Page 65 of Between These Broken Hearts (Cursed Stars #2)

“You’re sure you don’t want to take more clothes? Maybe your riding gear or some of the bedding you love so much?”

My sister, the shadow queen, is fussing over me. “I have everything I need. And anyway, I can’t take a bunch of fancy dresses

to Elora. You know how it is there.”

The worry on her face morphs to tenderness. “I do. And that’s why I’m grateful to know change is coming—to know you’ll be

there to make sure things are better for the little girls of the next decade than they were for us.”

“They will be, Brie. I really believe it.”

“We have the right people in place. I’m not sure it will take a whole decade.”

“Let’s hope not.” I squeeze her hands. “I will miss you, but I will visit soon.”

Gommid appears at my side, ever the prompt servant.

“Take good care of her,” Brie commands.

“I always do,” he grumps.

“Hey, Gommid?” I ask. “Do you know a goblin named Fherna?”

He wrinkles his nose. “What kind of name is that? Fherna.”

“So you don’t know her?”

“There isn’t a goblin named Fherna. If there were, I would know her.” He offers his hand. “Ready?”

I hold up a finger and turn back to my sister. “What would you say if I told you that when I was stuck in stasis with the

ring, I think our mother came to me as a goblin to get me to wake up?”

“I would say that sounds like one of the fairy tales Mom would tell us when we were kids.”

Warmth spreads in my chest. “I thought so too. Then she was there again after I walked into the fire. Before I came back.”

Brie shivers. “Do you really think it was her?”

“I think it could’ve been, and when I was stuck in limbo before I came out of the ash, I think I needed to believe it was

her. But either way, I know she would’ve done something like that if she could have.”

“Yeah,” she says softly. “How do you remember her so well?”

I shake my head. “I don’t. I just remember her some but then see that magnified in you, which makes me feel like I remember

her a lot.”

“Stop.” She waves her hands in front of her face. “Dang it, Jas! Finn bet me I couldn’t get through this without crying and

I really wanted to win.”

Laughing, I open my arms and we hug each other tight. “See you soon,” I promise.

“So soon.”

I’ve barely released her and taken Gommid’s hand when the world disappears around us and we’re falling and spinning and lurching

into nothingness and then suddenly standing in Amelia’s living room.

“She made it!” she shouts, jumping up from the sofa and running to me.

“Sorry I couldn’t come with Kendrick yesterday,” I say. “I needed to help my sister with a few things in the shadow court.”

“You’re forgiven. But your guy is upstairs and a little grumpy, so you should probably go share those apologies with him.”

She winks at me and turns for the kitchen. “Dinner in an hour!”

“I’ll come back down and help in a few.”

“Don’t you dare,” she says. “Tonight, you’re my guest. Tomorrow you can start with chores.”

Warmth fills me. “Fair.” I jog up the stairs and down the hall to the room I shared with Kendrick last time we were here together.

The door’s cracked but I knock on the jamb anyway.

“Come in,” he says, voice low.

I nudge the door open and it creaks on its hinges. “Why so glum?” I ask.

The frown falls off his face and he stands. “ Finally. ”

“It’s been one single day.” I’m teasing him, but it felt too long to me too, and when he kisses me hello, I decide it’s been

much too long.

“But I missed you.”

“Me too. So much.”

“The position as liaison pays a nice wage,” he says. “We’ll be able to move out of here and into a place of our own soon.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Is that what has you down? You’re worried about where we’re living?”

“I am taking you from all the comforts to—”

I press a finger to his lips. “You’ve taken me from the pit of despair and back to hope. You’ve taken me from loneliness to love.” I shake my head. “I don’t need more than you, Hale Kendrick.”

He takes my hips in his big hands and pulls me toward him, tucking my head under his chin and lining our bodies up flush.

“I thought I couldn’t have you, and then I thought I couldn’t keep you, and then I knew I wouldn’t let you go but thought

I’d lose you anyway.” He bends to bury his face in my neck. “Forgive me if I act like a fool sometimes when I’m trying to

understand how I got so lucky.”

“How we got so lucky,” I say, pressing a palm into his chest so I can push back and see his face. “And it won’t all be sunshine and

rainbows. There will be hard moments—but I guarantee you, spending a few weeks bunking with a lovely friend doesn’t qualify.”

His lips quirk. “Amelia’s pretty happy to have you here.”

“Well, I’m pretty happy to be here.”

“And when those moments come,” he says, “when it feels like it’s been too long between the sunshine and the rainbows, we’ll

remind each other that the sun will rise again.”

“Don’t forget I’m not so scared of the dark anymore.”

He smiles against my mouth. “How could I forget your secret dark side?” He kisses me, and I reach across the room with my

shadows and shut the door.