Page 34 of Between These Broken Hearts (Cursed Stars #2)

The morning air is cool. It feels good after being cooped up in that meeting room. We have a plan for tomorrow, finally, and

though it might be a death wish, none of us can stomach not trying. I came straight to the terrace, hoping fresh air could

clear my mind. The birds around the Midnight Palace chirp and sing, as if celebrating the reappearance of the sun.

“There you are,” someone says from the open doors behind me. I turn and hold my breath as Hale joins me. “Natan wants to meet

with you and Misha tonight to talk plans for your trip to the Eloran Palace.”

“He’s going to Elora with you and Jasalyn in the morning?” I ask.

Hale huffs out a breath, amusement dancing on his lips. “They all are. You know this group.” He cocks his head to the side.

“You look thoughtful. Want to talk about it?”

I shrug. “Nothing to talk about.”

He arches a brow. “I know we’ve been separated the last few years, but you think I don’t remember what you’re like when you’re

upset about something?”

I blow out a breath.

“This is about what you told us last night.”

I cut my gaze to him. I want to deny it, but it’s the truth, even if only part of it.

“I’m sorry,” he says. The words come out rough, as if they’re scraping against all the days he willed me to kill Erith. “I

should’ve known you had a good reason for refusing. I wish you would’ve told me sooner.”

I shiver. “I didn’t want you to sacrifice yourself.” I shake my head and rest my elbows on the stone ledge. “And I didn’t

want to be the reason my big brother wasn’t in this world anymore.”

“Yeah.” He stares at his boots. “I get that.”

I scoff. “Really? No speech about how there are things bigger than ourselves? About how the ends justify the means?”

He huffs out a breath and laces his hands behind his head, pacing in front of me. “I’m twenty-one, Lis. My life has hardly

started and most of the years I’ve had have been spent busting my ass and trying to prove I’m worth this gods-damned crown.”

He drops his hands and turns to me. “You know what’s crazy? Before, I thought I was okay with it. With the crown. With the

burden. With having my wife picked for me. A wife who, let’s not forget, I’m supposed to watch age and die while I enjoy fae

immortality.”

“You thought you were okay with it before what?” I ask. “Before you knew what the oracle showed me?”

“Nah.” The corner of his mouth twitches in sardonic amusement. “I probably would’ve accepted that, or at least told myself

I did.”

“Before your princess,” I murmur, and his throat bobs. “I’m sorry, Hale. It isn’t fair, the way the monarchy works.”

He braces his hands on the stone ledge and looks out at the capital beyond. “I know we’re fighting a losing battle here. I

know we’re trying to get back something Jasalyn already gave away. I know that it makes no sense for me to reject my fate—whether

it be death or ruling beside a human queen—until we know if Jas can get out of this bargain. If the woman I love is ultimately

lost to us, why do I even care that bringing down Erith could mean the end of me even before we get to see the monarchy restored?”

“You care because there’s more to you than the male who loves the princess.”

When he turns to me, his eyes are bleak. “That’s where you’re wrong. There’s no part of me that exists apart from loving her.

I care because I can’t accept that she’ll be gone. I know the facts and yet... my mind rejects them. And so, no. I won’t

be telling you to kill that bastard despite what the oracle showed you—at least not without some well-thought-out safeguards.

Because if there’s any chance at all that Jasalyn’s going to be here when this is all over, I’m sure as hell going to do everything

in my power to be here too. Maybe that makes me selfish. Maybe it makes me unworthy of this crown.”

“Or maybe it just means that you’ve fallen in love, and it’s changed you,” I say.

“It feels as if it’s changed everything. From the way I breathe to the color of the sky.” He drags a hand through his hair,

making a mess of it. “It sounds absurd but it’s true.”

I know what he means, but given my situation with Misha I’m too embarrassed to share as much. “So tomorrow you all head back to Elora to find the witch. And if you get the princess out of this bargain, what’s next?”

His jaw ticks. “I need to see the oracle. I need to figure out what I’m missing. Why would she show me Jasalyn’s face as the

key to turning around this revolution, why show me Jasalyn plunging that blade in Erith’s chest if she can’t even kill him?”

He makes a fist and presses it to his chest. “And why did the Mother make me feel this if I have to let her go?”

My heart aches for my brother. Elora has always asked too much of him. “Do you think she’ll see you again?” I ask. “When you’ve

been so recently?”

“I have to try.”

I bite the inside of my lip, thinking of everything that could go wrong for all of us in the coming days. I’m still bothered

by what I didn’t tell the group in our meeting. Maybe I should have told them that Jas is a risk to herself—maybe they need

to know in order to protect her. “If you don’t find the witch, I think you need to understand why they wanted Jas sleeping

until the time Mordeus can overtake her body.”

His brow furrows. “What do you know?”

I hesitate. Not because I’m unsure but for the same reason I hesitated in our meeting. This is such a raw truth. I’m exposing

her darkest secrets.

“Tell me,” Hale urges.

“He wants her in a deep sleep because he needs her alive,” I say.

I swallow. “The only thing that could stop Mordeus from coming back the way he has planned is if Jasalyn didn’t make it to her eighteenth birthday.

And Mordeus knows from the time Jasalyn spent in his dungeons that the biggest risk to Jasalyn’s life is Jasalyn herself. ”

Hale’s expression turns bleak, his eyes so sad. “We’ll find the witch and get her out of this bargain. I won’t accept anything

else.”

“I’ve been curious about those memories your brother planted,” Natan says. Natan, Hale, Misha, and I decided to meet over

lunch so the group could spend the evening ironing out their own plans. “How true to life were they?” He waves a hand over

the table and the surface transforms into a map of interior rooms.

I’ve never been to the Eloran Palace before, but Natan’s suggesting that I might be familiar with it from the illusion I was

trapped in. I scan the rooms and corridors reflected on the table and feel like I’m looking at a map of my own home. “Very.”

I point to a bedroom, then trace my finger down a hall and into the throne room. “This is exactly as it was in my dreams.”

Natan beams. “Perfect.”

Misha grunts and frowns at the map.

Is he thinking the same thing I am? “Why would he do that? Why not create a fictional place? Why risk giving me information

that puts them at a disadvantage?” Why keep me alive? My mind keeps circling back to that.

“For the same reason he didn’t create fictional people,” Natan says.

“I’m not familiar with the magic he used to create and maintain such an elaborate illusion, but I imagine it works best with as many details as possible.

Chances are, Konner has spent the majority of his life in the palace—or at least has never stayed in another place long enough to mentally re-create it.

He used what he knows to make sure it felt fully real to you.

” He waves a hand and the image on the table changes.

“Now what about this? This is the southern pillar of the Eloran Palace and the place we suspect they keep the Chronicles.”

I study the new collection of rooms and corridors and shake my head. “I don’t recognize that at all.”

“He isn’t a complete idiot, then,” Remme says.

“It makes sense to use what he knows and create memories in the less secure areas of the palace. But the knowledge she was

given—the familiarity those memories will give her to the palace—will still prove useful for getting around with the kind

of confidence Sol would have. And I can tell you how to get here,” he says, indicating an area on the map I’m unfamiliar with.

“And we’re sure this Sol will leave the palace so there aren’t two of her walking around when Misha and I arrive?”

“I invited her to join me at Castle Craige tomorrow,” Misha says. “She thinks I want to discuss an alliance between the Elora

Seven and the Wild Fae.”

“I bet a bag of coppers that she thinks she’s on the short list to be the next queen,” Skylar says with an eye roll. “Not

that you’ve done anything to disabuse her of that notion.”

Misha seems unbothered by this jab. “I did what I needed to do to get close to her so that we would have everything we need.”

What he had to do. Why does that have my hackles up?

It’s not like he’s actually interested in her or as if he has any plans to make her his queen, but my stomach turns at the idea of them getting close enough for him to subtly take her hair.

“You don’t think anyone will think it’s odd that the Wild Fae king is suddenly visiting the Eloran Palace? ” I ask.

“I won’t be, though,” Misha says. “Not as far as anyone there will know. I plan to stay hidden during our visit.”

“Okay, let me make sure I understand.” I drum my fingers on the tabletop. “Misha gets Sol to visit Castle Craige again and

detains her—which I’d like to point out is risky business if you’d like to avoid war with the Elora Seven, but I’ll leave

that for now—”

Misha scoffs. “I’m insulted that you think I would detain her in a way that feels like detainment. Pretha and Amira are going to help keep her happy until I can return.”

“Well, that’s good at least,” I say. “Then, with me as Sol and you planning to stay unnoticed, we’ll use the queen’s Hall

of Doors to access the palace?”

“That’s right,” Hale says. “She’s offered to let us use them to get to Elora as well.”

“So Misha and I enter the Eloran Palace. There, I find the Chronicles to discover everything we can about Erith, then search