Page 30 of Between These Broken Hearts (Cursed Stars #2)

My desk at the Midnight Palace always contained a calendar of the coming moons, but before I traded my immortal life for that

ring, I never paid much attention to it. This morning, it was the first thing I looked at after climbing from bed. I have

five days left. Five days to figure out how to fix what I’ve broken. Five days to make sure my mistakes don’t destroy my sister

and her entire court.

The weight of it could break me, but that’s what he wants. Broken, pathetic, terrified Jasalyn, willing to sacrifice everything to hide from her fears. So I don’t let my thoughts

linger. I can’t. The people I love deserve better.

Kendrick was already gone, and my handmaiden had left breakfast by my bedside, but one look at the calendar had me dressing

and heading out. I refuse to spend my day hiding. I downed a few cups of coffee while I dressed, fortifying myself for the

day ahead. For my mission. I’m not going to hide in this castle while my friends fight to fix something I broke. I’m going

to help, whether Abriella likes it or not.

I look up from my feet just in time to catch myself before running into an ancient female fae with a cane. I dodge but then turn to look at her again as she continues down the hall. Like mine, her mind seems to be somewhere else, but I think I recognize her. I just can’t place her.

Maybe I’ve seen her in the palace before, or maybe I’ve even talked to her during those days when the whole world was passing

me by in a fog. I could let it go at that, but there’s something about her that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand

up.

“Karmyn?” The name slips from my lips before I even realize I thought it.

She stops and slowly turns to me. “May I help you?”

It’s the eyes that snap everything into place for me. That milky bluish white of the iris, the way they seem too big for her

face. I’ve seen those eyes in my dreams—in Mordeus’s memories. “You...” My heart leaps into a sprint. What is someone who

worked for Mordeus doing in my sister’s palace? “Guard!” I shout at the uniformed sentinel stationed at the top of the stairs.

“Take this female into custody until I can speak with my sister.”

He strides toward us, frowning. “May I ask why? Madame Karmyn is—”

I stare in the female’s panicked doe eyes. “A seer. I know. I don’t know why she’s here now, but she worked for Mordeus, and

I want her detained until I can speak with my sister about it.”

Fear flickers over the female’s face, but she doesn’t try to run or resist as the sentinel magically binds her wrists.

Another uniformed male jogs down the hall to join us. “What’s happening?”

I lift my chin. The guards are looking at each other. They think I’m crazy and I don’t care. “I need to speak with my sister.

Now.”

I don’t know what kind of mental magic these sentinels have or how it works, but several breaths later, my sister appears in front of me. I blink at her. “You can move like a goblin?”

“Anywhere within the palace, and then small distances outside it.” She shrugs, then frowns at the guard holding the old female.

“What is happening here?”

I point a shaking finger at the old faerie. She’s trembling and squeezing her eyes shut. “Why is she here?”

“Karmyn is one of several seers I have on staff, Jas. She came on board while you were... away.”

“And you aren’t at all bothered by the fact that she worked for Mordeus ?”

The confusion falls off Abriella’s face, replaced with the cool and calculating mask of the shadow queen. The taps of her

hard-soled boots echo along the corridor as she strides to stand before the restrained female. “You’re sure about this?”

“I wouldn’t be bothering you if I weren’t. Mordeus’s memories come to me in dreams, and I saw her—saw her prophesying for

him. She’s the one who told him he wouldn’t live to rule from the Throne of Shadows.”

There’s no more sympathy left in Abriella’s eyes now. “Open your eyes and look at me,” she commands the old faerie.

Karmyn obeys, tears slipping down her cheeks. “If you must kill me, please make sure my family is cared for.”

Brie’s brows lift. “ Should I kill you? Have you done something that warrants execution?”

“I have never betrayed my queen, if that’s what you ask.”

“But you worked for Mordeus.” It’s not a question, and my heart squeezes at how easily she believes in me. “And then you came to me looking for work.”

“I did, Your Majesty. It’s true.”

Brie looks her over. “I consider that kind of omission a betrayal in itself, Karmyn.”

“I cannot blame you, Your Majesty, but I hope you’ll remember that I am the one who told you about the Stone of Disenchantment.

I am the one who helped you find it so your sister would be free of the ring’s magic.”

“And why? Why help me after working for him?”

“I watched the faceless plague sweep through my village and I knew what was happening. I wanted to come here because you’re

a good queen, and I couldn’t stand to see his plans play out.”

“What plans?”

“His resurrection. His use of this girl here”—she nods to me—“to steal the throne and retake rule of the Court of the Moon.”

Abriella’s guards are too well trained to visibly react to this information, but I feel their eyes on me. While Brie’s inner

circle knows the details of Mordeus’s connection to me, she’s shared it with no one else.

Brie lifts her chin. “We should talk.” She turns to the sentinel nearest Karmyn. “Please take her to my office for questioning.

I’ll be there shortly.”

The guard ushers the female down the hall, and Brie watches, only turning to me when they’re out of sight. “I will get to

the bottom of this. I’m sorry it happened at all.”

She begins to walk away, and I grab her arm. “You aren’t questioning her without me.”

“I’m not going to have you sit there while we talk about him. I won’t do that to you.”

“Brie, do you really think that female can hurt me while you’re in the room?”

“No, but I have to ask her about Mordeus and—”

“Meaning you’re literally trying to protect me from something that already happened,” I say. And she shuts her eyes, as if

this truth is too much to take. “We can’t go back. We can’t change it. What’s done is done.”

She swallows. “Fine. You can come, but if it ever feels like too much—”

“Let’s go.”

The old faerie’s eyes are distant as she sits across from my sister, her gaze on the window and the big blue sky beyond. “I

only wanted to help.”

“Tell me what you know about Mordeus’s plan for the princess.”

She blinks rapidly. “He didn’t know she was the princess. He didn’t understand why she was so special. He didn’t care to ask

the right questions. All he cared about was the throne, the crown, and the power that came with both. I should’ve done what

all the others did and lied about the future. Or simply avoided telling him the truth. But I’d heard the rumors of what he

did to seers before me, and I thought honesty would be best. I regret that my gifts helped him in any way. I did what I thought

I must to save my son, who was rotting in Mordeus’s dungeons, and to keep my grandchildren from starving.”

“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” I say gently. “You’re the one who told him he would die before ruling from the throne.

Is that when it all started?”

She presses her hand to her chest, fumbling until her fingers grasp hold of a silver pendant.

“He was so angry. He would’ve done anything to get the answers he needed.

Even death couldn’t stop his hunger for power, so when I revealed the truth of his impending demise, he took me to Elora to see the oracle.

He wanted to know who would kill him and how, but she wouldn’t tell him.

All she gave him was the face of the girl who had the power to bring him back—a girl he already had in his dungeons. ”

“How did he know what to do?” Abriella asks.

“Mordeus gathered his most powerful magic wielders to find a way to make it happen, but it was Erith, Patriarch of the Seven,

who put it all together for him. He was the one who introduced him to blood magic.”

“But you said he didn’t know her lineage. How was he able to put his plan into place without knowing how it would work—without

knowing my sister’s powers?”

“He didn’t need to know everything so long as he had people in place to carry out his plan. And he did. So many people who

would trade their souls for a sniff of real power.”

“Including the witch who gave me the ring.” It’s not a question. I’m sure of it. I never doubted that the woman could deliver

what she promised. Power radiated off her in a way I’d never felt before.

“I imagine so,” Karmyn says.

“Who was she?” I ask, grasping at a fleeting hope. “Who was the witch?”

“I’ve never gotten a vision involving her, so I don’t have that answer.”

“You haven’t shared a vision with me since you told me about the stone,” Brie says, narrowing her eyes at Karmyn. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“The future is volatile right now. Every vision is accompanied by a conflicting one. You are dancing on the knife-edge of

fate.”

“What do the opposing futures look like? Tell me what two ways this can go.”

Her laugh is brittle and jaded. “ Infinite ways ,” she says. “But there are three I see most often. One way, you continue to rule; another, Mordeus rules in your sister’s

body.”

“And the third?”

“In the third, you all lose. And so does the shadow court. Civil war without strong leadership results in carnage, not change.”

“Anything else you need to tell me?” Brie asks. “If you’re truly here to help put a stop to Mordeus’s plans, you need to give

me everything you can.”

The female frowns at her queen. “I see a path where your sister escapes her bargain, but she must still endure the pain to

triumph.” She blinks over to me and cocks her head to the side. “He will be shocked by your strength and fortitude.” She lifts

a gnarled finger toward me. “You can’t win unless you accept who you are.”

I glance to Brie, then back to Karmyn. “I know. They told me about my gift.”

“Not the phoenix. You’ve always appreciated fire. You have to be all of who you are. Even who you don’t want to be.”

“What does that mean, Karmyn?” Brie asks.

“It means she’s more like you than you realize.”