Broken Promise (Between Worlds #2)

by Julia Crane

  I played with my hair a little, pulling the sides up out of my face, but leaving the back down. My face needed no makeup. I touched the necklace Kallan had given me. My fingers then moved to the bracelet from Adam. I sighed. What was I going to do? Whatever happened, someone was going to get hurt. And I hated that. It wasn’t fair.

  No. Not today, I told myself. Think happy thoughts today. It’s a celebration!

  Azura knocked on my door. “Oleander! It’s time to go.”

  Now if I could only get her to stop calling me that, I laughed to myself. That wasn’t going to happen.

  I opened the door and faced Azura. She gasped and tears formed in her eyes. “Beautiful.”

  I blushed. “Thanks. You look nice, too.”

  Azura was dressed in a short-sleeved green gown, longer than the one I was wearing, but not too long. She had put her hair up in a loose bun. She wore a single-stone necklace that matched her eyes—jade, maybe? I didn’t know enough about crystals and stones to recognize them yet.

  “Why didn’t you ever remarry? You’re gorgeous. Surely there have been men that want to be with you?”

  She cast her eyes downward. “It was never important to me. After your father left... I just didn’t want to go through that again.”

  “Not everyone is bad. There could be someone out there to make you happy.”

  “I am happy. Don’t worry about me.” She settled her face into a luminous smile. “Come. The celebration awaits.”

  I followed Azura down the dirt trail in front of her house. The crude road was lined with huge grass yards and tall tree houses similar to Azura’s. Just a little earlier all was dark and quiet, but now everything was full of life. There was so much beauty to take in. I hoped I never got used to being in awe of the faery world.

  Faeries were busy decorating and preparing for the celebration, setting up tables and feasts, while piskies hovered around—right out in the open.

  “Kallan once told me not to follow the piskies,” I told Azura, just to make conversation as we walked.

  She laughed. “A good piece of advice, to be sure. They aren’t bad creatures, necessarily, just lackadaisical. They’ll make you feel happy and free, and you’ll disappear with them in the forest to dance your life away.”

  We stopped a few houses down where a group of faeries were stringing up colorful lights.

  “Morning, ladies,” Azura said brightly.

  They all turned and greeted Azura, and then looked at me. I suddenly felt like I was on stage and the spotlight was pointed directly at me.

  I swallowed hard and managed a meek, “Hi.”

  All four sets of eyes shifted to my birthmark. I thought of some sarcastic remarks to make, but held them back. I didn’t want to embarrass Azura or myself.

  After another moment of awkward silence passed, the faery with green wings forced a smile and said, “Welcome home, Oleander. We have heard quite a bit about you this past year. It’s good to finally meet you.”

  “Thank you. Nice to meet you, too.”

  “Azura! Oleander!” a familiar voice called, cutting through the weird tension. Lorella and two younger girls were walking through the crowd. “Morning, girls! Oleander, I want you to meet a couple of my daughters, your cousins. This is Violet and Nessa.”

  I was relieved to have the distraction. “I’m so happy to meet you. I can’t believe I have cousins.” Violet seemed to be about my age, and Nessa a year or two younger. They were gorgeous. I was beginning to wonder if any faery was ugly.

  The girls just stared at me, but didn’t respond. I looked at Azura for help. They were obviously not pleased to meet me.

  “Violet just turned seventeen. It’s too bad you weren’t able to grow up together. I’m sure you would have been great friends. But it’s not too late.” Azura smiled at Violet.

  “Violet, why don’t you take Oleander to meet some of your friends? I’ll catch up with you in a moment,” Azura said.

  Violet rolled her eyes and stalked off. I followed behind her, not sure what to make of her obvious disdain.

  I should say something. Compliment her? It would be nice to have friends in this realm. “I like the way you have your hair,” I said in an attempt to start a conversation. She had several braids of her honey-colored hair piled high on her head and large blue eyes. There was a sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of her nose.

  She stared at me sideways, as if she was trying to figure out if I was making fun of her or not, but finally mumbled a “thanks” under her breath.

  Humph. Heck with the nice routine. I stopped in my tracks. “Why are you acting like this? I haven’t done anything to you and you barely know me.”

  Violet bit the side of her lip. I knew she couldn’t lie. “I guess I’m sort of jealous. You’ve always been the special one, the precious daughter, the one everyone mourned the loss of. Suddenly, you’re back in the picture and it takes you a year to visit us? What makes you so special that you can’t even come home? And all everyone is talking about is how beautiful and powerful you are. Add to that, you’re promised to the dark prince.”

  “You know of my promise to Kallan?” I asked, surprised.

  “Of course, everyone knows. Half the girls here have a crush on him.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I didn’t know why I found that so funny. Who would have thought that light faeries would have crushes on dark ones? I thought it was taboo, but that probably added to the allure.

  “Do dark and light faeries date?” I asked.

  “Not often, but it does happen.”

  Interesting.

  “I’ve heard that Kallan hasn’t been involved with anyone since he met you. He used to go through girls like faeries go through faery dust.”

  “Faery dust is real?” I couldn’t believe that Kallan wasn’t dating anyone. For some reason, the thought made my pulse race.

  Violet laughed. “No, it’s not real. It’s just a saying we use. Kinda like your human saying of raining cats and dogs. I’ve never been able to get that one. Humans have strange phrases.”

  “Oh.” I grinned. “I guess we do. The other day I asked my mom why we say ‘I feel sick as a dog.’ She didn’t know the answer.”

  “So what’s he like? The dark prince?” Violet asked. “I’ve only seen him from afar a few times.”

  I smiled. “He’s stubborn, moody, and has a temper, but he’s also very thoughtful.”

  “You forgot how handsome he is.” There was definitely a swoon-worthy note to her voice. “He sounds perfect. So why don’t you want to marry him?”

  “I have a boyfriend.”

  Violet scrunched up her nose. “A human?”

  “Yes, a human,” I retorted. “He’s very sweet. We’ve been together for a long time.”

  Violet started walking again, so I tried to keep up. She walked as if she were floating on air, and I felt awkward next to her.

  “Faeries belong with faeries,” Violet told me, as if she couldn’t believe that I could possibly be interested in a human.

  It kind of ticked me off, but I didn’t feel like arguing with her so I ignored the statement and turned to the less talkative Nessa. “So what do you do here for fun?”

  “All sorts of things, I guess. We have parties, dances, sports games, and stuff,” she answered quietly before pushing her shoulder-length blonde hair behind a pointed ear.

  “Sometimes we go to the human realm to hang out,” Violet added.

  “Really? We should do something together.”

  “That would be fun,” Violet offered, her face softening. “I’m sorry I wasn’t very welcoming. I dreaded meeting you.”

  “That’s okay. I dreaded coming here.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I guess it makes it all so real. It’s a lot to take in.”

  “I can see that. I can’t believe you went sixteen years without knowing you were a faery. It must have been quite a shock.”

  “That’s an understatement.”
Relative or not, I barely knew the girl and wasn’t ready to bare my soul, so I switched gears. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

  “Not right now. I’ve got a couple of guys in my sights, but haven’t done anything about it yet.”

  “Shouldn’t be that hard to get whatever guy you want. You’re gorgeous.”

  Her face reddened. “You don’t have to say that.”

  “It’s true.” I watched some faeries go by. Many of them were staring and pointing at me.

  “They’ll get used to you. You’re the most excitement we’ve had in a long time.”

  I felt like some freak show on display. My birthmark pulsed, ever-present and always pinpointing me as different.

  “Oleander,” Azura called.

  We stopped and waited for her to catch up.

  “Did you meet anyone new?”

  “No. We were just catching up. I think Violet and I are going to be great friends,” I said, giving my cousin a genuine smile. We had a rocky start, but she was still my blood.

  Violet’s face glowed.

  “See that group of children playing in the field?” Azura pointed at a group of about eight younger kids playing with a ball. None of them had wings yet, so they all had to be under sixteen.

  “Yeah?”

  “Those are your cousins, too.”

  “Wow. There are so many of them.” I’d always been an only child. It was a shock to find out I had this many relatives.

  “I’m going to go help my mother. I hope to see more of you before you go home,” Violet said.

  “Definitely.” I waved as we walked off in opposite directions.

  “I’d like to introduce you to someone else,” Azura told me, motioning for me to follow.

  “Who?”

  She didn’t say right away. She walked up to a group of faeries that were spreading out tablecloths. “Foster, Alva, this is Oleander.”

  They turned to face me. A sweet smile spread across the older woman’s face. “It is so nice to meet you, Oleander. Do you know who I am?”

  “No.” I shook my head. How in the world was I supposed to know who she was?

  “I am your Maimeó.”

  Confused, I looked at Azura. “What does that mean?”

  “This is your other grandmother.”

  Maimeó looked older than Móraí, but not by much. Just like with Móraí, I had a hard time believing this woman was old enough to be my grandmother. She didn’t have one wrinkle on her face. Her light brown hair was cut short, exposing the back of her neck.

  “That would mean she’s your husband’s mom?” I asked Azura quietly.

  “Yes. Your father’s parents.”

  “And this is your Daideó, your grandfather,” Maimeó said.

  The older gentleman who stood next to her nodded at me. His blue eyes twinkled as he stepped forward and embraced me. “It is so good to finally hold you. Let me get a good look at you.” He placed his strong hands on my shoulders and pulled back to look me over. He nodded, like he approved, then he ran his fingers over my birthmark. “An Aurorian,” he said, as if he were confirming it to himself.

  Maimeó spoke again, “This is my son, Durin, and my daughter, Marigold.”

  My family was growing larger by the second. There was no way I would keep all these names and faces straight. Durin and Marigold were about Azura’s age, give or take. It was hard to tell how old anyone was here since they aged so slowly. They had light brown hair and blue eyes. One could definitely tell they were siblings.

  “It’s nice to meet you.” I smiled, feeling like a parrot since I kept saying the same thing. Inside, I wasn’t sure how I felt. I knew it wasn’t their fault their son had been willing to trade me, but it still stung. What if it was the way he was raised? What if these family members were like him? What kind of person gave away their own child for power?

  “You should have met us long ago,” Maimeó said, turning to Azura. “I wish you had at least told us what you had done.”

  “I couldn’t risk it,” Azura replied.

  “We’re family. You could have trusted us.”

  “So was Oren and look what he did,” Azura said tightly.

  A look of shame crossed Maimeó’s face. “I cannot excuse his actions. What he did was not right. We did not raise him that way.”

  “I know,” Azura said softly. “We must go. We have a lot to do.”

  Thoughts—both good and bad—were flying around in my head. Obviously there was tension between my mother and these grandparents. I had so many questions to ask, but Azura was dragging me away. I wondered what my father looked like. Did he look like one of his parents? Or like his brother? Or something opposite?

  Did I look like him?

  When we got back to Azura’s house, Lorella and Violet were placing food on a long wooden table in the front yard. I was dying to take a bite of the melon-type fruit, but nobody else was eating yet.

  Azura handed me a large lime-green bowl filled with some sort of meat dish. I had no idea what it was, but it smelled delicious. “Would you put this on the table, please, Oleander?”

  After the table was set, the children brought over flowers for decorations. One of the little girls walked up to me and tugged on my dress. “Will you play with us?”

  “Sure, what do you want to play?”

  “Bubbles.”

  “I love bubbles.” I took her hand and she led me to the field. A teen with shimmering light green wings held a humongous bubble in her hand. She let it go and the bubble floated towards us. “What do we do?” I asked.

  “Catch it and get inside.”

  “Inside? Of the bubble?” I should have known the little faery meant something other than blowing bubbles.

  “Of course!”

  Very carefully, the girl caught the bubble. First, she put her hand in it, then her arm, and her leg. But as she put her head in, the bubble popped, spraying me with water. I laughed. “I’m not sure I’m talented enough to do that.”

  Another bubble floated our way. “You never know unless you try,” an older girl told me.

  She had me there. I opened my arms wide and gently caught the bubble. It felt like a delicate balloon. A soft breeze came along and the bubble wobbled. I almost lost it. I stuck my arms in, and then my head. I opened my mouth and made sure I could breathe. Cool! I thought to myself. As I tried to step in, the bubble popped.

  “Oh!” a voice came from behind me.

  I turned around. Standing a foot away were my two grandmothers, water dripping from them.

  “Oops,” I said sheepishly.

  “It’s a shame you did not grow up with Bubbles,” Maimeó said, clucking her tongue.

  Móraí flicked water off her fingertips with a laugh. “You could try over and over, Oleander. It gets harder to get inside that darn bubble every time!”

  I laughed. “Is it even possible?”

  Móraí nodded, her smile mischievous. “It sure is, but we’re not going to tell you the secret, are we, Alva?”

  Maimeó shook her head. “Takes all the fun out of it. But I do wish she’d been with us sooner. To grow up playing these games.”

  “As do I, Alva.”

  “She’s here now, so let’s all have a great time together.” Azura stepped between us and took my hand. “Come, I want you to meet a friend.”

  She took me across the yard to a little man who stood by a tree. He couldn’t have been taller than two feet and was dressed in brown.

  “Hello!” he greeted me happily.

  I noted his lack of wings, and without thinking, I asked, “What are you?”

  “Oleander,” Azura chided.

  “No, it’s fine,” the little man said jovially. “She’s never seen a dwarf before.”

  I could honestly say I hadn’t. “Only in Snow White.”

  The little guy laughed. “Well, I don’t have six brothers, only two. We do go to work in the mines and find crystals for the faeries to cherish.”

  I began to wonder if
every fantasy creature was real. “What’s your name?”

  “Dain.”

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dain.”

  A bell rang.

  “It’s time to eat.” Azura clapped. “Oh, Oleander, you’re in for such a treat.”

  “Do we sit somewhere in particular?”

  “No. Wherever you want.”

  I grabbed a bowl and filled it with fruits, breads, and some of that meat dish I saw earlier. I looked around and plopped down underneath a tree. Without wasting another second, I took my first bite and closed my eyes with a groan. When I opened them again, I found Violet and Nessa had joined me.

  “Warren keeps checking Oleander out,” Nessa said before taking a bite from a large apple-shaped fruit.

  Violet laughed. “Typical.”

  “Too bad she’s taken. They’d go well together.”

  “I am sitting right here,” I interrupted, amused.

  “Sorry.” Nessa blushed.

  “It’s okay.” I ate another bite of the fruit. “Which one is Warren?”

  “The one with the auburn hair and red wings.” Nessa pointed.

  “Tell us about the human world,” Violet said curiously.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything.”

  “Uh...” I had no idea what to tell them. I started with school. They were amazed that I rode in cars every day. And they couldn’t quite grasp the Internet or Facebook. To them, it seemed absurd not to just have a face-to-face conversation with someone.

  After we finished eating, I jumped up to help clean up some of the bowls. I figured it was the least I could do since everyone was being so nice to me. Azura stopped me and said, “Watch.”

  A faery stood in front of the tables of empty dishes. She held her hands above her head and water rose out of the stream nearby. The arc of water splashed onto the dishes, swirling around bowls and plates, and then it drained from the table. The dishes were left clean and empty. Just by waving her hands, she’d manipulated the water to clean up.

  “Let’s go sit.” Azura led me to a spot in the yard overlooking the stream. I sat quietly, letting the soft wind play with my hair and enjoying the sun on my face.