Page 9 of Broken Hearted (Cursed Fae #3)

I stayed awake for the entire rest of the day, filling myself up on caffeinated tea and snacks. I was practically buzzing by the time the train got to the station and had zero clever plans on how to stop Adrien and Elisana’s wedding.

The way I saw it, I had two options.

Just walk up and kiss the guy, either proving all of this to be a farce or convincing him and myself that mates were real.

Knock Elisana over the head with a frying pan, grab the groom, and run for the mountains.

I burst out into a snort laugh, which drew the looks of a few random passengers, so I turned it into a cough.

No, there had to be a third option. Pull Adrien into a room and prove to him how wrong they were for each other. Yes. That was the plan. Make the man see reason.

I exhaled a calming breath. I could do this.

The second the train stopped and the doors opened, I flew out of them. Any lingering doubt about mates being real was beaten back because, with every passing moment, the thought of Adrien marrying that hag caused untold amounts of rage to swell inside of me.

She’d better not be pregnant.

I paid a man to borrow his horse and took off for the giant white castle that faced the sea. As I got closer, the streets became more congested. I looked up at the sun and noticed it was about to set. A sunset wedding on the beach? That only made my jealousy grow.

“Get your flower crowns!” Someone held out a beautiful ring of flowers, and I peered around to see that everyone was wearing them as they walked toward the castle.

Sliding off my horse, I grabbed a purple flower crown from her arm and tossed her a coin.

“Thank you kindly, milady,” she said as I slipped the crown on my head and pulled my horse over to the barn, where an attendant was tying them up. After checking the mare in with the attendant, I began to make my way through the crowd.

There were hundreds of people. This wedding was going to be huge, which only made my nerves increase.

Moving with the flow of the people, I wound around the back of the castle where the guests were flocking and skittered to a stop. The beach was teeming with beautiful white chairs, each covered with a purple silk bow. An aisle had been erected in the middle and was covered with small white shells. It was absolutely incredible.

“Take your seats,” an attendant cried, and I spurred into action.

Breaking away from the group, I slipped inside the back door of the castle and made my way through the open sitting room and down the hallway toward the kitchen that Elisana brought me through the first day I arrived in Ethereum.

It was total chaos. Household staff scurried about, grabbing trays of food and floral arrangements.

“Hurry!” Elisana yelled from somewhere deeper in the kitchen.

The kitchen door was propped open with a stack of books, and I peered into it from my place a few feet away. I should avoid Elisana completely, but a small part of me wanted to see her dress. I bet it was beautiful.

The door swung open wider as a chef ran out carrying a small stack of chocolate cakes, and I spotted Elisana standing with her back to the rest of the room. She was all alone now and what I witnessed then stole my breath.

She was holding a cup of tea, and she’d just breathed purple magic over it.

I ducked out of the way just as her gaze shifted to the doorway, and my heart pounded frantically in my chest.

The tea.

The cursed tea!

I knew from reading past champion’s journals that this realm had witches, but I never thought Elisana could be one. I suspected something was up, but I’d certainly not imagined her to be giving him enchanted tea.

So that’s why he was so gaga over her. It was a love potion.

Spinning in the other direction, I bolted for the stairs, the hair on the back of my neck rising as I went up to the next floor and then turned the corner and ran right into the chest of the very man I was looking for.

For a beautiful moment, it was like time stopped. All the oxygen felt like it had been sucked from the room, and I was lost in those teal eyes. Adrien had reached out to steady himself and his fingers were still on my upper arms. He wore a white jacket with a powder blue shirt underneath, and I’d never seen him look more handsome.

“Isolde?” He seemed confused, but pleased to see me.

“My love? I have your tea,” Elisana called out from deep in the castle and panic rose up inside me.

I shoved Adrien backward until he hit a door, and then I shoved us both through, only to find out that we were in a storage closet. The light was on in the cramped space and it smelled of musty linens.

“What are you doing?” he asked, shocked.

I swallowed hard. “I’m saving you from marrying the wrong person.”

His brows knotted. “What?”

“Adrien?” Elisana sounded panicked.

My chest heaved. “Elisana is a witch. She’s got you under some love spell. I’m … I need your help.”

“A witch? There’s no way that can be true.” He looked at me like I had sprouted two heads. She must have already given him the tea, and this was a double dose to ensure he would marry her.

“What do you like about Elisana?” I whispered because her voice was getting closer.

Adrien looked flustered. “She’s … pretty … ish and she’s …” His mouth opened and closed like a fish, but no words came out. “I love her!” he finally yelled, and I winced at how loud it was.

“Adrien? Are you down here?” Elisana was too close, and he was too far under her spell for me to reach him right now.

New plan.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered and grabbed the heavy metal cast-iron chamber pot on the shelf next to me and cracked him over the side of the head with it.

He went down quickly, and I used my one free arm to keep him from falling too badly or making too much noise. I coaxed him onto a tall stack of linens where he slumped over.

I’d just knocked out the groom. This was officially going down as the craziest thing I’d ever done.

“Darling,” Elisana’s voice was just outside the door, and I froze.

Please, no. I was prepared to attack her if necessary, but to be totally honest, I had never fought a witch and didn’t know what it would entail.

Footsteps faded and I breathed a sigh of relief.

My next act was painfully clear. I needed to get Adrien out of there and wean him off of this tea.

I cracked open the storage closet door and came face to face with a portly woman carrying a giant stack of linens she couldn’t see over.

“Oh,” I said, surprised. “I’ll take those from you,” I told her and moved to grab them, positioning my body so that she couldn’t see Adrien behind me.

She handed them off to me without a second glance. “See that this and the rest in the closet make it down the laundry chute.” She jerked her head to a giant rectangular trapdoor on the wall a little way down the hall, and a wild idea came to me.

Dropping the linens the moment she turned the corner, I rushed over to the trapdoor, opening it and peering down. A smile lifted the corners of my mouth because when I looked down, I could see that there was a large pile of linens and towels only about ten feet below us. Thank the stars we were only one floor up from the laundry room because that made the fall somewhat safe.

I ran back to the closet and maneuvered Adrien’s body until I could grab him under the armpits. Once I had a good grip, I dragged him across the hall to the trapdoor.

I huffed and puffed, and somehow wrangled part of him into the chute, feet first because that felt safer even though he was landing in a pile of sheets and towels. The man was heavier than a load of bricks, so I had to use some of my magic to help prop him up on a sheet of ice. When he was mostly in, he pitched downward and then dropped into the center of the pile. His body flopped and then rolled to the side.

I winced, hoping he was okay.

It was a small miracle I managed the task, let alone got away with it without anyone seeing us. My heart was racing the entire time, terrified that Elisana or even one of the castle staff would come around the corner any minute and see me struggling to stuff him in the chute.

I didn’t waste time climbing in after Adrien. I leaped into the chute, and although I landed upright, my knees buckled on impact and I tipped over, falling onto Adrien’s hard body. My face planted right in his chest.

Mmmm . He smells good , I thought and glanced up at his handsome face.

His full lips caught my attention and my head went a little fuzzy. Without even intending to, I reached up and ran a finger over his bottom lip. A delicious shiver ran through me at the contact. It was so soft.

Elisana’s shrill voice sounded above me. “What do you mean, you don’t know where he is?” she screeched, shocking me back to my senses.

We had to get as far away from this place as possible. And fast.

I jumped to my feet and scanned the room. It was filled with large water basins for washing and was blessedly empty.

I was searching for something, anything, that could help me sneak a muscular six-foot fae out of the castle undetected when my gaze landed on a laundry cart.

Yes, that would work.

Grabbing the cart, I rolled it over to Adrien. I was half worried, half thankful that he remained unconscious while I fought to hoist his considerable form up and into it. Sweat ran down my face and back when I finally got him in and then I covered him with a sheet, taking care not to smother him. Sucking in a deep breath, I schooled my features and pushed the cart with Adrien hidden in it, out of the room.

Most of the activity for the wedding seemed to be going on above us, and so I managed to get us outside the castle without much notice. Fae were nearly frantic as they raced to complete the set up, so anyone who passed us didn’t bother to question why there was a girl pushing a laundry cart down the halls or out of the castle.

I had no idea how long Adrien would remain unconscious, but I knew that I had to get him as far away from that witch as possible. And that meant I needed to find a horse or a carriage quickly. The more distance between Elisana and Adrien, the better.

Panic nipped at my heels, but I shoved it down through willpower alone.

I was Princess Isolde of the Winter Court. I could do this. I could steal a prince and convince him to help me.

I rounded a corner of the castle and spotted my escape in the form of a covered wagon. Wine sellers were just rolling their last barrel off the ramp attached to the wooden bed when someone came running from the other direction, yelling at them to hurry. They rushed off to deliver their goods, leaving the ramp attached to the back of the bed unattended.

Ignoring the guilt that wanted to rise up in me for what I was about to do to the poor wine sellers, I ran toward the covered wagon, building up as much speed as possible. I would need the momentum to get the laundry cart with Adrien up the steep ramp and into the bed of the wagon. I used all my physical strength, and managed to push it into the wagon with a grunt.

With Adrien still stowed in the laundry cart, but now hidden under the wagon’s covering, I sprinted to the front of the wagon and jumped into the seat.

Grabbing the reins, I flicked them, and the two horses tethered to the wagon started forward. I wanted to sigh in relief, but we weren’t safe yet.

It was slow going as we left the castle grounds, dodging both wedding attendees and merchants. At any moment I expected to either hear the outraged shouts of the poor fae whom I’d stolen the wagon from, or the shrill screams of Adrien’s fiancée.

My heartbeat didn’t calm its furious cadence until I’d cleared the wedding congestion and was on the outskirts of Soleum. Only then did I let myself dwell on the truth.

I’d just kidnapped a lord of Ethereum, and I had no idea what to do with him.