Dark Promise (Between Worlds #1)

  *

  “Rylie, wake up.” My mom was shaking me. I opened my eyes and tried to focus on her. It all came crashing back. I pushed myself up to a sitting position and looked around. My mother and father were huddled around me, and the woman who claimed to be my birth mother was watching us intently. She looked human again.

  “Did I imagine that?” I looked into my mother’s eyes, hoping for an answer I knew I wasn’t going to get.

  She shook her head, her face pale, and softly brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m afraid not. We all saw it.”

  “It has to be a trick. There are no such things as faeries.” My father’s eyes narrowed in Azura’s direction, and his fists were clenched at his sides. He resembled some kind of vengeful god, towering over our unwanted guest as she sat demurely on the couch.

  She smiled angelically and dropped her glamour once again, her wings flapping. It wasn’t any easier to see the second time around.

  “We’re real,” Azura said, her voice still eerily pleasant. “I’ve been watching Rylie grow up. You have done a wonderful job. I obviously picked a good family to raise my daughter.” She turned to look at me. “I want you to know, giving you up was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It eats me up every day, but I know it was the right thing to do.”

  “I’m not your daughter. These are my parents.” I moved into the warmth of my mother’s arms, and glanced up at my dad for support.

  It hit me that I looked nothing like either of them, and panic rose in my chest. How could I have missed it all this time? I had fair skin and eyes, and my parents had dark hair and darker skin. They even both had dark eyes.

  This can’t be happening.

  Without a word, I bolted up the stairs to my room. My parents’ voices called for me, but I ignored them. I couldn’t deal with it.

  Rushing into my bedroom, I slammed the door.