Page 11 of Broken Hearted (Cursed Fae #3)

Adrien

I wasn’t dead, but my body hurt so bad I almost wished I was.

I could only open my eyelids to slits, and even that was brutal.

My abdominal muscles ached, and the light streaming in from the windows felt like it was stabbing me in the head.

I forced myself to glance around the unfamiliar room, but there wasn’t much to see from my reclined position on the lumpy couch. I didn’t know where I was, and I didn’t remember much from the last couple of days, but I distinctly remember thinking that I was dying.

I tried to sit up, but a weight on my chest kept me in place. Glancing down, a shock ran through me.

Isolde .

The Winter princess was fast asleep with her head resting on my stomach, her legs curled under her on the floor next to the couch. Her dark lashes cast crescent shadows under her eyes as she took in slow and easy breaths. One of her arms was wrapped over my waist, and the other rested against my ribs, a damp cloth clenched in her hand.

Something green caught my eye, and I looked down at my chest to see a dampener rune there. As I stared at it, bits and pieces of the last couple of days started to filter back to me. The most recent memories came back first.

I’d been sicker than I ever had before in my life. Violent shudders had racked me as a fever ravaged my body.

And Isolde had been there the whole time. Talking softly to me. Cleaning the sickness and sweat from me with cool rags. Urging me to drink what I could.

My mind started to drift further back, to before the sickness took hold. My brows furrowed as I tried to make sense of it.

I’d woken up tethered to a bed. Isolde had done it. I’d been furious and attacked her with my magic when she tried to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. What, I couldn’t yet remember. I’d thought she was going to kill me, cut out my heart and take it back to Faerie, but rather than plunging her blade into my chest, she’d laid her faestone dagger on the bed next to me, surrendering it.

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to remember more, and it finally came to me with a silent gasp.

The wedding!

It had been my wedding day. Isolde had appeared out of nowhere and dragged me into the linen closet. Those moments started to replay in my mind as if they’d just happened.

She’d been sure Elisana was a witch. I hadn’t believed her, but now that the potion had been detoxed from my body, I could see it all so clearly.

I didn’t love Elisana. I never had. Over the year that I’d known her she’d practically force-fed me that tea at times, and now I knew why.

Isolde had saved me.

Looking down at her now, I knew I should wake her to let her know that I was free of the spell, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. And it wasn’t the aches and pains in my body that stopped me—although those were starting to dissipate—it was that I couldn’t tear my gaze from her.

My eyes were greedy for her. For details I hadn’t noticed or remembered from the day we’d met. The faint smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose. The graceful slope of her cheek. The silkiness of the strands of her long raven hair that were splayed out over her back and shoulders. Even her long fingers fascinated me.

Knowing that my dreams of her hadn’t done her justice, I drank her in like a man dying of thirst. Every one of her features was like a drop of crystal-clear water, rejuvenating my mind, body, and soul.

And it wasn’t the foggy obsession like I’d had with Elisana. No, my mind was clear, a complete contrast to how I’d always felt with my fiancée.

My ex-fiancée .

Thinking of Elisana brought a wave of rage to the surface so potent that I tensed involuntarily, jostling Isolde. The movement woke her, and her eyes blinked open. The ice-blue orbs had me catching my breath.

“You’re awake,” she said, her voice husky with sleep, and something stirred deep in my chest.

I nodded. “Yes. And clearheaded for the first time in a long time.”

She started to smile, but it froze on her face when she realized she was half sprawled over me. Jolting back, her cheeks turned the most lovely shade of pink that only darkened further when she glanced over my body.

I arched a brow at her when I saw that I was nearly naked, and she jerked her gaze from me, stumbling to her feet. Without another word, she rushed from the room and as I pushed myself to a seated position with a groan, I found myself wondering where my brother Zane was and why he would leave his mate alone to tend to me.

Thinking of Isolde as my brother’s mate caused an unexpected pain to slice through my chest. It didn’t feel any more right now than it had the first time I’d seen them together, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I pushed the thought from my mind, with effort.

I was just shifting so my feet were on the floor when Isolde hurried back into the room and flung a thin blanket at me. It smacked me in the face, surprising me.

“Oh, sorry,” she said as I rearranged the blanket over my lower half, covering me from the waist down.

I had to cover my smile. I didn’t mind my state of undress. I’d gone fishing on my boat in similar attire when the sun was particularly hot, but clearly she did.

“I had to take off your clothes because they were covered in mud and vomit,” she explained as she stood in front of me. “And you had a fever.”

I winced. The state I’d been in the last couple of days wasn’t one I’d want anyone to see me in, let alone a princess of Faerie.

Let alone this princess of Faerie , my mind whispered.

“I washed them in the creek yesterday though,” Isolde went on, her voice a nervous chatter. “They’re hanging on the line outside, but I’m sure they are dry by now. I can grab them for you if you want to dress.”

I waved her off and then ran a hand through my hair, feeling it catch on snarls and tangles. I needed a proper bath, but we had important things to discuss first.

“I’m good for now,” I told her and then crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t miss how her eyes followed the motion and then slowly moved from my arms to my chest and stuck there. This time, I couldn’t hold back the smile. She liked what she saw, I could tell. And I liked that.

“Yes, well …” she cleared her throat and averted her gaze. “Now that you’re awake, and the fever seems to have broken, would you like some water?”

My throat was parched, but it could wait as well. Reaching forward, I laid a gentle hand on her arm, pausing until she looked back at me to speak.

“Thank you,” I said. “If it weren’t for you—” I suppressed a shudder instead of going down that road.

She shifted a step back, and I dropped my hand, but I noticed that she ran her fingers over the place that I touched. I don’t think she was aware that she was doing it though.

“It was nothing,” she told me, downplaying her heroic actions. “Anyone else would have done the same.”

I shook my head and rose to my feet, keeping a hand on the blanket so it didn’t slip off me. My muscles protested, but I remained steady.

“No, don’t do that,” I said as she glanced up at me with those clear blue eyes. “It wasn’t nothing. What you did took courage. Kidnapping an Ethereum lord and helping break the spell I was under.” I had to chuckle at that. I don’t even know if my brothers would have dared to do what she had. But then I sobered. “I don’t know very many fae who would risk themselves like you did. I could have hurt you badly.”

She shook her head, but I knew it was true. I wanted to believe I never would have hurt her, but I was so far under Elisana’s love spell that I would have done anything to get back to her.

A toxic mixture of shame and fury began to rush through my veins, but I grit my teeth and forced myself to relax. My anger was for Elisana, and Elisana alone. I would deal with my ex-fiancée and her treachery soon enough, but now wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time for apologies.

“It’s true,” I said with a frown. “I even used my powers against you.” A pang of remorse for what I’d done to her hit me as I indicated the rune on my chest.

I wasn’t upset that she’d put it there. I was glad she’d done it to protect herself from me. I just wished it hadn’t been necessary.

Isolde’s eyes widened as she focused on the glowing green mark.

“Oh, right,” she said, and before I had a chance to stop her, she pulled her dagger and swiped the tip through the rune. She didn’t so much as nick my skin, but the faestone dagger coming that close to my heart still caused it to beat furiously.

The rune dissipated immediately, but my heart rate took longer to slow. I felt my powers surge forward as they were unlocked inside of me.

“Thank you again,” I said, rubbing my chest where it had been. “But next time, give me a little warning before waving that thing so close to me.” I nodded toward her faestone dagger and chuckled. “That’s one blade every Ethereum lord has nightmares about getting too close to their heart.”

She looked down at her hand, and her eyes widened when she realized what she’d done. “Sorry,” she said, sheathing the blade at her waist.

“Don’t apologize. You’ve done me a service. I don’t even know how to start to repay you.”

“I do,” she told me, and my eyebrows lifted.

“You do?” I asked, and she nodded. “Well, then tell me. If it’s in my power to grant, I’ll do or give you anything you ask.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said. “Because I need you to take me to the belly of the sea.”