Page 41 of Between These Broken Hearts (Cursed Stars #2)

“You really thought you could come to the Eloran Palace and go unnoticed? I’ll give you credit. You’re more ballsy than I ever would’ve guessed. Good for you.”

“Who’s Felicity?” I snap, but it’s too late. Shae knows me too well, and even though I can school my features with the best

of them, I’m failing miserably at controlling my heart rate.

“You and your brother and his friends—you’re all delusional, thinking you can bring down the Magical Seven. Elorans adore the Seven. The common people don’t know jack about the monarchy you all hold so dear.”

“A monarchy you fought for once.”

“I fought for the same reason everyone else does—I was sick of being poor and powerless. But I’m neither of those things now.

Something much better came along than bowing to Kendrick the Chosen .” He singsongs my brother’s name like it’s a joke.

“Something better? Is being Erith’s errand boy so great?”

“We all do what we have to. This will be worth it in the end. Leading the Seven will be worth it in the end.”

I sputter out a laugh. “ You? Leading the Seven? In what pathetic kind of world would that happen?”

“You think you’re so smart, and Hale thinks he’s so special, but you don’t know anything about the way this world works. About

how the Seven work. Erith has all the real power and he can hand it over to anyone he chooses.”

“Is that what he promised you so you’d betray your friends? His position among the Seven? And you think anyone in the palace

will stand for a piece of crap like you ruling them?”

“I could kill you right now,” he growls.

“But you won’t.” He would’ve killed me back at Castle Craige if he could have. Maybe before that. “You can’t ascend if you

have blood on your hands.”

“That’s the only reason you’re not dead already. Don’t worry. Daray is on his way. He’ll take care of you for me.”

Misha , I call. Misha, I’m in trouble.

I grasp for our mental bond, but I don’t feel him there. How long has he been gone?

“You should’ve died when you faced that cave demon, but it turns out little miss sweeter than sunshine isn’t too good to let

her goblin die for her.”

His words are like a knife, hot and twisting in my chest. I never would’ve chosen for Nigel to sacrifice himself for me and

Shae knows it.

“Seamus!” someone shouts behind us. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Shae keeps the blade at my neck and spins us both around. Konner is standing there, eyes wide as he looks back and forth between

us.

Hope bubbles in my chest.

Konner. He wouldn’t let Shae kill his child’s grandmother, but how much did he hear?

“What’s happening here, Seamus?” He prowls forward slowly, drawing a dagger from his hip, but Shae doesn’t move his blade.

“She’s not Sol,” Shae shouts, his voice frenzied and the knife digging into my neck enough to draw blood. “This is your piece-of-trash

sister and she came to kill your father. We can’t let that happen.”

Konner’s eyes are hard as topaz when they meet mine. “Don’t. Move.” It’s a warning, and I’m trembling.

“Yes. We should get rid of her before she can get to anyone else. Who knows, she may have already killed Sol—if not, where

is she?”

“I have a question,” Konner says, taking another step forward, gaze on Shae now. “What’s the point in holding the blade to

her neck if you aren’t willing to follow through?”

Konner looks at me, and maybe I imagine it, but I think he nods ever so slightly, as if to say, Move now . And I do. I use the maneuver Misha taught me while I was staying at Castle Craige, pulling down on his arm and dropping my

weight to the floor. Sol is taller and much stronger than Jasalyn, so I don’t need any help to send Shae to the floor on his

back. I sidestep as Konner approaches behind me, as sure of his next move as if we’d trained together a dozen times.

Konner drops and puts his blade to Shae’s throat. “Oh, Seamus. You know what’s nice about never aspiring to sit among the

Seven?” he asks, adding just enough pressure that blood pearls along the blade. “I can kill anyone who threatens my family.”

But just as he draws back to strike, Shae disappears.

Konner releases a string of curses that would make even Remme blush, but all I can do is stare at the spot on the floor where

Shae used to be.

When Konner guides me to a chair in a sparse sitting area of even sparser living quarters, I’m still shaking.

Maybe he’s brought me here to torture information out of me. Maybe I should’ve run from him the moment Shae disappeared. But

just like I knew he would take care of Shae if I got out of the way, I know he has no intention of harming me now.

He strides to a small armoire and throws the door open, shoving uniforms aside and reaching to the back. He pulls out a bottle

and walks it over to me. “Drink this.”

I frown at it. Brown, foggy glass. The gods only know what inside. “Why?”

“Because right now, the only person other than me who knows you’re not who you say is on the run. Drink before someone who

knows better spots you—someone I’m not willing to kill.” He shakes the bottle. “It doesn’t hurt. I’ve used it a hundred times.”

“This will allow me to return to my true form without sleep?” His words sink in, and I flick my gaze back up to his. “You’re

an Echo too?”

“We’re twins, remember? I’m guessing there are a lot more similarities between us than you realize.” He paces back and forth

in front of me, eyes darting to the door every so often as if he’s afraid someone’s going to charge through it. Maybe they

will.

“Do you think Shae will tell someone?”

“He’s not a favorite around here, and that will work in our favor. But yes, I think he’ll tell Erith’s favorites exactly what happened today. Luckily, I can plead ignorance and say I thought he was trying to kill one of the Seven.”

“You would’ve really killed him for me, wouldn’t you?”

“Happily. Though I’ve been looking for an excuse.” He scoffs and stops pacing to scowl at me. “What do you think you’re doing

here? Are you alone? Are you a complete fool?” He drags a hand through his white hair. There’s real fear in his eyes. “You’re

lucky you’re alive. Seamus is Erith’s proxy. Through the power Erith handed him when he left, Seamus would’ve had the right

to have you executed.”

“I know.” I squeeze my knees. I’m not used to this. Hale’s the one who’s always running into dangerous situations, the one

risking his life, the one having to think on his feet to survive.

Konner folds his arms. “Where is Sol? Did you do something to her? Did—”

“She’s fine. She’s at Castle Craige being wined and dined by the former queen and the king’s sister.” And probably growing

more and more irritated that Misha hasn’t shown up to the discussion she was promised.

“She was hoping for an alliance. But after this?” He waves a hand up and down to indicate my form. “I don’t know if she’ll

trust him.”

“Why would he want to ally with one of the Seven? Why help anyone who keeps someone like our father in power?”

Konner grabs the wooden chair from the desk and drags it in front of me before dropping into it.

Once we’re eye to eye, he says, “There are many among the Seven who want a change, but few who are as brave as Sol. We could make it happen if Erith were out of the picture. Sol has been pushing for reform for decades and gotten nowhere because everyone is too afraid to stand against our father. And now that she has something of her own to lose...” He blows out a breath.

“You never wanted me dead.”

“I tried to tell you that before.” He shakes his head. “I need you too much.”

“For your daughter?”

He stares at me with wide eyes, and I can feel the panicked beat of his heart as if it were my own. When he finally speaks,

his voice is a low rasp of desperation. “ Anything for her.”

“Erith can’t be killed by anyone but me, can he?” I ask. “I can kill him, and when your daughter is grown, she could too—if

he lets her live that long.”

He takes half a step back. “So you know?”

I shake my head. “Not enough. I’m just trying to piece it all together.”

He licks his lips and looks toward the window thoughtfully. “When the oracle told our father that our mother would give him

twins, a boy and a girl, and the girl would kill him, only some of that information was new to him.”

“What do you mean? Had it already been prophesied?”

“Our father has never been satisfied with his lot in life. He was given the power of the Seven, and he wanted more. He was

given the immortality of the fae, and he wanted more. Godlike power, godlike immortality. He would have done anything for

that.

“Long ago, after Father had ascended to the Seven but before he had been named as patriarch and before there was any prophecy about him being killed by his daughter, he found an evil, ancient spell that would give him true immortality and magical power greater than anything we’ve ever seen.

To this day, no one can prove what he did or what—or rather whom —he sacrificed for it, but I’ve had my suspicions for years, and I think the source of his sacrifice is the source of his

greatest weakness.”

“What do you mean?”

He swallows, gaze still unfocused, as if he’s looking back into a time long ago. “I don’t think you were his first daughter.

When I was young, Mother was not well, and Father would send her away for long stretches of time. To ‘heal’ her, he said.

He wanted everyone to believe she was crazy, but I think he made her that way. I’ve found evidence that he sacrificed their

firstborn—a daughter. He cast a spell for power and immortality well beyond what the gods would naturally gift the fae, but

the crux of the spell was the unthinkable: offering his daughter, a mere babe, in exchange for the power he sought.”

My stomach pitches, then I shake my head. “He wouldn’t have been able to ascend if he’d done that.”

Konner holds my gaze. “Except he would’ve already been one of the Seven at this time.”