The Poisoned Crown Read Free Page B

known him so well and seen what he could do, when the occasion demanded it. He had taken her in on a cold lonely night long ago when she was pursued by invisible enemies, becoming an uncle to both her and Nathan, and as her son grew up into strange adventures Bartlemy had been their counselor and support. But there had been no adventures this summer, and now autumn was failing, and the wind blew from the north, plucking the last ragged leaves from the treetops, and Nathan was restless with the feeling of deeds undone, and worlds to be saved, and time slipping away.
    Soon
, Annie thought,
he’ll start sleeping badly
, and there was a tiny squeeze of fear at her heart that she could not suppress.
    I sleep too deep
, Nathan thought,
and I dream too little and too lightly.
The portal was closed, the connection broken: he could no longer roam the multiverse in his head, following trails he could not see on a quest he did not understand. He had dreamed his way through other worlds— the ghost-city of Carboneck in Wilderslee, and the sky-towers of Arkatron on Eos, where the Grandir, supreme ruler of a dying cosmos, sought for the Great Spell that would be the salvation of his people. Nathan had retrieved the Cup and the Sword to bind the magic, and now only the Crown was wanting—the Crown and the sacrifice and the words of power, whatever they might be. But there had been no dreams for nearly a year, and the pleasures of cricket and the problems of history were not enough to fill his life.
    “How’s Hazel?” his mother asked, helping herself to a piece of his toast. “I haven’t seen her lately.”
    Hazel was Nathan’s closest friend: they had grown up almost as brother and sister, though getting on rather better than most siblings. Adolescence had brought friction but had never driven them apart.
    “You know Hazel.” Nathan spoke around munching. “She didn’t exactly
like
her mum’s old boyfriend, but I think she
approved
of him. She doesn’t approve of the new one at all.”
    “Because he’s so young?”
    “Mm.”
    Annie smiled. “Well, all I can say is good for Lily. I think Franco’s very sweet.”
    “He’s
Italian,”
Nathan objected.
    “How insular! Besides, you didn’t mind the Italians last summer.”
    “That was in Italy!”
    “Suppose
I
got myself a toyboy,” Annie said. “How would you feel about that?”
    “You are joking, aren’t you?” Diverted from thoughts of other worlds, Nathan looked really alarmed.
    “Maybe.”
    “Look, you know, if there’s someone, it’s cool with me—as long as he’s nice and really cares about you—but… well, I’d rather have a stepfather than an older brother!”
    “Nicely put,” Annie said. “Still, I doubt if the situation will arise.”
    Nathan couldn’t ever recall her having a proper boyfriend, even though several men had been interested. He said: “You must have loved Dad very much.” Daniel Ward had died before he was born, killed in a car crash when he fell asleep at the wheel.
    “Very much,” she said.
Only he wasn’t your dad… Your father was a stranger who waited beyond the Gate of Death, waited for my love and longing to open the unopenable door, and when I would have given all that I had for all I had lost he took me, body and soul. He seeded my womb and sealed up my memory, and until you grew up so unlike Daniel
—
until I found the courage to unclose the old scar in my mind
—
I never knew the betrayal and rape hidden there.
    But she loved Nathan, conceived in treachery, child of an unknown being from an unknown world, so she kept her secret. She saw his father’s legacy in the mysteries that surrounded him, but she told herself, over and over, that he did not need to know. One day, perhaps, but not yet. Not yet.
    That night, Nathan went to bed thinking of the Irish Question, and dreamed of the sea.
    A T T HORNYHILL Manor, Hazel Bagot was having a lesson in witchcraft.
    “But I don’t want to be a witch,” she