Broken by Marianne Curley Read Free Book Online

What? ’
    ‘There was one room in particular I remembered more than the others,’ I explain. ‘It had a distinctive mural hand-painted across the ceiling. It was always so vivid in my dreams.’
    Amber says, ‘I saw the mural too. It was exactly like Ebony described to me loads of times since we were kids.’
    Jordan frowns. ‘It looks like you did live in his house once, but that doesn’t prove he works for Prince Luca.’
    ‘On the night before the fire, my parents told me that sixteen years ago a man named Zavier offered them a baby to raise. He told them his young sister was my biological mother and had died in childbirth two days earlier.’
    Jordan gasps, ‘Shit.’
    ‘Mr Zavier told me he would willingly submit to a blood test to prove he’s telling the truth, and that he would answer my questions when I was ready to know who I am.’
    Jordan leans forward and says gently, ‘Ebony, if he’s willing to give DNA, it’s unlikely he’s an angel or working for Prince Luca. In fact, he could be the real thing.’
    I nod. ‘I know. If this man is telling the truth, and he is my biological uncle, he’s living proof that I’m not an angel. It would mean Nathaneal has made a mistake. But if Zavier works for Prince Luca he could be lying about everything. Now he’s my teacher and I don’t know what to believe. I can’t go into his class with my head full of so many conflicting images and ideas.’
    ‘Fair enough,’ Jordan says, then peers at me with an intuitive look. ‘You don’t want him to be your real uncle, do you?’
    Once I would have been thrilled to be able to prove that I’m not an angel, but now? ‘No. I wouldn’t like that at all.’

8
    Nathaneal
    As always, standing before the northern gates of Avena quickens my heart. Majestic and wondrous in height and width, and created by the hand of the High King himself, they are a kaleidoscope of colour, an infinitesimal number of constantly moving atoms too small for the eye to see.
    But even in beauty there is danger, for to touch any part of these gates can prove as devastating as a thousand bolts of lightning straight to one’s heart.
    It’s this beauty that reignites my love for my homeland, knowing that once the gates open all the natural wonders of Avena will unfold before my eyes.
    Michael commands the Gatekeepers, and, even though I know what comes next, my breath still catches at the sight of the gates opening inwards and revealing a thousand glistening stairs spiralling downwards in a spectacular arc.
    Stepping through the gates, I inhale deeply, the air thinner but purer than Earth’s atmosphere, and as I make my way across the arc each step allows my lungs time to adjust to the variance.
    Arriving at the lower platform, which is still high above the land, Michael sends three Thrones on ahead to secure the road. They release their metallic blue wings, and plunge feet first off the platform.
    I never tire of watching them. Such uniform precision is an impressive trait of this revered order. They land in soundless synchronisation, remarkable for their size, and immediately begin striding across the paved roads that lead to the city centre, checking buildings and side streets, their presence alerting the city of my return.
    I take a deep breath as memories storm my senses. It’s always, always the memories that break me at this point, memories of a moonless night, deep in the Lavender Forest, and the unanswered cry of an infant’s first contact with the living world.
    My parents were right to blame me. Even though I was only seven at the time, I knew better. Ebony’s kidnapping occurred because, excited by what she had just showed me through a mind-link before her birth, and eager to tell my father, the captain of security, who had not wanted me to be there, I rushed.
    The birthing chamber was a temporary, dome-shaped structure, purposefully created to protect the imminent birth of a future princess. The chamber walls consisted of