Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are all real. But they're nothing like who we've grown up believing in.
Half Elf, Faryn Morozko is the illegitimate daughter of Mrs. Claus, and Nick Claus has made it his mission to make her life miserabl...
She looked from Nick to her mother and back to Nick. And then to her grandfather. And Nick. And her mother. And Nick.
The world tilted farther on its axis and spun around Faryn, leaving her trapped in the middle of it. She grasped for the wall.
Nick's hair was a mess, and he looked as if he hadn't slept for days, but he didn't look injured. There was no visible bruising. No cuts.
"Mom?" Please tell her that she was protecting him. That someone else was after Nick and she was hiding him. But the shackles were pretty damning.
The idea that her mother had taken Nick—making Faryn a fugitive—hunted by her cousin—was too much for her to process. Her mother had gone into hiding, leaving Faryn to take the fall. To be hated. To be blamed. Faryn was facing the prospect of being sent to the dungeons below the Frozen City for the rest of her life.
She backed away from the . . . cell, shaking her head. She hated Nick, but this was wrong.
"Faryn?" Her mother held out her hand. There was fear or apprehension in her eyes. Maybe both. "Don't you see? We can finally be a real mother and daughter now. You can meet your father. We can all be together."
And that was exactly what Faryn had always wanted.
"What about him?" She looked at Nick, and he stared back at her, with those dark blue eyes of his. He hadn't said a word. He knew how he had treated her, and he probably assumed no help would come from her.
"He'll have to remain here."
She tore her eyes from Nick and looked at her mother who wrung her hands. "Then I'll never be free."
Clora came forward and placed her hands on Faryn's cheeks, bending down a few inches until she was eye level with Faryn. "That's why we'll stay here. With your grandfather. Jack's already looked here. We'll be safe."
In the past few days, Faryn had experienced a tiny morsel of the world, but it had been enough to know she couldn't stay here, in this house where maybe on the rare occasion she'd be able to venture out into the city. She needed to see more of the world. Meet every kind of Acurial there was. She wanted to see the Spirit Court. She wanted to see more of her kind: Dalaketnon and Huldra and more
"No, Mom. This wasn't—isn't the way."
The dagger. Her mother had given her the dagger because she had known what was going to happen to Faryn. She knew her daughter was going to pay the price for her actions.
"I tried other ways, Faryn, but he would never let me go. I didn't want it to come to this, but I had no other options. I've spent over a century miserable."
"And you were okay with making me pay the price?"
Clora's face fell. "No, no, my darling. Never."
"But you knew I'd be blamed?"
Clora was silent.
"So you were okay with it?" She pulled away from her mother.
"Finally." Nick coughed. "She does something I can respect her for."
Faryn's emotions, already boiling, flared into anger, and she cut Nick with her stare. "Don't think you didn't get what was coming to you." This was not the way she wanted to see him get his comeuppance. She hadn't wanted Nick kidnapped and held prisoner. She hadn't wanted the world to think he was dead. They were supposed to see him for the asshole he was. They were never supposed to see him as the victim. And now they always would.
Her phone rang and she answered it immediately.
"Faryn," Peter's voice sent alarm bells clanging through her. "They must have tracked us. Your cousin. He's here."
I think it's becoming tradition for me to share my Halloween costume on Wattpad. I went as a flapper this year. I kind of match the new cover.
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