Page 135 of The Prince of Broken Crowns

Tires screech. Glass shatters. I’m standing in the road one minute, but the next, I’m lying in gravel, my flesh cut open.

“Maddy, are you okay?” A man says from beside me.

He’s lying in the gravel, too, because he saved me. His voice sounds familiar, but I can’t figure out why.

“Daddy,” I whisper as I reach out blindly against the pool of warm liquid dripping into my eyes.

“Yeah, sweetie, I’m here,” he replies, except that can’t be my father.

He sounds too nice to be him.

“Who are you?” I whisper. “And where’s my aunt Ellie?”

“Maddison! I told you to run!” she shouts with so much fear in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Ellie,” the man replies. “I’m sorry for what I had to do. I’m so sorry, Maddy.” He’s crying.

I want to hug him, but I can’t see through the liquid trickling from my head.

What is it?

I run my fingers across my face.

Blood—

My eyes snap, and I suck in a huge breath as I touch my head. I’m not bleeding, but I can feel a few raised bumps of patchy flesh if I run my fingers along the spot just behind my hairline. I’ve known I had scars there but never knew why. I honestly assumed that I hit my head while riding my bike—I had a habit of crashing. But from what I just remembered, I hit my head on the gravel when a man helped me get out of the way of a car. My aunt was there. So was this strange man that I called my father, but he most definitely wasn’t.

I shake my head in confusion. What the hell is going on?

I need to talk to my aunt, but how the hell am I supposed to find someone who doesn’t want to be found?

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