Tangled: Fractured Fairy Tales, #4

By J.E. Taylor

How dark is obsession?

Imprisoned in a tower from the time she was old enough to walk, Danae longs to experience more than just what is within her ornate cage. But her mother insists the world is just too dangerous for a precious light-bringer.

When Danae encounters a disgraced dark-bringer, their combined power lights a fire within her soul, illuminating the tangled web of lies her captor has spun.

Danae learns that while her magic can renew hearts and heal wounds, it cannot erase the ultimate betrayal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JET-Fueled Fiction
• Release date: Apr 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781386482109

J.E. Taylor

J.E. Taylor is a USA Today bestselling author, a publisher, an editor, a manuscript formatter, a mother, a wife, a business analyst, and a Supernatural fangirl, not necessarily in that order. She first sat down to seriously write in February of 2007 after her daughter asked: “Mom, if you could do anything, what would you do?” From that moment on, she hasn’t looked back. In addition to being co-owner of Novel Concept Publishing, Ms. Taylor also moonlights as a Senior Editor of Allegory E-zine, an online venue for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, and co-host of the popular YouTube talk show Spilling Ink. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and during the summer months enjoys her weekends on the shore in southern Maine. Visit her at www.jetaylor75.com to check out her other titles. Sign up for her newsletter at https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/y2z2x6 for early previews of her upcoming books, release announcements, and special opportunities for free swag!

Book preview

TANGLED

A FRACTURED FAIRY TALE

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How dark is obsession?

Imprisoned in a tower from the time she was old enough to walk, Danae longs to experience more than just what is within her ornate cage. But her mother insists the world is just too dangerous for a precious light-bringer.

When Danae encounters a disgraced dark-bringer, their combined power lights a fire within her soul, illuminating the tangled web of lies her captor has spun.

Danae learns that while her magic can renew hearts and heal wounds, it cannot erase the ultimate betrayal.

TANGLED Chapter 1

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MOUNTAIN RANGES AND VALLEYS peppered the view outside my window. A world I had yet to explore. Its beauty left me breathless whenever the full moon crested the mountaintops, shedding an eerie glow on everything below. Tonight was no different. However, a restlessness that had started two years ago on my eighteenth birthday burned through my blood hotter than when it first ignited.

I yearned for freedom from these castle walls, and yet, I had no means of escape. My only visitor was my captor masquerading as a doting mother who would prefer to see her only child locked up in a tower than let her experience all that life offered.

The books on my shelves were tattered and torn, and the words faded from too many readings. My prison was more adorned than the prisons I read about where men and women starved in squalor. It was fit for a queen, or so my mother told me, but it still was made to keep me contained.

Mother and I had argued endlessly over the past two years. I wanted to leave; she wanted to protect me. I lost every argument, especially when she brought up my father’s demise and how she barely got me out of the house before the thing burned to the ground.

She said I was a light-bringer, and if I were let out of this decorative dungeon, my power would be coveted for gain. My life would be slowly drained by those greedy bastards who existed around every corner just waiting for the chance to steal it away.

While she made the world seem frightening, I still wanted to experience it. Reading about adventures was getting old. I wanted to live one. I turned away from the window and doused my bedside candle, then slipped into bed for the night now that the sun’s warmth had disappeared.

DANAE! LET DOWN YOUR hair!

I rolled over and covered my head with my pillow. I didn’t want to deal with my mother today, but I knew she would just keep yelling up to me and spoil the nice quiet of the wilderness surrounding me. Even the birds fled from her grating pitch.

I sighed and climbed out of bed, corralling my hair with me. I dropped the long strands out the window. My mother waited patiently while I wound my hair around the sturdy hook next to the window, like I had done ever since she hid me away in this tower. Once I was done, I waved for Mother to start her ascent. The ends of my hair swirled in the dirt. I sighed. My mother had trimmed my hair just last week, and it looked like at least a foot lay on the ground. Every time she cut it, it seemed to grow back faster than before.

Before she climbed up my hair ladder, she collected the ends and slipped them into the bucket she kept behind the bushes. Sunlight glinted off the scissors she pulled from her backpack. Before she climbed up, she trimmed the ends of my hair, taking off close to a foot above the ground so my hair wouldn’t fall into the dirt. As the sheet of locks fell into the bucket, the familiar tink of metal against metal reached my ears. Freshly spun gold strands fell into the pail in place of my hair. I had seen it a few times when my mother cut my hair in my quarters instead of at the base of my prison.

She shimmied up my hair and climbed in the window, then pulled her backpack off. My mother had raven hair as dark as the night, and it curled into mini spirals that made me jealous. My hair lay in straight plaits. The only time it held body was after it had been braided for a length of time, but even then, it only offered soft waves. My mother’s skin was as different from mine as her hair. She had a dark honey-colored hue, whereas I could rival fresh cream.

I asked her once how she could be my mother. She said I was the spitting image of my father. She had gone to the window and looked out with that faraway look only reserved for when my father came into the conversation, like she needed a moment to regroup before her brain would work properly.

How are you today? she asked as she studied me.

Do you have any new books? I asked, avoiding the question. I was in no mood for another squabble, even though the aggravation was right there at the edge of my nerves. She had been by with food earlier in the week, but I had asked her to bring something new for me to read the next time she came.

You already have plenty of books. She waved at my book-lined walls before emptying the contents of her bag on the table.

Ma, do you even listen to me?

She stopped unloading her bag and glanced up at me with her eyebrows arched. Of course I do, but there was nothing new or appropriate at the market.

Then why didn’t you say that? My hands went to my hips, and I cocked my head at her.

She shrugged and finished emptying the contents on the table. Meats, breads, vegetables and fruits graced my table. The same things she always brought.

I sighed, knowing I should be grateful. If anything happened to her, I would likely starve to death in this remote tower. The thought terrified me, and I opened my mouth to share that fear, but "When can I go to the market with you?" tumbled from my lips.

She crossed her arms and stared down her sharp nose at me. You already know the answer. It is too dangerous out there for you.

Why?

People will be drawn to you, and the closer they get, the weaker you will get until you have no more light within you. You will die. Her eyes were wide and sincere.

I took a breath and let it out slowly before nodding. No one wants death, least of all me. But I wanted