Splintered Mirror Read online

  Table of Contents

  Also By Morgan Hawke:

  Dedication:

  Splintered Mirror

  Once upon a time...

  ~ One ~

  ~ Two ~

  ~ Three ~

  ~ Four ~

  ~ Five ~

  ~ Six ~

  ~ Seven ~

  ~ Eight ~

  ~ Nine ~

  ~ Ten ~

  ~ Eleven ~

  ~ Twelve ~

  ~ Thirteen ~

  ~ Fourteen ~

  ~ Fifteen ~

  ~ Sixteen ~

  ~ Seventeen ~

  ~ Eighteen ~

  ~ Nineteen ~

  ~ Twenty ~

  ~ Twenty-One ~

  Morgan Hawke

  Published by Mojocastle Press, LLC

  Haymarket, Virginia

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  Splintered Mirror

  ISBN: 978-1-60180-039-8

  Copyright @2014 Morgan Hawke

  Cover Art Copyright @2014 April Martinez

  All rights reserved.

  Excluding legitimate review sites and review publications, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Copying, scanning, uploading, selling and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without permission from the publisher is illegal, punishable by law and will be prosecuted.

  Available online at:

  http://www.mojocastle.com/

  Also By Morgan Hawke:

  Uber-Gothic: Industrial Sorcery

  The Cheater’s Guide to Writing Erotic Romance

  Demoness

  Security Issues

  In Arrears

  Bad Girl

  Dedication:

  Stef: Without your warmth and support, I would still be wandering lost in a forest frozen in time.

  Kita the Spaz: Thank you for rescuing me from the abyss of my own creation.

  Splintered Mirror

  A Sordid Fairy Tale

  Once upon a time in the enchanted land of Nod, there lived an amazingly beautiful prince named Alberic. The prince had long golden hair, emerald green eyes, and a face women swooned over. Unfortunately, this very same prince was also sarcastic, sadistic, and demonically temperamental. Supposedly, he wasn’t actually a demon, but I had my doubts—as did anyone else who happened to cross his path.

  My name is Julian. I was his valet.

  Once upon a time...

  “Fetch, peon.” With a sweet smile that made him look angelic and years younger than thirteen, Prince Alberic, the only heir to the Kingdom of Nod’s throne, tossed yet another tin soldier over the cracked rim of the disused fountain.

  The toy disappeared into the fountain’s murky water with a soft ker-plunk.

  Royal heir or not, I glared at the thirteen-year-old brat from my superior position of fourteen years old, and two and a half inches taller. “Aren’t you a little old to be playing this game?”

  Just then, an autumn breeze chose that moment to whisk through the trees, sweeping red-gold leaves from their nearly naked limbs, then across me.

  Despite my best efforts, I shivered hard. Even though my blue frock coat and matching knee breeches were fairly heavy wool, and the knee-length black waistcoat was too, I was freezing. This was due to the fact that I standing waist-deep in the fountain’s icy water. I was pathetically grateful that the fountain itself wasn’t actually spouting water like it was supposed to, or I would have been completely soaked. “And it’s not summer, in case you haven’t noticed?”

  “So?” The prince thumbed back a long golden lock escaping the black velvet bow that bound the rest of his incredibly long hair to the back of his neck. The green-eyed, blond, royal pain in my ass was exquisitely dressed in a green velvet frock coat heavily embroidered with silver. A fortune in lace was around his throat held by an emerald brooch worth an entire small kingdom.

  We were in one of the palace’s overgrown and lesser-used gardens. One of the few places we could play without the near-constant stares of the maids, or footmen. Not that the prince cared. He was used to it. It was me that couldn’t handle being watched so closely, or rather, their looks of pity. After all, I was there for a reason; to keep the royal brat from playing with them.

  Alberic pointed at the water, his angelic smile fading into his more customary demonic smirk. “Fetch!”

  Soaked and annoyed beyond all endurance, I dug around in the water until I found the soldier, then threw it at his head. I missed, of course, which annoyed me even more, so I shouted at the top of my lungs, “I quit! Go find another playmate to torture!”

  The Prince stared at me wide-eyed, his petal-pink lips slightly parted. “Quit?” He leapt to his feet and pointed at me with a scowl on his cherubic face. “You can’t quit! I bought you!”

  I dragged myself out of the fountain and wrung out my long black ponytail. “I can too quit!” I flipped my wet ponytail to my back and sneered in his face. “You may have paid my parents for me, but I’m a contracted apprentice. Anything else is slavery, and slavery is still illegal in this kingdom.”

  Alberic scowled. “Damn it, I should have never let you sit in on my kingdom law classes...”

  “Well, it’s too late now.” I smiled with pure malice and wrung out the hem of my coat next to his highly polished shoes, making a nice little puddle. Shoes I had spent hours polishing, so no, I was not about to soak them in rancid water. “In fact...” I set my fisted hands on my wet hips. “I’m going home right now!” I turned on my heel and squelched toward the garden gate that opened into the woods.

  Alberic chased after me. “No! I’m the prince, and I say you can’t quit!”

  I took off running. “I quit! I quit! I quit!”

  He charged after me. “You’re not! You’re not! You’re not!”

  “Am too! Am too! Am too!”

  The gate was locked, of course, but the maple tree right next to it overhung the wall. However, since I was taller, I could reach the lowest branch where it wasn’t quite low enough for my prince to grab, and he knew it. Even better, he wasn’t anywhere near as good at climbing trees as I was.

  “You...! Get your butt back here, peon!”

  “Make me!” I jumped to grab onto the maple’s branch, and swung myself up. Constantly carrying things around for the prince hither, thither, and yon had put some serious strength in my arms. I moved across the branches to the other side of the wall, then dropped out of the tree to land on my hands and knees by the gate.

  Alberic grabbed onto the cast-iron bars and screamed at me, “I will have you dragged back and whipped for this!”

  I stuck my tongue out. “Gotta catch me first!”

  I bolted into the woods. It briefly occurred to me that my prince probably would have the palace guard drag me back, and he did like using that riding crop of his, but right then I just didn’t care. I was making a point.

  The walk home through the woods got dark fast. Being autumn, night came early. However, the moon was very full and bright, and most of the leaves had already fallen from the trees, so I had no trouble seeing at all. My hands chilled, as did my wet feet, but I had pockets to tuck my hands into, and my wool frock coat was more than enough to keep most of the rest of me warm. Wool stays warm even wet. However, my wool breeches only went to the knee, so my shins tried to go numb on me, but the brisk walk and the heat of my anger helped.

  By the time I got to my parent’s thatch-roofed farmhouse, I was bone tired and seriously questioning the wisd
om of a trek home rather than simply escaping to the castle’s maze of attics. It was easily possible to hide there for a few days, and best of all, the prince had never been able to find me there. Far too late to do anything about my rash decision and shaking with exhaustion, I lifted the wooden latch to the back door and opened it.

  Strangely, it was dark inside, and no one was there.

  Just to make things even odder, the big heavy oak table had been shoved to the far left side, almost against the water pump’s sink. Dishes and spoons were scattered across the table, along with spilled stew. Mom’s prized glass oil lamp sat right on the edge. Other than the hearth fire, it was the only light in the room. None of the mirrored wall candles were lit. The four chairs were scattered around the room, and one of them was shattered almost to splinters.

  Had my parents gotten into one of their fights? Frowning, I headed straight for the river stone fireplace to warm my hands by the fire. I didn’t hear any shouting, so hopefully, the fight was over. “Mom? Dad? Julian?”

  Julian was my twin, younger by only two hours. Standing side by side, we appeared to be identical. The only real difference was that one of us was a boy, and the other was not. Our names were practically identical too, Julian and Julianna. To make things even more confusing, we both answered to the name Julian.

  Not a sound answered me. The house was dead quiet, except for the crackling fire.

  Where was everybody? Had my parents gone out to the barn for their shouting match? They would if the fight was about money, or Dad’s occasional gambling. But then, where was my twin? He hated fights, so he wouldn’t have followed them to the barn...?

  Something splattered under my shoe.

  I looked down and discovered that I had stepped into a puddle, a thick red puddle. A thick red puddle that was seeping from...something heaped in the deep shadow at the side of the fireplace. It looked like someone had butchered a hog right there in the kitchen. That was seriously odd, because Dad butchered the hogs out in the shed, and it was in so many pieces...

  I squinted at it, wondering why it looked so messy. That’s when I realized that it hadn’t been butchered, it had been ripped apart. A bit of white caught my eye, white that was slowly turning red. It looked like a...sleeve.

  I jerked back sharply. That wasn’t a hog. Hogs didn’t wear clothes.

  I stared, frozen in total shock, my mind completely unable to accept what I was seeing. Icy panic began to spill into my veins, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. My throat closed so tight, my voice came out in barely a whisper. “Mom? Dad? Julian?”

  Something large and heavy moved behind me.

  I whirled to look.

  Something huge was coming down the ladder from the loft, something big and...furry. Rounded ears lifted at the top of its round furry head, and it pointed its short muzzle at me. It looked like a bear.

  Only bears didn’t normally wear clothing, although what it wore was torn almost to pieces. Bears didn’t have hands either, but this one did, tipped with long black claws that curved. The way it stepped down the stairs was definitely not bear-like. Its eyes suddenly glowed green. The mouth opened, showing long jagged teeth, and a bass growl rolled from its massive chest.

  That definitely wasn’t a man, but it definitely wasn’t a bear either. It was a monster.

  My mouth opened, but I didn’t scream. I couldn’t scream. My throat had closed far too tightly.

  Suddenly the latch to the door lifted and the door flew open, slamming against the wall. Prince Alberic, still in his green and silver suit, but also wearing a dark cloak that was much too big for him, marched into my parent’s house and bellowed out, “Turn over Julian at once!”

  I turned to stare at my prince wide-eyed.

  Spotting me by the hearth, my prince scowled ferociously at me. “You are in so much trouble, peon.”

  I was in trouble? I almost laughed.

  The thing on the stairs roared and came crashing down into the main room, aiming straight for my prince.

  I bolted across the room, not thinking, only reacting. There was no time for thought, only the desperate need to act. I plowed into Alberic, knocking him bodily to the floor and away from those reaching claws.

  Alberic grunted under me and winced. “Ow...”

  “Joo lee aaahn...” The voice was deep and rumbled so loud the floor actually vibrated. It was also very, very close.

  I looked over my shoulder.

  The monster stood over us, its clawed hands dripping red. It also reeked hideously. Worst of all, it stood between us and the door. There was absolutely no way past it.

  Eyes wide and panting harshly with fear, I flipped over onto my butt and scrabbled frantically backwards, shoving Alberic back against the wall.

  Alberic sat behind me and stared with his eyes just as wide as mine. He leaned forward to breathe nervously in my ear. “What is that?”

  My throat was still too tight to speak, but I got a whisper out. “Monster.”

  The monster took in a deep growling breath, and then let out with that deep thundering voice. “Jooo lee ahn...”

  I blinked. Was it saying my name?

  “What?” Alberic growled. “Oh, hell no,” he muttered, then abruptly stood up and pointed his finger at the monster. “My peon! Back off!”

  For a moment, I thought he’d actually snapped.

  Suddenly, blue-white light burst around him and engulfed us both in blinding brilliance. The light seared my eyes. I threw up an arm to cover them.

  The monster howled and thundered off.

  The light suddenly went out.

  I dropped my arm from my eyes in time to have Alberic collapse on top of me, out cold. His weight knocked the breath out of me, and I sat there stunned and gasping for what felt like an eternity, but couldn’t have been more than a few heartbeats. When I finally caught my breath, I realized two things.

  The monster had fled to the far side of the room, its face covered by both hairy arms.

  The doorway was clear.

  In a near-blind panic, I grabbed my unconscious prince under the arms and dragged him toward the door as fast as I could do it. In my haste, I slammed my side into the kitchen table, knocking Mother’s glass oil lamp off it to shatter on the floor. Oil spilled across the floor and ignited.

  I didn’t stop to look. I was too busy dragging Alberic out the door.

  I made it to Mother’s herb garden, where I was forced to stop for breath and to get a better grip on my prince. He weighed a freaking ton. However, the only real thought going through my mind was that we needed help. That...thing was fast, and it would definitely catch us once it got out that door.

  The road.

  I needed to get to the road, and hopefully someone would be on it...preferably someone with a fast horse.

  Ducking down, I heaved Alberic over my shoulder and stood up, lifting him up like a sack of flour...a very heavy sack of flour. Hunched under him with my legs shaking from the strain, I scrambled around the house to the open gate at the road.

  A deafening roar of blazing heat hit my side, knocking me over. It spilled us both on the packed dirt of the road, right into the path of several horsemen in black cloaks.

  Dimly, I realized it was a troop of palace guards led by Reinhardt, captain of the palace guards. The captain’s black horse danced back, snorting. Captain Reinhardt reined his horse back and leaned over the saddle. “Julian? Prince!”

  I pointed at the house and suddenly my voice came back loud and clear. “Monster!” That was when I realized that the thatch-roofed cottage I had been born in had become a raging inferno.

  The captain frowned. “What?”

  Inside the house, the monster roared. It crashed through the front door howling and streaming flames right in front of the palace guards.

  All of the horses screamed in fright and went mad, bucking and rearing. The men shouted. I was deafened by the explosion of too many muskets going off, far too close.

  I threw myself on to
p of Alberic.

  The monster roared thunderously and ran off into the fields.

  The captain pointed at two of his men and shouted. “You two, get these two back to the palace!” He drew his saber and waved it toward the monster. “The rest of you, after it! Don’t let it get away!” He slammed his heels into his horse’s sides and charged into the fields after the monster.

  His men followed in a wave of shouting and pounding hooves.

  I vaguely felt someone lift me from the ground, but I refused to let go of Alberic’s coat. The world receded into gray fog.

  * * * * * *

  I awoke to find myself slumped against the wall in the prince’s bedchamber. Directly across the room from me, the prince, in his ruffled nightshirt, lay tucked under the silk coverlet of his velvet-draped bed. He lay very, very still.

  On the opposite side of the bed, Theo the royal alchemist and physician had his palm on the prince’s brow.

  I rose to my feet on shaking legs. Dully, I noticed that my coat was muddy, and that there were suspicious-looking red stains on my knees and stockings. My shoes were gone. Worst of all, I stank of smoke and something else, something foul. I almost retched.

  It wasn’t a dream. It had all happened. The monster, the dead...somebody in my house, the fire... Somehow, we had gotten away. Somehow, we had both survived. The relief was so profound I was attacked by a wave of dizziness and almost fell to the floor. I put a hand on the wall to steady myself.

  I focused on my prince and Theo. My teeth chattered so strongly I could barely speak. “Will he live?”

  Theo snorted. “He’s merely asleep.” He rose from the chair by the prince’s bed and towered over me. “Now, as for you...”

  I shook my head. “I’m not hurt.” Despite the fact that I couldn’t stop shaking, and the bruises I could feel starting to introduce themselves, I wasn’t actually injured.

  Theo took hold of my arm and hauled me away from my prince’s side. “I’ll be the judge of that.” Before I could think to protest, the royal alchemist had pulled the clothes from my body and uncovered my deepest secret, the one shared by only my prince and I.