twirling in the currents and plummeting into the cold water, being churned up by the waves.

  “And you’re the biggest liar of them all.” She looked down at the amethyst, still clutched tightly in her fingers.

  She held out her hand over the railing, deciding if she didn’t see the King’s boat by the time the sun began its descent, she was going to drop the amethyst into the sea. That would be one less liar to poison her with hope.

  She waited. The wind blew. The waves crashed. The sun rose to the highest point in the sky. Her grip on the amethyst weakened.

  “Where’s my treasure?” she cried, but still a boat didn’t appear. “I want my Angel.”

  The sun dipped a fraction and she threw back her arm and flung the amethyst into the air. It spun as it tumbled, catching the light and sending purple sparks through the air until the greedy ocean opened its jaws and swallowed her most prized treasure along with all her hope for a daughter.

  “Noooo!” she screamed, regret piercing her in the gut like she’d been shot with a fire-burning arrow. She’d been foolish! Her treasure was gone and her fear of the water would keep her from ever finding it again.

  She leaned over the railing and reached toward the sea as if she could summon her treasure back from the water. But it was gone.

  She reached out further and her head spun with the grief of what she’d done. As the world whirled around her, it felt almost as if she’d crashed to the ground along with the amethyst itself.

  Then it appeared. Not the crystal, but the King’s boat, fighting the waves as the oarsmen struggled to keep pushing forward.

  He was coming! She squinted as the boat got closer, clutching at her thumping heart to see a mane of red hair flying in the wind. There was a young girl seated next to the King. A girl who looked just like the Angel in her vision.

  The amethyst hadn’t lied to her after all. Nor had her husband.

  She turned back to the lighthouse and ran for the stairs.

  Her husband had brought her a daughter! Her greatest treasure of all.

  Her Angel had arrived at last.

  ANGEL

  THE BEFORE

  Angel kicked her way through the freezing water, her lungs screaming for air.

  She broke the surface, took in a deep breath and blinked away the saltiness of the water, looking up at the lighthouse looming above. It was old and dull from the outside, a necessity in these harsh conditions. But on the inside, it couldn’t be more of a contrast. Every surface was covered in treasures of all colors and sizes. Moonstone and onyx and peridot and sunstone. Jade and quartz and agate and tiger eye. They lined the ceilings, the banisters, the walls, and the floor. They were embedded in the chairs, the tables, the beds, and the window frames. There were millions of treasures and Angel was certain she knew every single one of them. For that lighthouse had been her home for the past ten years. Although, home was a generous word, as really it was her prison.

  The woman standing on the balcony waved to her—Mother, although that was also a generous word as really, she was her captor.

  “Did you find it?” called Mother, the shrillness of her voice bouncing off the water, her red hair flying in all directions.

  Angel shook her head, sending water droplets flying from her own red hair and back into the body of water from where they’d come. Everything returned to the ocean eventually. Even the lighthouse would get old one day and crumble into the sea, taking its treasures with it. She only hoped she’d live long enough to see it.

  “Look again!” screeched Mother, holding her hair back from her face. “You have to find it!”

  Angel tried to steady the shaking of her body as she took in a deep breath and plunged back under the water to look for what Mother called her lost treasure. It was so dark and she’d been scared the first few times she’d been forced to put her head under. But now she almost enjoyed it. It was quiet down there with only the fish for company. The fish didn’t screech at her like Mother did.

  Every day, no matter the weather, Angel was sent into the depths to search for a giant purple amethyst Mother had thrown from the balcony to punish it for lying to her. Only, it hadn’t been lying at all. The daughter it promised had arrived only moments after the amethyst had sunk beneath the surface. Angel shuddered to remember that day. She wasn’t sure what was worse—fossicking for treasures alongside the other children in the mines or living with the Queen pretending she was her daughter.

  Angel pushed her way through the water, swimming down to the clump of rocks near the base of the lighthouse, even though she’d only just looked here. How did Mother expect her to find the amethyst after so many years? It would’ve been swept away in a current by now, not sitting there waiting for her to pick it up.

  She knew all these rocks by feel and as she ran her hands over them now, it was like saying hello to old friends. Just as her breath was about to run out, she plunged her hand into a small space between two large rocks, half expecting a fish to bite her fingertips. But instead of an angry fish, she brushed over something smooth. Something that definitely didn’t belong under the ocean. She’d never felt anything like this down here before and it wasn’t just the texture of its surface. It was the way it sent tingles down her body from her fingertips to her toes.

  Desperate to investigate, but even more desperate for air, she pushed off the rocks to head to the surface, gulped in a large lungful of air and went straight back down.

  A warm wave rushed through her body as she made contact with the smooth surface once again. This couldn’t possibly be the amethyst, could it? She was sure she’d looked in this very spot a hundred times before.

  She pulled at the object, trying to dislodge it, but it was stuck tight, so instead, she ran her fingers over it. It was exactly the right size for the amethyst Mother had described.

  With her fingers still on the smooth surface of the stone, she closed her eyes and the image of a man with golden hair filled her mind. He had a kind face, handsome and strong. He looked brave and smart…and lonely. There was something about him that made her certain he needed her as much as she needed him.

  A sharp ache in her chest brought her back to reality. She wanted to stay down here, basking in the warmth of her golden-haired prince but her lungs wouldn’t let her. She needed air, which meant she needed to push back up. If only she could take the amethyst with her. But maybe this was for the best. Nothing was hers in the lighthouse. Down here everything was hers. It was the only place Mother would never find it. Mother never left the lighthouse, let alone went into the water. She had a daughter to do that for her.

  The amethyst may not have lied to Mother, but Angel was going to. Because there was no way Mother was getting her hands on her stone. She shouldn’t have thrown it away if she wanted to keep it.

  The treasure was Angel’s now.

  Breaking through the surface again, Angel gasped in a great gulp of air and coughed.

  Mother was leaning over the railing, her eyes wide.

  “Have you got it this time?” Her eagle eyes examined Angel for any evidence of having found her treasure.

  “Didn’t find it,” called Angel, pulling herself onto the rocks, her wet clothing turning to ice in the blasting wind.

  Mother went back inside, the door slamming in the wind behind her, echoing around their tiny island.

  Angel grabbed for the blanket she’d left on the rocks and wrapped herself in it, trying to remember the spark of excitement she’d felt at finding the amethyst. But memories didn’t keep you warm. Only real life did that.

  One day, her golden haired prince was going to come for her and they were going to run far away from her fake ho
me and her fake mother.

  Because her memories may not keep her warm, but they were still important. Memories were what made her who she was. And this was how Angel knew she wasn’t really Angel at all. She was Princess Lily of Forte Cadence, daughter of Queen Rose and Prince Jeremiah and no matter how many times Mother called her Angel, she was never—not ever—going to forget who she really was.

  RAPHAEL

  THE BEFORE

  Raphael tied the blindfold around Grimm’s face only a little more tightly than was necessary.

  “Ouch!” Grimm stepped away and tripped over a stick on the forest floor. “Here, let me do it.”

  “I need to make sure you can’t see,” said Raphael, running a hand through his white blond hair. “Don’t cheat.”

  “I’m not going to cheat!”

  Raphael watched as Grimm removed the blindfold and re-tied it. They’d known each for almost two decades now. Not that Grimm looked anything like he did as a child. Back then, he’d been scrawny and scared. These days he was burly and brave. Although, his fascination with the apothecary Raphael was in charge of had never changed.

  “Is this okay, Uncle Raphael?” Grimm grinned from beneath the blindfold.

  “I’ve told you a million times I’m not your uncle.” Raphael shook his head and broke into a smile.

  Grimm was the nephew of his sister’s husband, King Ari. It was a relationship that made Grimm royal, but it didn’t make them related. The idea of him being his best friend’s uncle was ludicrous.

  “You’re scowling at me, aren’t you?” asked Grimm. “I can tell.”

  “I’m actually smiling.”

  “Told you I couldn’t see a thing. Now, let’s get this started. I’m hungry!”