Page 28 of Broken Hearted (Cursed Fae #3)

R owena stood in front of us, holding a wand in one hand and a feral look in her eyes.

“How dare you interfere with my daughter’s wedding,” she growled, the wand clenched in her hand.

Daughter? Elisana was her daughter ?

But Rowena looked young enough to be Elisana’s sister, so how could that be?

An image of Rowena reverse aging in an instant after she’d drunk Zane’s blood rose in my mind.

Ah .

“I’ve got this,” Zane said and then lifted his hands toward her. I assumed he was trying to use his magic against her, but nothing happened.

Zane’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief as Rowena chuckled huskily. “I’ve tasted your blood, my lord. Your magic is useless against me now.”

Without missing a beat Zane pulled the dagger that had been sheathed at his waist. “Free Adrien,” he said to me quickly, and then he rushed Rowena, who seemed caught off guard that he would attack her without magic.

She recovered from the surprise attack fast, pivoting to the side so that Zane wasn’t able to embed his blade in her gut. But on his next strike, he slashed her hand and she dropped her wand. He came at her again, and she spun out of the way, leaving an opening for me to reach Adrien, which I wasn’t about to waste.

Jolting forward, I reached my mate. Pulling my faestone dagger, I started to hack at the vines holding him in place. He uttered a muffled shout that I took as a warning and I turned just in time to punch an ice spear through the chest of some random witch who had been about to drive a dagger through my back.

She stared at me with surprised wide eyes before crumpling to the ground at my feet. I didn’t even spare her a glance before spinning back around. I cut more of the vines away, using my magic to freeze some of them and snap them off. I almost had all the vines entwined around his upper body removed when suddenly more of them started to grow at his feet, twisting up his legs and snacking toward his torso. I grunted in frustration as sounds of battle between Dawn and Zander and the witches rang out behind me.

I doubled my efforts, snapping off frozen vines as quickly as possible until Adrien was finally able to get an arm free.

He ripped the gag out of his mouth. “The rune. Cut it off.”

Of course!

I glanced down at the shining purple rune on his chest and quickly swiped my faestone dagger across it. It disappeared, and with a roar, shadows around us raced toward Adrien and shredded the vines still holding him in place.

Impressive.

Rushing forward, he took me into his arms, kissing my lips briefly before pulling back to see the carnage behind us.

“Tell me the page in the grimoire helped you figure out how to break the soul-tie.” Even as he spoke, shadows raced out of him and slammed into the witches nearest us, sending them flying across the amphitheater.

I nodded and held up the vial. “I need to burn this to break the connection between Elisana and my sister. Then we can finish her.”

Adrien grabbed my hand, and we sprinted to the back of the ceremonial stage where a small fire burned. A black pot of bubbling potion sat above the flames. I didn’t want to know what this potion would have done if they’d made him drink it.

Zane’s roar cut through the air at the same time Rowena shrieked and then I heard breaking ice.

No .

Rowena was setting her daughter free from my ice cage.

“Do it now,” Adrien shouted and I threw the vial into the fire, watching it crack in half and be consumed by flames.

“You bastard!” Elisana screamed at Adrien, and when I spun in her direction she was free of her ice cage and running at us.

I paused before acting. Afraid she would kill my mate, but equally afraid that maybe the soul-tie wasn’t fully broken yet and I would kill Seraphina.

Shoving Adrien behind me, I shot an ice shard from my hand, aiming for Elisana’s right shoulder as a test to see whether or not the soul-tie was actually broken. The ice blade slammed into her and she staggered back. Blood immediately bloomed over her shoulder and started to drip down her arm.

“A little help!” Zane yelled, grabbing my attention.

I snapped my gaze across the amphitheater to see Rowena holding her wand up in front of her, aimed right at Zane’s face.

I didn’t think. I just acted and flicked my wrist toward Rowena, unleashing a huge amount of my power and freezing her solid from head to toe. Without pause, Zane smashed the hilt of his dagger into her chest and she shattered into a hundred pieces.

“No!” Elisana roared.

My gaze flicked back to her to see that she was still bleeding from her right shoulder; the wound had not transferred to my sister.

Relief flooded me. The soul-tie was broken, and her attention was consumed with her mother.

Now I could end her.

I raised my hand, a breath away from freezing her like I did her mother when Adrien grasped my fingers, staying me.

“Let me?” he asked.

Anger and fury swirled in the depths of his teal eyes. She had done the worst to him after all.

I nodded.

Elisana sensed her impending doom and took off running, heading for the back of the aisle while holding her bleeding shoulder, but Adrien’s shadows were faster.

She hit the shadow wall and tried to change course, but he blocked her in on all sides, giving her nowhere to run. She spun to face us, her chest moving up and down with rapid breaths. Her eyes filled with fear as she watched Adrien walk down the aisle toward her. As she watched death coming for her.

When Adrien reached her and glared down at her, I didn’t feel even a flicker of remorse. She had brought this upon herself. This was the reckoning that she deserved.

“There is nothing I can think of that is more evil than forcing your will on another,” Adrien said, his voice as cold and sharp as one of my ice spears. “You deserve to be ripped apart limb by limb.”

Elisana whimpered, cowering before him.

“But I’m a decent man, and so I’ll offer you a quick death.”

Elisana’s head snapped up and in an instant the fear melted off her and her face sharpened into a hate-filled mask. Screaming, she lunged for Adrien with her fingers bent like claws, but she didn’t reach him before his shadows consumed her.

One second she was there, the next she was eaten by darkness. There were screams and the sound of a struggle, but then the shadows disappeared.

Elisana was dead, collapsed on the floor, face blue like the oxygen had been taken from her lungs.

I sighed in relief as Adrien turned to me and we took stock of what threats were left.

Some witches at the back of the theater were being chased out by Dawn and Zander. There were a few lying dead in the surrounding area, but everyone else seemed to have fled.

“I will never give a witch my blood again,” Zane declared, which caused Adrien to smile slightly.

I stepped closer to him, needing Adrien to see me fully and hear what I was about to say.

“I thought I was going to lose you,” I told him as he pulled me into his arms. “I thought you would die, or be forcefully married off to another without knowing how I truly felt.”

He stepped back and peered down at me with an adoring gaze as he stroked my cheek. “And how do you feel, Isolde?”

I took a deep breath. “I love you. I can’t imagine being without you, and I think love is enough. Our love is enough.”

A huge grin graced his face and he pulled me in for a toe-curling kiss.

Dawn whooped and clapped as I smiled against Adrien’s mouth.

When Adrien drew back, he peered down at me. “Does this mean you’re not afraid of marriage anymore?” He sounded hopeful.

“Not with you. In fact, I can’t imagine spending one more moment not married to you,” I declared. “Marry me? Right now?” I begged.

He looked around at the flower-decorated altar and then to the dead bodies on the ground. “Hmm, this place wasn’t quite what I envisioned for us.”

I laughed.

“Hey, there is a waterfall down here,” Dawn called out. She was at the top of the amphitheater steps, looking down on the canyon.

A short ten-minute hike later we all stood at the base of a small pool at the bottom of a twenty-foot waterfall. The water that cascaded down from the ledge above was crystal clear and sparkling in the last rays of the dying day’s sunlight. It was breathtaking, and free of the carnage from our battle.

Dawn stood on my right holding a handful of wild flowers and thistles she’d picked on her way down here. Zane stood on Adrien’s right.

Zander stood in front of Adrien and me to officiate the wedding. Since he was the Ethereum lord of this Northern Kingdom, he had the power and authority to legally marry us.

“My father once told me that our mate is the one whom our soul chooses,” Zander said, beaming at the both of us. “Adrien, do you choose to love, care for, and be loyal to Isolde for as long as you still have breath in your lungs?”

“A million times,” Adrien breathed while staring into my eyes.

My throat tightened with emotion when Zander asked me the same question. “I do. Forever.”

Zander smiled. “Then you are now—”

Adrien leaned in and stole a kiss, which made Dawn cheer in excitement and Zane laugh.

“Husband and wife,” Zander finished after we broke apart and I laughed.

We were dirty, covered in blood and the signs of battle, but I knew in my heart that Adrien was a partner that I could go through all of life’s ups and downs with.

With a shout of excitement, Dawn leaped into the pool and created a big splash.

“Dawn, be careful,” Zander scolded and jumped in after her, swimming to check on her.

Dawn rolled her eyes at her husband when he reached her. “Oh, relax, I’m just swimming.”

Zane shrugged and pulled off his shirt and dove in as well.

Adrien looked at me, holding my hand, and walked us to the edge of the water.

Our job wasn’t over yet. We still had to help Zane get to Faerie and end the curse. We still had to protect Adrien’s people from the curse, but for now … we could have this one small reprieve.

With a shout of joy we both leaped into the crisp, cold water, and I plugged my nose as I submerged. The cold bite of the water was refreshing and cleansing, and I felt renewed when my head broke the surface.

Adrien popped up next to me and took me into his arms, gazing into my eyes. “I’m the luckiest man in all the realms.”

“I beg to differ,” Zander piped in, and we all laughed.

This day ended as perfectly as possible, and for that, I was grateful.