Page 92 of Fortress of Ambrose (House of Marionne #3)

Seventy-Five

Nore

Yagrin and Nore descended on the ice garden. She held the glass box with her heart in her hand and the shadowy glove with the Dragunhead’s heart beneath her coat.

“Why are we here again?”

He didn’t know her plan. She’d just dragged him out of there as fast as she could once Jordan was up and talking. She wasn’t even sure it would work. The dead were prickly. They’d made a deal with Yagrin for Jordan’s heart. Showing up with a different one was a risk.

“Just trust me.”

Yagrin’s hand slid up her back as they walked. And she couldn’t help but lean into the comfort. If this didn’t work, this would be the last time she saw him. When you renege on a deal with the dead, the penalty is death.

When they rounded the corner, Nore gasped at the number of dead she found. The amount of shadows had grown tremendously.

Yagrin stuck near her side.

“What exactly happened in that forest?” she asked. “You never said.”

He set a hand on her shoulder. “Your brother is dead. I’m sorry.”

A strange discomfort nudged her. The brother who she’d loved, the only one who had ever tried to protect her, was gone.

And she hadn’t even said goodbye. She hadn’t even gotten to see his face one more time.

Yagrin’s touch slid to her hand. She held his hand, realizing she had seen her brother before he died.

He was lost the minute he turned on her.

The brother she loved was long gone and had been for some time.

“Thank you,” she told him.

But before Yagrin could respond, Nore pointed in the distance at the snowy landscape.

The grounds were covered with overturned holes, dug-up graves every several paces.

Had they found a way to raise more dead?

Her hands were slick on the glass box when the darkness closed in around Yagrin.

She watched as a message appeared on the ground.

Youve come to fulfill our deal

“I have,” she said with a lump in her throat. She blew out her fear with an exhale and held out the glass box. “You will give me back my heart as promised. But I don’t have the Dragunheart’s heart.”

Shadows thrashed in a vortex of anger. Darkness encircled Yagrin’s wrists, stringing him up in the air. He uttered something. Nore watched her heart to see if it had just stopped because she could not breathe.

“Let him go!”

Sealed in blood

The agreement was airtight. If he didn’t deliver up the heart, his blood, his life, was theirs. He was completely at their mercy.

“Nore,” Yagrin pleaded. “Go, just run!”

She balled her fists. “No! I have something better.” She pulled out the Dragunhead’s heart, and the dark bloody lump pulsed slowly in the glove.

“You want powerful magic? You want a heart you don’t have to chase down heir after heir for? A heart that won’t ever die?” She held the heart up for their inspection. “The heart of an immortal! With ancient magic that’s been dead for centuries.”

Abby and the others were filling the Dragunhead with more Shadow Cell magic before burying his body in a concrete tomb under their ice garden. He would be gone forever, but his immortal heart could belong to the dead. It was better than Jordan’s heart. And certainly better than hers.

The dead didn’t move.

“If you take this, you will never again be forced to rely on our Headmistresses to survive. This frees you, too!”

Shadows encroached, inspecting the heart closely. Darkness slid past her, chilling her skin at each spot they grazed. Yagrin still hung captive in the air.

The dead swiped at her fingers.

She pulled the heart back inside her cloak. “Annul the deal you made with him.” She held out the glass box with her heart in it to them once again. “Free me and end the Pact with my House forever. You will have an immortal heart. But no connections or claims to influence in our House.”

The dead writhed around her. More than she’d ever seen. She watched the snow for a message, hardly breathing. She waited, clinging to the only thing she had, a gift from the love of her life—hope.

When they dropped Yagrin, he hit the ground with a thud.

The jolt sent life through her limbs. She inhaled deeply, watching as they opened the glass box, removed her heart, and crushed the glass box to nothingness.

Her breath quickened as she handed over the Dragunhead’s heart and took her thumping organ from them.

The dead rose, clearing the ice garden and disappearing into the snowy abyss.

Nore was breathless. She held her heart tight and collapsed against Yagrin. He scooped her up into his arms and rushed her inside.

Ainsley was inside Nore’s quarters, finishing up lighting candles everywhere. There were flowers all over the room and tiny chocolates in the shape of a heart. She plowed into Nore with a huge hug, wiping her eyes.

“They explained everything.” She sniffed. “I thought you were dead.” Ainsley buried her in a hug again, and Nore hugged her back. When the maid calmed, she smoothed her clothes and finished primping the flowers.

“I don’t understand,” Nore said.

“Either way, I knew today would be a day of celebration for you,” Yagrin said. “I was getting your heart back, whatever it took.”

“Well, that took a turn, didn’t it?” She smiled.

Yagrin set her down gently on the bed as Ainsley finished decorating.

Soft light flickered along the dull walls, and it felt like the room was coming to life.

The flowers he’d chosen were stunning, in every shade, pinks, purples, yellows, and blues.

Nore still held her heart tight to her, blinking over and over, still not sure this was real.

But it was there, warm and beating, in her hands. She was free.

“I’m so relieved you’re alright, Headmistress.” Ainsley’s clothes were stained, and she looked as if she had stayed awake since Nore saw her last.

“Thank you, Ainsley, for everything.”

Her maid smiled, swiping one last tear before tucking Nore’s frigid toes under two blankets and leaving.

It’s over. It’s all over.

“Are you feeling well?” Yagrin asked.

“I think so.” Nore tried to put some pep in her tone.

But it was the next part she was most scared of.

Would she feel like her old self again with her heart back?

Yagrin worked at the fire, building its flames.

When he finished, he joined her at her bedside.

She opened the glove, showing him her heart.

“Is this really happening?” Tears welled in her eyes. And she realized his were watery as well.

“Come back to me,” he whispered, urging her heart closer to her chest.

“Would you?” She handed him the glove with her heart, and she knew it had never been in safer hands. Then she pulled her shoulders back, creating space in her chest.

“Ready?”

She inhaled. He drove her heart back in place. Her lungs swelled with air. A flood of memories rushed through her, every heartless moment she and Yagrin had shared the last few weeks. Tears came strong, gushing down her face.

“How do you feel?” Yagrin held her face in both hands, and it rocked her soul. She felt such adoration in his touch. She could feel her heart twinge with that nostalgic ache of love.

She tangled their fingers together. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t give you the part of me you deserve most.”

“All you can give is what you have each day. Whatever you give is enough.” His words tended her soul like a garden starved of sunlight. “You are enough. Heart or no heart. I love you, Nore.”

Words rushed through her and sprang out like water from a fountain. “And I love you.”

His lips found hers. His kiss was soft and so tender.

She opened up to deepen the kiss, and her mind flooded with their happiest memories.

He trailed kisses down her jaw, and she felt her love for him awaken with each thump of her heart.

He held her tighter, a bubbly feeling buzzing through her chest. It sparkled and felt like a puzzle piece of her soul just slotted into place.

They held each other close, wriggling in the covers around each other, and the waist of her pants slipped down past her hip bone, exposing the hemlock flowers she’d tattooed there. Yagrin studied the mark.

“I couldn’t fathom this,” she said.

“Oh, how wrong you were.” He pressed his lips to her hip, kissing those poisonous flowers, before bringing his affection back to her neck.

He nuzzled her there and then gazed back into her eyes.

He looked at her as if he could see through her.

She was fully clothed and yet felt naked, exposed, vulnerable, and safe.

She urged his body back against her pillows and loved on his neck before pressing kisses all over his bare chest. The chest that held a heart full of hope for her when she’d had none.

He pulled her mouth up, and they kissed until time became a montage of sweet memories and happy tears.

Until every nerve in her body prickled like a string on a bow strung too taut.

“I love you. I love you so much.” She rested against his chest and let her eyes close, forgetting about everything else. She drifted to sleep free of disguises and lies, free of a life she didn’t want.

She fell asleep who she chose to be.

Listening to the thrum of her love’s heart.