Page 55 of Cold Hearted
Zander peered at me, and I ached to be with him, to tell him I was sorry for leaving him,sorry for going after his brother. But I was still catching my breath, listening to this wild conversation in awe.
Mate?The word echoed in my mind and sank deep into my heart. I didn’t understand completely what it meant, but it felt… right.
Zander put his hands up in submission. “Brother, trust me. Can you do that? I kissed her and we bonded. She’s my mate. The light appeared and then I felt it like a spear of ice to the heart, just like father said it would be.”
I gasped then, because I’d felt that too, but hadn’t known what it was or what it meant. We didn’t have mates in Faerie, or bondings.
Zander met my gaze, and then flicked his eyes back up to his brother. “Let her go and we will leave you in peace.”
“Let her go?” His brother growled as the bands around my legs cinched tighter. “She’s an assassin here to take my heart to her people. She’s here to murder your brother!” he roared.
Zander looked panicked, like he was worried his brother might do something to me.
“You’re right,” I admitted, and Stryker peered down at me with malice. It felt like the oxygen was sucked from the room as I stared into that hateful gaze. “I was going to take your heart. My people are dying, there’s a curse on our lands, a curse your founding lords cast, and the only way to save thousands of fae is with your heart.”
His jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, and I braced myself for his reaction.
“But then I saw you… I saw how much you look like him.” I peered at Zander, who stood in the doorway of the room with a desperate expression.“And I couldn’t do it. I can’t do it. I won’t.” I hung my head in shame.
The snake-like ropes loosened slightly, and Zander stepped closer. “Let me take her, brother. You would not deny me my mate, would you?”
Stryker met his brother’s gaze. “You think she will let her entire kingdom perish forlove?” He said the last word like he didn’t believe in it. Like love was a thing of fiction. No better than myth or lore.
The breath knocked out of me as I absorbed the enormity of his words. They were like arrows to my heart. Would I? Did I love Zander? My mother, Master Duncan, all of them, would I let them all perish for my own happiness?
“No,” Zander admitted. “We’ll have to find another way. Together.”
Was that even possible? Could there be another way to heal my world?
Hope bloomed in my chest as Zander held out his hand to me. I glanced up into the angry gaze of his scary brother and the bands fell away from me all at once. I burst from my place on the floor and rushed into Zander’s open arms. We crashed into each other, and his arms wrapped around me tightly. Unspoken words passed between us. In this embrace, the weight of our time apart, of my leaving him, dissipated. I was just glad he was here.
“Little bird, I’ve scoured half the kingdom looking for you,” Zander said, and I pulled back to gaze into those blue eyes.
Did he mean what he said about being mates? Or was that all just a ruse to get his brother to let me go? If I was being honest, I had felt something different with him from the beginning.Whatever was between Zander and me, it felt big. Inevitable. Like fate.
“I’m sorry I left,” I told him sincerely.
He leaned forward and planted a small kiss on my nose. “Thank you for returning my kingdom to me.”
“Leave me!” Stryker roared. “If you want to get yourself killed, then take your witch and leave me and never come back.”
Zander’s brow knotted in the center of his forehead. “Brother, there’s something you must know about the princesses of Faerie. Something I think I’ve figured out. They’re all—”
“LEAVE ME!” he bellowed, and the walls shook with his rage. “If I see either one of you in my kingdom again, I won’t exhibit the same mercy I’ve shown you this night.”
Zander tucked me into him, grasping me tightly, and looked at his brother sadly. “I’ve missed you. We’ve all missed you,” he said, and then Zander was leading me away.
I stopped in the hallway, panicked at the thought of my sunstone dagger still lying on the floor of the room.
“What’s wrong?” Zander asked.
And then I realized I didn’t need it anymore. I wasn’t going to be carving out any black hearts. There had to be another way.
“Nothing,” I told him, and we left the castle. I had no clue where we went from here, but right now I had everything I didn’t know I needed.
Chapter 16
We agreed the best course of action was to return to Zander’s castle in Noreum and try to figure out what to do about the curse over my people, so after leaving Stryker we picked Omen up in the stables and went to where I’d left Alexandria and Nysa sleeping. The sun had not yet crested the horizon, but the sky was turning shades of light purples and pinks, announcing that it was near dawn.
