Chapter 23

  Shattered Trust

  A Year Later…

  I rang his phone again, for the fifth time only to have it go straight to the message bank again. Where the hell was he? Kira was meant to be picking me up half an hour ago. Sighing, I tried to ring him again. Message bank again. I waited another five minutes before calling Saxon. It was meant to be Kira and I's one year anniversary tonight and he promised me that we would go out tonight. I had to work but he said he would be here. Saxon picked up after the second ring.

  "Hey, what's up?"

  "What are you doing? I need to be picked up from work."

  "Where's your boyfriend?"

  "I don't know. Please Sax."

  "Alright, fine."

  He hung up and I regretted calling him immediately. He still hates me. One year ago today was also the same day Saxon confessed to me. Too bad Kira had already asked me to be his girlfriend. It hasn't been the same as before; I've lost my best friend to an absolute asshole. Half an hour later Saxon rocked up and took me home. We didn't speak, but he did walk me back to Kira's dorm. He gave me a short goodbye before disappearing. I opened the door, hoping to find him passed out, but what I saw was a lot worse.

  "What the fuck?"

  Kira looked up at me in shock, Casey looked embarrassed to be seen under Kira.

  "It's not what it looks like," he stammered, scrambling to cover himself.

  "It doesn't look like my boyfriend and another girl naked in bed. What the fuck Kira? If this is the way you wanted to live life, why the fuck did you ask me to be your girlfriend?"

  "You just weren't giving me what I wanted anymore."

  "I study all day then go to work. I can't live off an inheritance like you can Kira. I need to pay off my uni fees. I can't stay inside and fuck all the time. That's it, we are done. I've had enough of your crap."

  Huffing, I slammed the door shut behind me and stormed off. If I had known Kira was going to be this way the whole way through this relationship, I would have never let him kiss me. I would have never become his friend in the first place. I had rushed off but I didn't realize where my angry walk had taken me. Saxon was coming out of his dorm room again, and I think I had finally snapped when his eyes caught mine. The tears started to roll and I fell to the floor sobbing. He rushed to my side, ushering me into his room.

  As he held me, the pendant against my chest began to warm—slowly at first, then with increasing intensity until it felt like it was burning through my shirt. The sensation was strangely familiar, reminding me of that day in the fairy circle years ago, though I could barely remember what had happened there. Just fragments of a dream: violet eyes, whispered words, and a name that wasn't mine.

  "Lisa? Are you okay?" Saxon's voice pulled me back to reality. He was looking at me with concern, his hand gently brushing hair from my face.

  I nodded, unable to speak through my tears. The pendant cooled, as if responding to my emotional state. Saxon didn't question when I fell into his arms, didn't hesitate when my lips found his in desperate need for comfort. We both knew it was wrong, a reaction to pain rather than genuine desire, but in that moment, neither of us cared.

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  The small line of sun in my face woke me up from my groggy sleep. My eyes darted around the room, for a second not knowing where I was. Then the memories of last night rushed through my head and I took a deep breath. I quietly got out of the single bed, hoping to not wake up Saxon. I didn't really want to deal with him right now. I know what I did was fucked up but I didn't regret it one bit. I just needed time to sort out my own shit. I changed back into my clothes and headed back to my dorm.

  Wyatt was already gone, probably never coming back from his boyfriend's place. I sat in the shower for an hour, trying so hard to not cry and regret my decisions. Over the next three months, I ignored both Kira and Saxon and just focused on my studies. Of course that didn't go to plan when I noticed I hadn't had my period for those three months.

  When the positive came up on the stick, I think I almost screamed down the uni toilets. I skipped my classes for the day, spending most of the afternoon in the uni cafe. I was just about to leave when the one and only Casey sat down. I didn't want to say anything, but the first thing I noticed was her stomach. She was massive. She gave me a small smile at my shocked face and I quickly shook my head.

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  "How far along are you?"

  "Four months. I know, he's going to be a big baby."

  "Who's the father? Shit I'm sorry, I have no right to ask you that."

  "No, I guess you have a right to know. It's Kira."

  I stared at her in shock and drowned my drink. I guess my reaction gave her the information she needed.

  "No way. You're pregnant too? Is it Kira's as well?"

  "Yeah," I lied, though I don't know who I was lying to, her or myself.

  In truth, I wasn't sure whose baby it was. The timing made it impossible to know for certain—Kira or Saxon, it could be either one. But something deep inside me, some instinct I couldn't explain, told me it was Saxon's. Still, part of me wanted to believe it was Kira's, wanted to believe we could somehow fix what was broken between us.

  "Shit have you told him yet?"

  "No not yet. I don't know how to approach him. Have you?"

  "Yeah. We're not together though. He says he wants nothing to do with the baby if I plan to keep it. You should tell him though. I know you guys were friends long before I started sleeping with him."

  She finished her drink and left me alone at the cafe again. I debated on who I should call. Should I call Saxon and tell him the truth or should I call Kira? All I wanted to do was forgive Kira and go running back into his arms. I still loved him so much but he was so toxic. I was about to call him when my eyes locked with him. He gave me a smile and it looked real. I nodded and he came inside. He ordered a drink and sat down in front of me. It was like Mother Nature was giving me the answer to my question.

  "What are you doing here?"

  "Someone told me that you could be found here."

  "What do you want, Kira?"

  "To talk I guess. We haven't seen each other much over the past couple of months."

  "Yeah there was a good reason for it too."

  "Look Lisa, I know I messed up but I want us to get back together again. I want to try again, to be able to give us another chance and to prove that I was just being stupid."

  I shouldn't have believed the words that came out of his mouth. They were lies. Either he did want to get back together again or he was hiding from Casey. But that didn't stop me from spilling those stupid words out of my mouth.

  "I'm willing to try again with you, but only because I'm pregnant and it's yours."

  That night, alone in my room, the pendant glowed with an intensity I'd never seen before. As I stared at it in the darkness, the intricate patterns on its surface seemed to shift and rearrange themselves, forming symbols I couldn't read but somehow understood. For a brief moment, I thought I heard whispers—voices speaking in that strange language from my dreams.

  "Thalia," they seemed to say. "Earthen Court... return..."

  I clutched the pendant tightly, fear and confusion washing over me. These episodes had become more frequent since I'd learned of my pregnancy, as if the child growing inside me had awakened something dormant, something connected to that day in the fairy circle years ago.

  "Leave me alone," I whispered to the empty room. "I'm not Thalia. I'm Lisa Paul."

  The pendant cooled in my palm, the glow fading until darkness reclaimed my room. But the unease remained, a constant companion as my belly grew and my life spiraled further into complications.

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  Six Months Later…..

  It had been an exhausting twenty-three hours but she had finally come through. I stared down into her beautiful pale green eyes. I could see her resemblance to Saxon and I hoped to God Kira would never notice it. He had been fantastic to me the whole pregnancy but I could tell that he didn't want to be there as well.

  Maybe he knew the baby wasn't his or even had an inkling of an idea who the real father was, but he still didn't say anything. It bugged me a lot and we fought a lot. But he was always there if anything happened to the baby. Mum was happy when I told her I was pregnant. Dad however was not. He looked like he wanted to throttle Kira and bury him behind the stables. But eventually he got used to the idea of having his only grandchild. After what I just went through, there was no way in hell I was having another child.

  "How are you feeling sweetie?" Mum asked, her eyes never leaving my daughter's face.

  "Yeah I'm okay. A bit sore though."

  She laughed a little, taking the baby out of my arms, and I snuggled into the bed more. I needed to sleep while I could before my new life began to start.

  "Have you thought of a name yet?"

  "Crystal Thompson."

  "That's beautiful honey. Sorry your father isn't here yet. You know how his job can be. He did say he will make it later."

  "Don't worry mum, I'm sure he's doing everything he can to make it here."

  As my mother cradled Crystal in her arms, I noticed something strange. The hospital room seemed to darken around the edges, colors becoming more vibrant where they remained. For a moment—just a heartbeat—I thought I saw a crown of twisted gold and living vines hovering above my daughter's head, like a halo or a blessing.

  The pendant at my throat pulsed once, warm against my skin, and I knew with sudden, inexplicable certainty that Crystal was more than she appeared to be. More than human. Just like me.

  Outside the hospital window, a tall figure stood in the shadow of an ancient oak tree, violet eyes fixed on the maternity ward. Watching. Waiting. The wind carried his whisper to me across the impossible distance, clear as if he stood beside my bed.

  "The bloodline continues, Princess Thalia. Soon, both you and your daughter will return to the Earthen Court where you belong."

  I blinked, and the figure was gone, the world returning to normal. But the fear remained, along with the knowledge that whatever had begun in that fairy circle years ago was far from over. My daughter, my Crystal, was somehow part of it now too.

  And I had no idea how to protect her from a world I barely remembered, from a heritage I didn't understand, from a name I didn't recognize as my own.