Divided Heart

by Patti Larsen

  Like I wasn’t pale enough already. So much for my summer tanning sessions.

  At least I had a firmer grip on my self-esteem by then. I’d spent years doubting myself, hating what I was. Then worrying I was doing it wrong. But my days of wondering if I was good enough were gone. The only reason I felt like an outsider was because I chose to care what others thought. Funny, when I stopped, everything was different.

  I kind of liked me, broken heart—mending—flaws and all. I’d survived so much, more than survived. I’d won. Any time my ego tried to drag me back down, I remembered the look on Ameline’s face when she began to crumble with age as we drained her of her power.

  Yeah. I was good enough, damn it.

  Time for a new attitude.

  ###

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  ***

  Now, try the first chapter of

  Book Ten of the Hayle Coven Novels

  First Plane

  Chapter One

  Snow slid down the back of my jacket, but I didn’t care. I was having too much fun swishing my arms and legs back and forth while my little sister, Meira, did the same beside me. The sound of her giggling warmed me up enough the bit of a cold trickle down my neck sneaking past the collar of my coat and knit scarf didn’t bother me so much.

  I squinted up into the bright sunlight as Liam bent over me, mittened hands on his knees, a huge smile on his face. Green glints danced in his hazel eyes, blond hair sticking out from under his hat.

  I accepted his hand and let him pull me to my feet, turning to observe my handiwork. A perfectly—if I do say so myself—formed snow angel imprinted the crisp white of the park behind town hall, joined by a second as Liam leaned in sideways and practically scooped Meira up from the ground. The floppy red pom-pom on the top of her multi-colored toque bobbed to one side as she cast a critical eye over what she’d done.

  “Mine’s cuter,” she said, bumping me with her shoulder and covering her mouth with her mittens, eyes sparkling.

  “Mine’s bigger.” I shoved her back, sticking out my tongue while I pulled free one of my gloves and warmed my nose with my bare hand. “Big trumps cute.”

  “I don’t know.” Liam looked back and forth between them. “Cute is pretty awesome.”

  She beamed at him and hugged him while he winked at me, just as a giant, shaggy, black dog bounded toward us, his fur caked with blobs of white, and dove head first to our feet, completely obliterating the two angels.

  “Galleytrot!” Meira stomped one foot as the eager hound of the Wild Hunt panted a huge grin at us.

  “Meira!” He ducked his nose into the snow, flinging some at her, to which she squealed. “I love snow!”

  “Yeah, hadn’t noticed.” I found myself laughing as he rolled over and over, grunting as he rubbed his back on the cold ground, tail thrashing, eyes flickering with red fire.

  I turned to Liam, one hand in my jacket pocket. Yes. It was still there. My little gift, nice and safe, waiting for me to deliver it. Just as my fingers closed around it, Liam turned to me with a smile, bending over me, handsome face pink from the cold.

  Before I could do or say anything, he hugged me, pressing his cheek into my hair. I pulled free my gift, hugging him back, though I could feel my skin heat as Meira giggled again, a wicked look in her eyes, blue flashing to amber as she watched us.

  I caught a glimpse of Charlotte over his shoulder, also watching, but my wereguard’s normal flat expression told me nothing. Surprise, surprise. I’d been getting better at reading her lately, but I was already flustered enough having my little sister watch Liam hug me.

  Don’t get me wrong, he gave great hugs. But there was the little thing about him and his feelings for me while I, the idiot—yes, I admitted it—still couldn’t bring myself to completely let go of Quaid. He’d dumped me, his choice, left me for the Enforcers and freedom, not wanting to be tied to a coven leader. But my heart, despite my resolve to let him go, didn’t want to just yet.

  And it was nowhere near fair to Liam to begin a relationship with him until it did.

  Which meant we were friends, though the farce was hard to maintain at times, my guilt occasionally getting the better of me. Yet here I was, him showing his affection as usual.

  At least I had something for him that would break the mood.

  Boy, would it.

  I slid my arms around his neck and dumped the perfectly formed snowball I’d been saving for him down the back of his shirt.

  Cruel? Oh yeah. Funny? You freaking betcha.

  Liam did the snow dance, laughing and howling all at the same time, jerking his shirt out of his pants under his bulky jacket, shaking it and himself until Meira and I were senseless in a hail of laughter. Even Charlotte smiled a little while Galleytrot snorted and shook his big head, snow pattering from his fur.

  Liam turned at last, panting and flushed, eyes slits as he focused on me.

  “You did not.” It made me laugh harder he used one of my favorite expressions.

  “I so did.” I crossed my arms over my chest and smirked. “Come on then, Sidhe. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  Snowball fights rock. Especially when I win.

  Finally worn out and ready to go inside for some hot chocolate, Meira, Charlotte and I left Liam and Galleytrot behind, the pair retreating with happy waves into town hall and the Sidhe cavern housing the Gate Liam guarded. My invite for them to join us was sweetly turned down, Liam eager to go back to his studying.

  That boy. He needed to get his head out of books more often.

  Thus the impromptu snow party. As we trudged back, I found myself smiling at the Christmas decorations gracing each house, the white lights wrapping each evergreen the town erected, waiting for dark so they could show off. I was happy to be home for break. As much as I really liked school and was having a great time now that the Star Club and their tainted connection to Ameline was disbanded, I missed being home.

  There hadn’t been any news from the former Dumont heir. I hadn’t forgotten about her—hard to do when she almost killed me twice—but I had allowed Mom to lull me into a bit of a less paranoid state when she claimed she and the High Council weren’t dropping the ball. Now leader of that Council, Mom had multiple Enforcers out looking for Ameline and I knew Mom was as determined as I to find the girl and bring her to justice.

  The nice part was, even though things had been strained between Mom and me since the whole Ameline incident at the first of the semester, we’d both softened and let most of it go. Okay, not all of it. But enough we weren’t snarking at each other every five seconds. And, despite being super busy with her new duties and unavailable most of the time, Mom promise this Christmas week she’d be ours one hundred percent. No Council business.

  Yeah, I’d believe that when it happened. Still, the alternative would have been my mother burned at the stake for allowing Dad to use blood magic in our house rather than taking the leader’s seat on the Council, so I guess I could handle her being busy.

  “Do you think Mom will like her present?” Meira was ten already, amazing. And growing like a weed. She stood to my shoulder and looked way more mature than most kids her age. The last six months had seen her demon features changing, as though she’d reached some milestone we didn’t know about. It freaked me out a bit to see my little sister look like she was going on fourteen when she was still so young to me, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. When she reached out with one hand and took mine, smiling at me, I still felt the girl inside her and that made it okay.

  “I know she will.” We didn’t necessarily celebrate Christmas, per se. Not the religious form of it, anyway. But it had been a tradition in our family for as long as I could remember, Mom’s attempt to make Meira and me feel like we were more like normal people, so present buying and stocking stuffing were st
ill big parts of our celebration.

  “Maybe we should get the other one.” I smiled as Meira fretted over the pentagram necklace we’d chosen for Mom. She’d lost her favorite one over the summer and no amount of searching magic could uncover it. I knew it meant a lot to her, but it was Meira who suggested replacing it. We’d combed all the stores in Boston, finally narrowing our choices down to two.

  “I like the one with the diamonds in it,” I said. “You did, too.”

  Meira bobbed a nod. “I know,” she said. “But the other one was more traditional.”

  “We could have just made one, you know.” I found myself laughing at her.

  “I know,” Meira said. “I just didn’t think we could get it right.”

  Agreed. Neither of us was very good with metal. “We made the right choice. Those five diamonds were perfect to hold the different element fragments we embedded.”

  Meira grinned at me. “You’re right,” she sighed happily. “Now she can carry a bit of each of us around with her all the time.” We’d both contributed a sliver of power, one for each gem.

  “It was a great idea,” I hugged her to me as we walked. “You’re very thoughtful.”

  Her smile broadened before she startled me with her next question.

  “Are you and Liam dating?”

  Choke. “Um…”

  She shrugged like it was no big deal. “I really like him,” she said while Charlotte coughed softly behind me. Translation: Charlotte was laughing her fool noggin off inside her head.

  Sigh.

  Before I could offer my sister some clever answer that wouldn’t say one way or the other, we both tensed. Not for a bad reason. Meira’s little grin grew into wide-eyed excitement as she hopped up and down in the snow.

  The rush of demon magic filled me with warmth as Dad crossed over.

  Girls, he sent, rich mental voice touching us both. I’m home.