Page 44 of Black Hearted (Cursed Fae #4)

Dawn

I slept for another few hours. I could feel more of my strength returning each time I rested, so I allowed myself to continue to do so.

After I woke, Aribella helped me roll the babies into the sitting room to wait for Zander and Isolde to return from the hospital.

Aribella tried to convince me to sit while we waited, but there was a restless energy inside of me that wouldn’t let me just relax, so I paced back and forth.

It couldn’t have been more than a half hour before my husband and best friend returned.

When he first walked into the room, I noted that he didn’t look great, but he looked infinitely better than the last time I saw him.

He was still in his dirty and bloodied clothes, but his face and hands had been scrubbed clean, his finger was wrapped, and a small bandage covered his ear.

“Is it true? Is the curse—?”

Nysa walked in behind him, and I swallowed a sob. Her light green skin was healthy and fresh. The black streaks that had marred her complexion were gone, and her eyes were bright and clear.

She looked from me to my still slightly swollen belly and then to the babies with wide eyes.

“Dawn, the last I saw you was at your wedding. How?”

I rushed forward and pulled her into my arms. She was frail, skinnier than before from having spent so many months bedridden, but she was alive. Healthy.

And most importantly, free of the curse.

I pulled back, my grin wide. “There’s so much to tell you. I’m not even sure where to start.”

I turned to Zander, excitement bubbling over inside me, only to see that my husband looked despondent. Something was wrong.

The grin dropped off my face. “Zander?”

He and Isolde shared a look, and then Zander smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Zander, what’s wrong?” I asked, releasing Nysa and stepping toward him.

Aribella and Isolde both walked over to Nysa and started explaining what she’d missed in low, hushed tones as I went to meet Zander in the doorway of the small sitting room.

“The curse is broken, but …” A shadow passed across his face, and my stomach sank.

“But what?”

“Zane’s gone.”

No. I shook my head. It couldn’t be true. I didn’t want it to be true. Not sweet Zane.

“Are you sure?”

Zander swallowed hard. “I’m sure. We all felt it.”

When he said, we all, Stryker and Adrien came up behind him, looking freshly washed and dressed, as opposed to my husband. They nodded to both of us as they entered the room, their gazes going toward their wives, who were still speaking with Nysa across the room before turning back to us.

The atmosphere turned somber.

The curse had ended, which was miraculous, but if Zane had sacrificed his life to end it …

I thought of Lorelei then, sweet Lorelei. She and Zane were perfect for each other. Had she succumbed, too? We Faerie princesses didn’t have a connection with each other like the Ethereum lord brothers did, so if Lorelei had perished as well, we wouldn’t have felt it.

“I … I don’t know what to say,” I told them. There had been so much joy recently with our babies being born healthy and with the curse ending. But it was mixed with sorrow.

Zane and my mother were gone.

Although my mother had allowed her bloodthirsty quest to stop the curse to supersede any morals she once had—going so far as to try to kill my husband—I’d still loved her. I hated what she became, but I loved the mother she had been before all of this.

At the same time, I was relieved she was gone, knowing my babies and my love were safe. Yet, I missed her. I felt … discombobulated.

We rejoined Aribella, Isolde, and Nysa, and then all just stood there in a strange, melancholy haze, watching the babies doing cute things like hiccupping or blowing bubbles on their lips, while talking about the latest news as messengers arrived.

It was late, past nine in the evening, but word was spreading fast.

The unseelie who had been cursed with disease, were now healed. We assumed the lands were still damaged, but in time, we hoped they could heal as well.

In the last hour, ravens had started to arrive from the nearest parts of the other kingdoms, letting us know the black waters had disappeared.

The curse was well and truly destroyed. Zane and Lorelei had done it.

But we didn’t celebrate.

“I’m not sure who wants this or what good it will do now, but—” Stryker pulled Lorelei’s faestone dagger from a sheath at his hip and handed it to Aribella, who was closest to him.

She took it gingerly and pressed it to her chest in reverence.

“They did it,” she whispered. “They sacrificed so that we could live on for generations.”

I guessed she was assuming Lorelei was dead, too, but I was still holding on to hope. I wasn’t ready to let go. I wasn’t ready to give up.

Zander nodded. “To Zane and Lorelei.” He placed a fist over his chest, and one by one, everyone did the same, even Nysa, who didn’t know who Lorelei was and had only met Zane for all of three seconds at our wedding.

My eyes filled with tears as I met Zander’s gaze.

He needed this. He needed a moment to bury his brother in his heart, because we would never get a body.

We were cut off from Faerie, probably forever.

As we were all lowering our hands, Zander, Stryker, and Adrien all simultaneously gasped, their faces reflecting shock.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

It was Zander who answered, wearing a huge grin.

“Zane lives. I feel him.”

“I feel him too,” Stryker said, and then a crease formed on his brow. “But something feels different.”

Adrien nodded. “I agree, but I still know it’s him. He’s alive!”

Isolde let out a whoop. Stryker picked up Aribella, swirling her in midair, and we all burst into laughter and joy, so much so that one of the babies woke and started fussing.

Everyone quieted, but we still smiled and hugged. Until we heard the scream coming from down the hall in the direction of the throne room.

Stryker, who was nearest the door, had his sword drawn and ready before anyone could even react.

The men told us to stay back as they ran to investigate, but we, of course, ignored them. Nysa stayed behind to guard the babies as Aribella, Isolde, and I followed in our husband’s wake.

The boys burst into the throne room up ahead, swords drawn and shadows poised, ready to cut down any enemy. Adrien, realizing we’d followed them, threw up a shadow wall in front of us, preventing us from coming into the room behind them.

Isolde bared her teeth in frustration at her husband and then lifted her hands, preparing to use her magic to get through the wall, when it suddenly dissolved in front of us, just in time to see one of Zander’s shards drop to the ground harmlessly at his feet, shattering like glass before dissolving.

We burst into the room behind them and took in the scene.

One of Zane’s household staff appeared to have been dusting his throne and had dropped the duster to the ground. She now stood in front of a mirror portal, her hands covering her mouth in shock and awe.

Aribella, Isolde, and I moved closer. The mirror was identical to the ones we all had back in our palaces, but instead of reflecting an image, it was fused open, revealing a woman on the other side standing in a throne room. And not just any woman.

“The Spring queen, Lorelei’s mom,” I gasped.

As Queen Gloriana stared open-mouthed through the portal at us, she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts.

“Girls?” She leaned closer, reaching out to try to touch the mirror’s surface, but her hand passed through to our side.

With a gasp of shock, she recoiled. Isolde walked right up to the mirror, getting as close as she could without passing through.

“Is Lorelei with you? The curse no longer holds this land,” Isolde told Queen Gloriana.

Queen Gloriana slowly shook her head, looking downtrodden. “She hasn’t returned yet. But we’ve received word that the curse has lifted here, too.” She leaned forward, peering at Isolde with a look of wonder on her face. “Isolde, is it really you?”

“It is,” Isolde said. “Is my family all right? Did they make it to the Spring Court like I told them to?”

Queen Gloriana nodded. “Yes, they’re safe. They’re all staying here with us at the Spring Palace. So are the Fall queen and king,” she added, and Aribella made a noise next to me.

I glanced over to see tears in her eyes as Stryker pulled her into his arms, cooing softly in her ear that her parents were okay.

Aribella hadn’t spoken much about her parents back in Faerie. I got the impression it was too painful for her, but it was clear now, from the look of relief on her face, how much that news meant to her.

When I turned my focus back to the mirror, Queen Gloriana reached forward again. This time, Isolde gently grasped her hand when it appeared in our world, and the queen yelped. Yanking her hand back, the Spring queen took a shaky step away from the mirror.

“Go get Sera,” Isolde told the housemaid who had discovered the mirror portal. Then she glanced over at Adrien. “I’ll be right back, my love.” Without waiting for him to respond, she stepped through the mirror and into the throne room on the other side.

“Isolde,” Adrien scolded, moving to follow her, but Zander stopped him.

“We don’t know if they will accept us, brother. Let her handle this.”

Adrien ran a nervous hand through his hair, staring at the mirror portal with apprehension. I could understand his hesitancy. What if Isolde got stuck in Faerie?

Aribella turned to me, her eyes bright with excitement. “Do you think that it will stay open? That we can visit our families?”

Families?

I no longer had family in Faerie. It had always just been my mother and me. No siblings, no father.

Someone took my hand, and I looked over to find Zander at my side, smiling down at me. My heart filled. My family was here now, in Ethereum. But I knew what she meant, and who was to say if the portals would remain open? I hoped they would.