Page 40 of Black Hearted (Cursed Fae #4)

Zander

I leaned against the wall in awe, watching my beautiful wife sleep in the soft glow of early evening.

My gaze shifted to the four tiny bundles—our children.

Dawn had brought them into the world with a strength I hadn’t even known she possessed.

She wasn’t just incredible; she was extraordinary.

Two sons and two daughters. Daughters. As an Ethereum lord, I’d never imagined such a thing possible, yet here they were.

My heart ached with a love so vast it felt endless.

Dawn had endured so much to bring these babies into the world and was now sacrificing her energy and magic to keep them alive.

My role was clear. To protect them at all costs.

Yet the rumors of her mother’s presence in Faerie, combined with the lingering curse, filled me with unease. Sleep would not come easily tonight.

With a sigh, I quietly left the room to let Dawn rest. I padded down the hall to the drink station Zane’s maid had thoughtfully set up for the house’s guests.

Coffee, tea, and drinking chocolate were always available—a small luxury that offered some normalcy amidst the chaos.

At the last moment, I chose the drinking chocolate, wanting something comforting right now.

I couldn’t shake the disquiet that settled over me. Even with Zane’s castle teeming with guards, knowing Queen Liliana was not only in Faerie but here in Westeria made my blood run cold. Stryker had expressed the same unease, especially after Aribella’s attack. Adrien, too, was undoubtedly on edge.

I stepped into the library, sipping the warm, rich drink. It wasn’t something I often indulged in, but it carried a nostalgic sweetness. It reminded me of simpler times, back when my mother used to stand in the kitchen with the head cook, teaching him her grandmother’s recipes.

A smile tugged at my lips as I remembered the time Callum stole the chocolate chunks meant for drinking chocolate and passed them out to the rest of us.

We couldn’t have been more than six years old, and though Cal, being the oldest, was the obvious culprit, none of us ever gave him up.

My mother interrogated us all for hours, but we kept his secret.

The warmth of the memory was shattered in an instant when a dagger came hurtling through the air.

With a gasp, I dropped the mug and barely moved out of its path in time. Reflexes saved me more than anything else. The blade smashed into the stone wall behind me, clattering to the floor.

My breath caught as a strikingly beautiful older woman stepped from the shadows. Her presence radiated power, shimmering with magic that reminded me of the protective bubbles around my children.

Queen Liliana. My mother-in-law.

She had to be—there was no mistaking it.

She looked like an older version of Dawn.

The same cascade of corn-silk blonde hair, the same piercing green eyes, the same delicate features.

But there was one stark difference. The hatred in her gaze burned brighter than anything I’d ever seen.

Even when Dawn thought she hated me, she’d never looked at me like this. The chill of it froze me in place.

How in the fates had she gotten here?

I reached down for the fallen dagger, the pink moonstone in the hilt winking up at me, but before I could grab it, a beam of sunlight streaked through the air. It sliced clean through the tip of my left index finger.

Crying out in a mix of pain and fury, I raised my hands and reached inside for my magic.

Dawn had given me permission to kill her mother if it came to that, but I feared it would devastate her.

The queen thought I was evil. She thought killing me was the only way to delay the curse.

But if I could stop her from hurting me and then explain things to her, maybe she would understand, and so as I shot two black shards from my palms, I aimed to pin the Summer queen to the wall by her shoulders, avoiding a fatal blow.

The shards flew through the air, only to strike the shimmering bubble of magic surrounding Liliana. They fell harmlessly to the floor with a metallic clang.

This was bad. Dawn had never mentioned her mother possessing a shield like this.

“Guards!” I shouted, but before the word had fully left my mouth, Liliana charged at me. Her blond hair whipped behind her like a cape as she lunged for the fallen dagger.

I stepped in front of the blade, kicking it aside just as she fired a beam of sunlight at me. I ducked, the heat of her magic brushing past my face.

I’d seen the aftermath of Dawn’s power before.

It was devastating. If Liliana wanted, she could take my head clean off.

But I knew her goal wasn’t just to kill me—it was to carve out my black heart.

In order for it to stop the curse, she had to do it with the faestone dagger.

I needed to incapacitate her before she had a chance to do that.

I scanned the library around me. The quarters were too tight, and I had no backup. Even if guards arrived, they wouldn’t stand a chance against a Faerie queen. I was vulnerable, especially with that shield protecting her. I needed space to think, so I did the only thing I could.

I ran to the left and leaped out the window.

The glass shattered as I crashed through, landing on a massive bluebeard bush below. I tucked into a roll, scraping myself on the branches, but I managed to pop up quickly.

Scanning the grounds, I searched for guards, anyone who could help.

But instead, I stumbled across two bodies lying motionless on the grass.

I couldn’t tell if they were unconscious or dead, but I had to assume the Summer queen had taken out a good portion of my guards already.

That’s what I would have done in her position. To stop a curse. To save a world.

I clenched my fists, suppressing the urge to shout louder for help. If I woke Dawn and the babies, they’d be in danger. The thought of Liliana turning her wrath on them chilled me to my core.

Dropping to my knees, I pressed my fingers into the earth and sent a quick, desperate message through the ground to my brothers inside the castle. It was short—just two words. Anything longer would drain my magic, leaving me even more defenseless.

“Help. Outside.”

The faint crunch of footsteps on broken glass made me whirl around. Queen Liliana emerged from the shadows, the faestone dagger now in her hand, her lips curled into a triumphant grin.

“Looking forward to murdering your daughter’s husband, are you?” I spat, my voice tight with tension.

Her response was a sharp beam of light aimed directly at me. I twisted to the side, but not fast enough—it tore through the shoulder cap of my right sleeve, leaving the skin underneath stinging from the heat.

I fired two more black shards at her shield, desperate to find a weakness, but they shattered uselessly against the protective barrier. Her grin widened as the fragments fell at her feet.

“Lorelei was seriously under-using her power,” she said, her tone almost conversational.

I didn’t know what she meant, but if she was talking, I could work with that. Talking meant reasoning, stalling, buying time for my brothers to arrive.

“You have grandchildren,” I said, my voice pleading as I grasped at anything that might soften her heart.

Her face twisted into a mask of disgust, and a spear of fear pierced my chest. “I saw. I’ll be taking care of them next.”

Something inside me snapped. I wouldn’t let this woman or anyone else hurt my children. Ever.

Black shards shot from my hands in rapid succession, an unrelenting barrage aimed at her shield. The sheer force made her flinch and cover her face, her magic flickering under the onslaught. One shard pierced through the weakened barrier and struck her forearm, drawing a hiss of pain from her lips.

Before I could press my advantage, shadows enveloped us, plunging the battlefield into complete darkness.

“Stryker!” I shouted, recognizing my brother’s handiwork.

“Does she have a shield?” his voice called from somewhere to my left.

“Yes,” I yelled back, my tone tight with urgency. “But if you overwhelm her, it weakens.”

A sudden burst of light pierced the shadow fog, Queen Liliana’s beam of magic slicing toward Stryker’s voice.

“Missed me,” Stryker taunted, his voice cool and sharp.

“I’ve boxed her in. You can drop the shadow fog.” Adrien’s voice rang out, calm and confident. Relief swept through me, loosening the knot of fear and rage in my gut.

The shadows dissipated, revealing Stryker and Adrien flanking me on either side. In front of us stood a black box of shadows—a prison crafted by Adrien’s magic. Queen Liliana was trapped inside, her movements completely obscured.

Adrien’s mastery over shadows was formidable. The box would hold her as securely as steel or stone, giving us the time we needed to decide her fate.

“Good work,” I told him, my voice edged with cautious optimism. “Now let’s—”

A sharp, concentrated beam of light cut through the shadow box like a welder’s flame, forcing me to leap out of the way.

The edges of the box buckled as Liliana relentlessly slashed at it.

Stryker lashed out with a shadow rope to reinforce the structure, but her light beams sliced through it effortlessly, creating a doorway she stepped through with chilling precision.

“Her magic is stronger than ours,” Stryker muttered, his tone laced with disbelief.

Queen Liliana stepped forward, her head tilted as she surveyed the three of us. The faestone dagger gleamed in her hand, and her calculating gaze darted between us as if deciding who to carve up first.

The shield. It had to go. Without it, I could kill her.

Summoning another black shard, I prepared to launch it, ready to do whatever was necessary to break her defense. But before I could strike, Liliana froze. Her eyes went wide, her mouth opening in a silent gasp.