Page 7 of Between These Broken Hearts (Cursed Stars #2)

my cell. A girl I came to care about a great deal. Once I met you, I would’ve done whatever was necessary to protect you even

if it hadn’t been part of our agreement.”

“But you weren’t protecting me. You were as good as those bars keeping me locked there. You gave me false hope. You might as well have been the one holding

me down while he carved his knives into my skin.”

Kendrick flinches. “If I could change things...” He shoves off the bed and stalks toward me. “No. I’d still keep you alive. Maybe I would’ve tried harder to kill him, but I wouldn’t have let you give up.”

I hang my head and hate myself for how reassured his words make me feel.

“I don’t have it in me to let you give up. I didn’t then, and I don’t now.” He comes closer, his fingers brushing my arm.

I jerk away before his touch can melt me. Even though I need it. Even though part of me would happily lie to myself forever

if it meant I could forgive him, forgive it all, and go back with him. But I can’t. “Maybe you never meant to hurt me, and maybe I could forgive that deal, but the company you keep says a lot about you.”

He straightens. “I don’t know what you mean. Is this about the others? Skylar? Remme? Did one of them do something?”

“I don’t know about them.” I shrug. I want to trust them but every time I trust again, I’m made a fool. “Your friend Shae.”

His face turns stoic. “What about Shae?”

“I saw him in my dreams—in Mordeus’s memories. He promised to bring me to Mordeus when the time was right. I think...”

Why am I here? Why am I trusting him? Why do I so badly want to believe Kendrick doesn’t know about Shae’s exchange with Mordeus?

Isn’t it just as likely that Kendrick was in on it too?

But I don’t believe that. I can’t.

“I think he has something to do with this blood magic that’s connected me to Mordeus—he’s involved with bringing Mordeus back.”

“Tell me what you know.”

Can it hurt? Explaining all this? Either he’s in on it and already knows or he’s not and needs to understand his friend is

a liar. “I had these dreams—dreams where I was Mordeus.” I lick my dried-out lips. “I thought they were just nightmares. Just

my twisted subconscious making me feel as dark and ugly inside as he is. But then Natan told us what he’d found out about

the blood magic and the ring and the connection between me and Mordeus, and it started to click. They weren’t dreams. They

were memories . And the memory of your friend Shae? He told Mordeus he’d win my trust and bring me to him so that Mordeus could ‘rise again.’

What does that sound like if not using me to bring Mordeus back to life?”

“And you’re sure the male from your dream—from the memory—was Shae?”

“When I saw him in my dream, I didn’t have any idea he had any connection to you, but I would never forget that face. Those

eyes. Then, that last morning in Ironmoore, I saw him sitting in the kitchen and it all came together for me.” I flick my

gaze to Kendrick and take in the angry lines on his face. “You don’t look surprised.”

“I won’t pretend that what you’re saying isn’t hard to hear.” He paces the length of the small infirmary. “Shae and I grew

up together. Once, we were best friends. He’s pulled away since I was tapped as the next Eloran king, but it’s still hard

to believe he’d betray us like that.”

My stomach twists with a painful combination of hope and doubt. I want to trust Kendrick. I want to believe what he’s saying, but the lure of the Enchanting Lady’s magic doesn’t work on him, so I have no way of ensuring his honesty.

“Shae’s always had a dangerous kind of ambition. The day the oracle told me I was the Chosen, he lost it and wrecked the entire

barn. He thought it should be him.”

“And you trusted him after that?” He’s so close I can feel his warmth, but I don’t let myself move any closer.

“He apologized. He said he’d always believed that he was destined for greatness, but that after he had his meltdown he realized

he could find that by my side.” He scratches at his scruffy cheeks. “I think I believed him because I wanted to.”

“But now you believe me?”

He stops pacing and his chest expands with a deep breath. “We haven’t seen Shae since the day you left. He went to Elora to

try to find another way into the palace. Or so he said. He never came back, and we thought he’d been captured, but... I

don’t know. Something’s been bothering me about all of it. After he disappeared, I started realizing things with him haven’t

been adding up lately. Little things. Times he disappeared or wasn’t where he was supposed to be. I’ve been worried about

him, but part of me has been equally suspicious as new information has come to light.”

“Like what?”

“That ring isn’t randomly stuck on your finger.

Mordeus needed you to be unable to remove it so he could better control you.

We first thought the attack on Ironmoore came from the Seven trying to put a stop to our revolution, but Natan has gathered enough intel that now we know they weren’t behind it—at least, not as a whole.

We suspect the wyvern attack had a different purpose entirely.

Historically, wyvern cries have been used to unlock dormant magic and we think that night was all about unlocking the magic that would keep that ring on your finger. ”

I nod, but I’m all jumbled up inside. Kendrick and his friends have been spending the time I’ve been away trying to figure

out how to help me. How to free me from this ring. That doesn’t fit with the story I’ve been telling myself. That doesn’t

make sense if they’ve been working with Mordeus. “What does this have to do with your friend Shae?”

“Someone still would’ve had to send the wyvern. Who knew you were in Ironmoore with us who would also know to use Isaak to get the wyvern into camp in the form

of Crissa? Only Shae.” He holds my gaze for a long time. “So, yes. Yes, I believe you. But I wish you would’ve told me instead

of running away.”

I scan his face over and over. I trust him, but it’s too late. I’m running out of time. I don’t have enough to waste wishing

I’d handled things differently.

“Stay with me,” Kendrick says, dropping into a crouch before me. He lifts his hand to my face, then drops it again. “Let me

prove myself. Your sister has been losing her mind trying to find you.”

Abriella. I set my jaw. “My sister is better off without me.”

“Never.” His face goes hard. “Don’t say that.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“My sister is missing too. I understand precisely how awful it is. Knowing you failed to protect your own, knowing they’re

out there somewhere and you’re failing them again?”

“See, and I didn’t even know you had a sister.” Because you don’t know him at all , I tell myself, but only because I’m struggling to remember that. It’s nearly impossible when he’s this close, when only

hours ago I thought he was going to die in front of me.

“Felicity’s my sister,” he says. “The shifter who went to Castle Craige in your stead.”

I flinch. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“And maybe I should have.” He grimaces, and I can see the apology in his eyes. “She was adopted and raised at my side. But

even if I’d shared that part, I was afraid that you’d question my story too much if you knew I had a fae sister.”

“Did she go missing from Castle Craige?”

He nods solemnly. “Eight months ago. We’ve been searching for you both.”

Guilt cuts through me. “Did someone take her thinking she was me? Did—”

“No. She’d been found out and thrown into a cell, made to take her true form. The others think she’s been captured by Erith,

but I can’t let myself believe that.”

“Why?”

The anguish on his face guts me. “Because Erith is her birth father and he’s wanted her dead since before she was born. The

oracle prophesied long ago that she would be the one to kill him.”

Nausea surges in my throat. Another person whose life will be cut short because of me.

“We’re going to find her,” Kendrick says, his voice hard. “I refuse to give up, just like I’ve refused to give up searching

for you.”

“If Erith took her, then you’ll need the sword to get her back. Or the portal that allows you into the Eloran Palace. Right?”

“None of the Seven would allow a prisoner to reside in their precious palace. They are too scared of their enemies to allow

them that close. But we have a promising lead that Misha’s investigating now.”

My mind spins as I try to piece it all together. It’s like trying to read a book without half the pages. That’s what happens when you sleep for eight months. I wring my hands. “So your sister is missing, and my sister... she knows I had Felicity pretend to be me?” I can just imagine

Brie’s panic the moment she found out the shifter wasn’t me and realized I was missing.

“She didn’t believe you had anything to do with it at first, but Felicity told her enough that she had to believe it.”

My stomach feels like it’s filling with stones as I imagine how hurt and betrayed Brie must’ve felt when she found out the

truth. “And how do you know all this?”

His smile is small and sad. No sign of the dimples I love so much. No trace of happiness in his eyes. “Because your sister

and King Misha tracked us down and asked for our help. So we’ve been searching, but with that damn ring in our way, it’s like

chasing a ghost. There have been rumors of sightings but nothing we could confirm, and of course Abriella has had to pretend

you were safely in the palace the whole time.”

Because if the people of her court knew she can’t even keep tabs on her own sister, it would make her look weak.

“Where have you been?” he asks.

“Sleeping,” I whisper, but when his panicked eyes meet mine I know he’s thinking the same thing I am.

That maybe my consciousness was sleeping for the last eight months, but that doesn’t mean my body was.

Not when Mordeus’s consciousness is linked to mine.

Not when he’s used me to do his dirty work before this ring was even stuck to my finger.

“This is why you can’t leave.” The aching rasp in his voice is worse than the words he spoke when he was bleeding out and

slipping away. “We can’t risk losing any more time.”

It would be so easy to stay. Walking away is embracing the loneliness of my mission. But if I stay, I’ll be distracted by

Kendrick’s mission, and I can’t let myself do anything else until I take care of Mordeus. “I know you need me to kill Erith,

and I’m sorry that your sister was captured because of me, but I can’t worry about that right now.” I step around him and

toward the door.

“This isn’t about Erith . This is about you . And there are things...” He pauses as if he can’t find the words. “You need to understand what Mordeus has planned.”

I hesitate before turning back to him. “What do you mean?”

He swallows. “Before Felicity was taken, she told them your secret.” His eyes are so sad, and it’s like seeing him bleeding

all over again. I want to fix it. “She told them what you traded for that ring. That your life ends on your eighteenth birthday.”

My stomach sinks, another stone added to the pile in my gut. “Oh.” Why does the idea of my sister—of Kendrick —knowing make the sacrifice suddenly seem so real?

“How do we undo it?” he asks, voice raw. “What do we have to do?”

I shake my head. “It’s done. We can’t undo anything.”

The pain that moves across his face makes me wish for a different life in a different world under a different set of stars. “You just want me to accept that I lose you in less than two weeks? No. I refuse. We will find a way to reverse it.”

“All that matters is that I end Mordeus before that day comes, and if I’m going to do that then I need your special Eloran

sword. I couldn’t find it at Feegus Keep, but I haven’t—” I need to go back and find that commander to see if she knows where it is, and I need to do it before that goblin’s potion

wears off and I’m lost to sleep again. I draw in a deep breath. “I’ve stayed too long. I’m wasting time. I shouldn’t even be here. I never should’ve stayed.”

“I’m glad you did.” When his fingertips brush my shoulder, my body goes rigid, but I don’t have it in me to pull away again.

“Don’t do this alone. It’s too dangerous. And the sword—”

“The sword is all that matters. It will take me to Mordeus and it will kill him.” I will destroy him for what he did to me.

For what he turned me into. I curl my fists at my sides, determined not to fall apart. Exhaustion is creeping back.

“We never stopped looking for the sword. We need it more than ever now that we believe Felicity might be trapped in another

realm. But while you’ve been gone, we’ve learned Mordeus hid the sword—spelled it so only he could see it. Even if it was

right in front of our eyes, we wouldn’t know it.”

I reel back as if I’ve been punched in the chest. When I try to draw breath, nothing comes. How am I supposed to face Mordeus

without the sword? I’m not strong enough. I was never strong enough to make a difference when it came to him.

“I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you wanted to hear.”

Finally, I drag air into my lungs, but the panic rumbles inside me, crushing all my plans. “I’ll find another way.”

“Do you understand why we need to work together? Your sister’s been as obsessed over finding you as I have. She will be so glad to see you again.”

To see me and then watch me die in days. To see me and be that much closer to danger because of Mordeus’s connection to me.

I can’t let that happen.

I point to the opposite side of the room, where cabinets line the walls. “I’m feeling weak,” I say, and it’s not a lie. “The

healer left a healing tonic over there.” Also not a lie, though the only tonic there is for Kendrick. “Would you get it for

me?”

“Of course.” He strides to the other side of the room, and I reach for the door.

“You won’t remember any of this.” This time when I walk away from Kendrick, it’s harder than every step I took toward Mordeus’s

dungeons.