Broken Crowns {Book 1}

Chapter Four: Emma

Home.

This was not Emma's home. This mysterious king was not her king. None of this meant anything to her at all. Home was back with her brother. It was not much — Emma did not have a mother, barely a father — but Kyle was her home. Not this strange place that made absolutely no sense to her. Not this girl who had magically appeared in her bathroom and kidnapped her. Emma knew nothing of these people or this place, or even how she had really gotten here.

This was not her home.

Perhaps the king read the blank expression on Emma's face, because his own softened. "Taryn has not told you anything, has she?" he said.

Emma glanced sidelong at Taryn, who was staring straight ahead, hands clasped behind her back, not saying a word. "I'm sorry," Emma said quietly. "I think you're mistaken. I'm just trying to get home to my brother."

"Your brother," King Arsenius said slowly. "You mean Kyle?"

Emma's breath caught in her throat. "How do you know his name?"

King Arsenius shrugged and leaned back further on his throne, if that were possible. "I know all about you, Emma. Josh told me everything."

"Josh — You mean my dad?"

The king laughed; Emma looked to Taryn for any help, but the girl did not look as if she had even blinked since they had arrived. "Oh, honey. There is so much you don't know," Arsenius said. He sat up and smiled down at Emma. There was something there, something lingering behind that smile that Emma could not quite put her finger on. "Why don't we get you change into something a little more presentable, and then we will talk about everything."

As mysterious as the king's words were and as curious about it all as Emma was, she could not allow herself to be pulled in. "I'm sorry," she said, awkwardly bowing at the waist, "but I would really just appreciate it if you would get me home to my brother."

King Arsenius stared at Emma for a long moment before simply sighing. "Stubborn," he said. "Just like your mother."

Emma felt her heart drop to the floor. This king had said her father told him about Emma and Kyle, all about her life. Did that include her mother? It sounded as if this man knew Emma's mother personally. It was possible, though, wasn't it? Lorenza had left Emma and Kyle years earlier. There was no telling where she had disappeared to. Emma had imagined the kind of life her mother had been living many times, the places she had gone. But to another world? That was absurd.

But then, Emma was in another world, wasn't she?

"What do you know about my mother?" Emma asked, voice shaky.

King Arsenius smiled. "Taryn will show you to your room," he said instead of answering Emma's question. "Get changed and then we will talk."

"My brother —"

"Your brother is safe with Joshua. Don't you want to know about Lorenza?"

Lorenza. So, he did know her mother. But how? And had they met before or after Lorenza had left her children behind? Surely Kyle was safe with their father by now. He would be safe. Emma found herself nodding once, sending a silent promise to Kyle that she would be home soon, bringing news of their mother.

The king simply continued smiling as Taryn bowed once and led Emma out of the throne room.
Emma followed Taryn from the throne room and back through the corridors to the staircases they had passed on their way in. Emma had a hundred questions bouncing around inside her head as they climbed the stairs, but she did not voice any of them. It was not like Taryn would answer them, if she even could. Whatever the king wanted to talk to Emma about, whatever he knew about her mother, it was clear that the only person she could really trust here was herself. Taryn was loyal to King Arsenius, a king who very evidently did not care about his people at all. Emma had to wonder if he even cared for Taryn.