Page 3 of The Lord of the Labyrinth

ChapterOne

Beware the deep, dark woods. Men have been lost within the birch and poplar branches. But should a woman venture forth, the rowan and ash will show her the way. Their boughs will bend and their leaves will murmur to the twilight king... his bride has come.

—Anon.,Tales from the Twilight Court

Afew hours earlier

“He’s not my favorite,Kate. Stop acting like a child and be more respectful to your mother.”

“Stepmother,” Kate Winslow corrected her father as she desperately tried to control her temper. The only time her stepmother ever called herself Kate’s mother was when she was trying to win an argument or shame Kate into something in front of her father.

Robert Winslow glared at her from across the kitchen island, arms crossed. Her stepmother, Sandra, stood beside him, lips pinched in a sour frown. She continued to cut a bunch of carrots into small chunks for the Crock-Pot for tomorrow. Sandra’s brown eyes met Kate’s, a dark glint in them, warning Kate of the poison she was about to spread in Robert’s ear.

“I’m not a child!” Kate snapped. “I’m in college, for God’s sake. Stop treating me like some spoiled brat.” She couldn’t understand why her father believed anything Sandra said about her. It was all so clearly untrue.

“Then perhaps you shouldn’t act like one, Katherine,” Sandra said as she set her knife down. “Caden doesn’t act like this, and he’s eleven.”

Caden. Her half brother. The son Sandra had given Kate’s father. The perfectly adorable kid whom Kate loved, but Sandra used him as a wedge to drive Kate even farther away from her father. And now that she’d officially moved into the dorms two hours away, that emotional distance between them had only intensified. She hadn’t known how unhappy she’d been these last few years until she’d seen how other people on campus behaved with their families. Many had blended families like hers, but none seemed as miserable as she was.

She almost hadn’t come home for Christmas. When her roommates had asked her about it, she’d felt a terrible sense of dread at the thought of having to face Sandra again. And worse, she would disappoint her father just by being here, just like she was now, even though all she did was speak the truth. Kate had no value to Sandra, to the woman who could have been a second mother to her, if only she had wanted Kate just a little. But she never had. From the first day she’d met Kate, Sandra had made it clear that Kate was only in the way. Unwanted. Even at eighteen, when she was moving on with her life, itstillhurt.

Tears stung Kate’s eyes. Shewasn’ta child. She was earning a business degree and studying French. She had talents, skills, and intelligence. She had earned a full academic scholarship, which had made her father proud until Sandra said it was only to be expected given the private schools they had sent her to. As if Kate’s grades had been purchased and her years of hard work meant nothing.

Before Kate’s mother, Amber, had died, she’d told Kate that a child was born into the world with love, that they didn’t need to earn it. But her mother had been wrong. Sandra had made it clear love had to be earned, and Kate could never do enough to please her. Somehow, that wounded Kate beyond words, knowing that her mother’s wonderful ideas about the world weren’t true.

How can she make me cry all the time? It’s like she knows just what to say to make me look like a child.

“You know,” her father said, his tone firm but gentle, “I think it’s time you went to see someone about your issues.”

Kate gripped the edge of the white granite countertop. “Myissues? The only issue I have is being a part of this family.” The moment she said the words, she regretted them, but she’d be damned if she took them back. A look of satisfaction lurked behind the shocked expression on Sandra’s face. A black pit formed in Kate’s stomach. She’d played right into Sandra’s trap.Again.

“Kate,” her father warned. “This is why you need therapy. You need to understand how you fit into this family. Not everything is about you. Your mother taught you better than that.”

Your mother...Those two words cut Kate’s heart like a knife.

“But I don’t fit,” she said, almost in a whisper. She wanted to leave, but her body was frozen to the spot, unable to move. “That’s whatshewants.” Kate glanced at her stepmother. “Isn’t it? Driving me away so you get everything?”

Sandra’s eyes lit up. “See, Robert? She just wants her inheritance. This little stunt is about money.”

The evil woman had turned her own words against her. A metallic taste filled Kate’s mouth. She swallowed, but her throat felt like it was coated in broken glass.

“That’s it. I’m done.” Kate turned to leave.

“Kate, come back. We aren’t done talking about this,” her father said.

I am done,she thought bitterly.Done with everything.

She stormed through the house, stopping only when she reached the stairs by the front door. Christmas lights covered the bushes outside, and a tall Christmas tree filled the entryway with its lushly decorated greenery. It was beautiful, but none of this was real. She wanted the old Christmas back. She wanted to have her mother’s hand-sewn stockings on the fireplace mantel and randomly collected ornaments that carried special stories for their family. Sandra had stored them in the attic and replaced Kate’s childhood with glitzy store-bought stockings that held no Christmas memories.

Christmas music drifted from the kitchen again. It had been paused when Kate interrupted them. Somewhere along the way, this had ceased to be Kate’s world. Sandra had conquered it and controlled it, just like everything else in Kate’s life.

This wasn’t home. Home wasn’t anywhere anymore. Her once beautiful world was now a frozen palace of ice in a land far out of her reach.

Kate stared at the family portrait above the fireplace. It held only her father, Sandra, and Caden. Sandra had scheduled the photo shoot on a day when Kate had final exams in high school, and she hadn’t been able to sit for the portrait. Sandra was doing everything she could to push Kate away from her father. She kept pitting Kate against Caden, and Kate despised that even more. Caden was a sweet kid. She loved him, but seeing how her father glowed when he looked at his son compared to how he looked at her...

She shivered as a fresh layer of ice frosted her heart.

Stop thinking about what should be. Think about what is.

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