Read The Dark Divide Online

Authors: Jennifer Fallon

The Dark Divide

Dedication

F
OR
S
HARON AND THE
GODSON

Contents

Cover

Dedication

Author’s Note

Prologue

The first thing the Faerie prince, Marcroy Tarth, did when…

Part One

Chapter 1

‘Onushirano shoguno namaewo mouse?’

Chapter 2

Marcroy looked through the shimmering opening of the rift and…

Chapter 3

The media circus that had taken up residence in the…

Chapter 4

Trása’s escape from the samurai compound had come at a…

Chapter 5

Riding around in the trunk of a car, even one…

Chapter 6

A couple of the samurai had loosed arrows at Trása…

Chapter 7

Brydie’s imprisonment in the amethyst jewel where she had been…

Chapter 8

Ren landed heavily against a tree, as if he’d been…

Chapter 9

It was raining again by the time Darragh and Sorcha…

Chapter 10

It turned out to be a long walk to Kazusa’s…

Chapter 11

It was dark before Patrick knocked on Jack’s back door.

Chapter 12

The reception Ren got from Kazusa’s brother was in stark…

Chapter 13

Pete Doherty hated family gatherings and he’d been dreading this…

Chapter 14

The following evening, after Ren spent an interesting — if…

Chapter 15

It took Trása two exhausting and worrying days, but finally…

Chapter 16

Inspector Duggan was a tough, all-business sort of woman. Until…

Chapter 17

It shouldn’t be so easy to take a life.

Chapter 18

Trása liked cats. She liked their independence. She liked their…

Chapter 19

Kiva Kavanaugh’s house was huge. It wasn’t as big as…

Chapter 20

For the second night in a row, Ren spent the…

Chapter 21

Brendá Duggan stared at the footage playing on the monitor…

Chapter 22

Darragh spent the night in his brother’s bed. With Kiva…

Part Two

Chapter 23

‘It is a necklace fit for a queen, Prionsa.’

Chapter 24

As she lay in wait for Warren to appear in…

Chapter 25

If it had been up to some of Pete’s older…

Chapter 26

Brydie spent much of the next few days in the…

Chapter 27

Cuan Mó, in every reality Trása had ever visited, was…

Chapter 28

‘He’s killed Hayley Boyle and probably his brother and our…

Chapter 29

Sorcha took her time making her way back to Jack’s…

Chapter 30

Fortunately for Brydie, once Torcán had officially gifted his future…

Chapter 31

Having sworn to kill herself if Ren tried to leave…

Chapter 32

Namito had found, or been handed, another katana. He raised…

Chapter 33

Once it was clear they weren’t dealing with Chelan Aquarius…

Chapter 34

‘Hate to be the bearer of bad news, mistress,’ Toyoda…

Chapter 35

The mystery of the relationship between Anwen and Queen Álmhath…

Chapter 36

‘What do you think?’ Pete asked Annad Semaj when he…

Chapter 37

The massive wooden gates of the Ikushima compound opened slowly…

Chapter 38

Darragh was not entirely unfamiliar with the judicial system. His…

Chapter 39

Pete spent several days trying to track down his mother…

Chapter 40

The Empresses made no attempt to pretend they had arrived…

Chapter 41

‘But they’re only little girls!’ Trása exclaimed as she morphed…

Chapter 42

Old age was a terrible thing. It was bad enough,…

Chapter 43

The investiture of a new Undivided was no small thing,…

Chapter 44

Without intending to, Trása had become queen of the Faerie.

Chapter 45

Anwen and Torcán were married in the sacred grove at…

Chapter 46

The ceremony to transfer the power to the Undivided took…

Part Three

Chapter 47

Sorcha was dying. She knew it in her bones. Especially…

Chapter 48

Pete Doherty and his twin brother Logan had made a…

Chapter 49

Trása flew back to Shin Bungo in hawk form, and…

Chapter 50

It shouldn’t be so easy to take a life. The…

Chapter 51

All hell broke loose with Rónán’s collapse, a situation not…

Chapter 52

Ren opened his eyes, blinking in the bright, coloured light.

Chapter 53

Darragh woke to find himself covered in electrodes with tubes…

Chapter 54

It took several blows with a short police battering ram…

Chapter 55

‘My real name is Ingrid,’ Wakiko told Ren and Trása,…

Chapter 56

Logan was standing in the rain outside Jack O’Righin’s house,…

Chapter 57

The gimmick of pretending the Empresses knew her real name…

Chapter 58

‘I’m sorry, but Ms Doherty will be in meetings all…

Chapter 59

Chishihero waited alone at the stone circle for the rift…

Chapter 60

Even though he knew he wasn’t really going to kill…

Chapter 61

Trása waited until she could no longer hear the horses…

Chapter 62

By Danu, the djinni was right. The Undivided are still…

Epilogue

The World of The Faerie And The Undivided:

About the Author

Books by Jennifer Fallon

Copyright

AUTHOR’S NOTE

There are some real places in this story (obviously), including the Castle Golf Club in Dublin. While I’m sure they’ll forgive me for carving up their fairways with an imaginary car chase, the stone circle hidden in the rough on the ninth hole does not exist (that I know of), nor does St Christopher’s Visual Rehabilitation Centre, something you might have figured out if you realised why I called it St Christopher’s.

If my Gaelic is correct, then it is thanks to the awesome talents and advice of the lovely Josephine Walsh. If it’s wrong, it’s my fault. Thanks also to Gillian Pollack for her advice regarding Druids, bards and ancient Celtic locations, as well as to Lyn Tranter, Mark Timmony, Sharyn Lilley and my daughter TJ, for their incisive advice and proofreading.

As for the Druids and the
Tuatha Dé Danann
, I don’t doubt for a moment there are many readers out there who are preparing to email me as we speak, telling me how wrong I got them. Please don’t. This is a story of alternate realities and, more importantly, a story about how things are distorted over time. Of course, things have changed over the past 2000 years. Even in a reality where the people cling desperately to the status quo, the very act of clinging will force changes on them they could not anticipate.

If, however, you actually know a genuine member of the
Tuatha Dé Danann
, by all means drop me a line. I’d truly love to meet them.

Jennifer Fallon

Oxford, New Zealand 2010

PROLOGUE

The first thing the Faerie prince, Marcroy Tarth, did when Hayley Boyle arrived in his magical kingdom of
Tír Na nÓg
was to take her clothes away and burn them, replacing them with a gossamer-thin shift that offered only minimal protection for her dignity and absolutely none from the elements. It was something to do with her clothes being tainted by technology, Marcroy said, although she wasn’t really listening to the explanation.

Hayley was too enchanted by
Tír Na nÓg
to notice much of anything. She was still trying to get her head around the events of the past few hours.
Was it only hours?

This morning she had woken up in St Christopher’s Visual Rehabilitation Centre in Dublin, facing another day of ‘life lessons’. Another day of learning to cope with her blindness. Another day of dealing with the aftermath of being hit by a car outside Kiva Kavanaugh’s house in the chaos caused by a frenzied paparazzi pack. Another day of wondering if Ren was dead or alive.

Another day of being reminded that, until that moment, she had been a perfectly ordinary seventeen-year-old girl whose best friend just happened to be the son of a movie star. And now she was here. In another reality. With the Faerie.

And she could see.

Although she still wasn’t sure if Ren was dead or alive.

I might go mad if I think about this too much.

Her skin had tingled as she and Marcroy passed through the magical veil that separated the Faerie kingdom from the realm of man. Although it was still night out in the real world, it was only twilight in the Faerie kingdom. Magic glimmered from every surface. Even the insects seemed benign and drunk on the magical nectar they consumed. The forest pulsed with life, as if every plant were a sentient being, but even they paled in comparison to the majestic trees where the
Daoine sídhe
made their homes. Hayley gasped with awe when they reached the centre of
Tír Na nÓg
. She stared at one wonder only to discover another so marvellous she was almost unable to comprehend their existence — let alone their size and magnificence.

Intoxicated by the magical forest air, Hayley followed Marcroy all the way up the exquisitely curved stairs in wide-eyed wonder. The
sídhe
had coaxed the sacred trees into growing the stairs, Marcroy explained. The sacred trees of
Tír Na nÓg
were full of hollowed-out caves and broad boughs wide enough to act as platforms. His voice was hypnotic and seductive. It felt like warm liquid chocolate, if it were possible for a voice to manifest such a tactile effect. She was enchanted — with Marcroy, with
Tír Na nÓg
and the beautiful people who lived here. Their strange cat-slit eyes stared curiously at Hayley as she climbed ever upward behind Marcroy, no doubt wondering about this human interloper.

When they realised she was Marcroy’s invited guest, the Faerie bowed and smiled and sometimes sang a small refrain in a musical language Hayley couldn’t understand. Although she was unfamiliar with the melodies, the songs were so harmonious it was like listening to a treasured music box that constantly refreshed its repertoire, each song trying to outdo the last in purity and joy.

Marcroy led Hayley by the hand, high into the branches to meet his sister, an ethereal creature of exquisite beauty who seemed puzzled by her visitor. Elimyer had long, white-blonde hair, eyes that seemed carved from emeralds, and pronounced points on her ears. She was naked and flawless, as she emerged from the dark entrance of her quarters in the sacred tree and embraced Hayley like a long-lost child, which Hayley found rather disconcerting.

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