Page 17 of Broken Hearted
He liked me. It was so obvious, and yet … the feeling was unrequited. It made me wonder; did hereallylike me? Or was he just forcing the issue because when Dawn’s ghostly form had visited me, she’d told the entire room that the princesses of Faerie were sent to hunt their mates, who were the Ethereum lords.
I wasn’t yet sure if I bought into the whole mate concept, but it was clear he did. If I allowed this to go on much longer, this was not going to end well for sweet Zane’s heart.
“Zane?” I asked just as the door to the train car opened, and a messenger came in with a black raven on his shoulder and a rolled up note in his hand.
When the messenger handed the note to Zane I shifted to the edge of my seat as he read it.
Was it from Adrien? Was he asking how I was? Or maybe it was from Dawn or Aribella? I’d do anything to hear from one of them right now.
Zane glanced over the top of the page with a downcast expression, and my stomach sank.
“Is everything all right?”
He sighed. “I sent word to Dawn that I was coming to collect you and intended to take you to the Wise Ones. She’s written back to let me know that both roads to the mountain the Wise Ones live on are … impassable, and we may need to find another way forward or go back to studying the books as an option solving what the Shadow Heart does.”
“Impassable? What happened?” I sat up straighter.
“The curse has gotten worse in the Northern Kingdom, andthey’re thinking about evacuating. Black water has flooded the entire northeast border.” Zane seemed shocked, and my heart pinched for Dawn and her people.
“That’s how it is in our world, too. Displaced refugees, crops dying, blackened water. It’s awful,” I told him. “But we must find a way through. Because if the Wise Ones have the answer to end this curse, I have to see them.”
There was a reason Queen Liliana left Aribella before her training was finished and came for me. I could be ruthless and unforgiving when needed, kind of like winter itself. I would not give up on this quest to end the curse, and if finding my way across diseased, blackened waters was how I did that, then so be it.
Zane appraised me with respect. “You want to press on? Even though it’s dangerous.”
I tipped my head back and laughed. “Oh, Zane, you truly do not know me yet. I’m the eldest of seven sisters. A princess of the Winter Court, the most perilous court in all of Faerie. Danger doesn’t scare me.”
He nodded. “Then we find a way.”
“If it’s dangerous, you don’t have to come. I’m so appreciative for how—”
“I’m coming,” he declared in a no-nonsense tone that told me that was the end of that.
Truth be told, I was in a foreign land and so I was grateful for the company. “Okay,” I said, not fighting him on it.
I felt the train slow as I peered out the windows, and pure joy flooded through my body at the sight of the white fluff falling from the sky.
“Snow!” I shouted, like a five-year-old kid, and leaned against the window. My hot breath caused fog to flood the glass and momentarily obscure my view.
Zane chuckled beside me. “I didn’t tell you? The Northern Kingdom is much like your Winter Court.”
Bless the stars for that. Since I’d walked into the portal and landed in this strange place, I finally felt at home. Nothing could beat this moment, a small reprieve from a stressful few days.
“You did not,” I told him. He said the climate would be chilly, but he didn’t say there would be snow. What a lovely surprise.
“Did I also mention that Dawn said she would try to meet us at the train station, even if only for a short while, to see you?” Zane teased.
I spun around with wide eyes. “Are you serious?”
He handed me the letter and pointed to the very bottom.
I read the line as tears clouded my eyes and nearly spilled over onto my cheeks.
P.S. Please tell Isolde I’m going to try to meet you at the train station. I don’t want her feeling alone in this place like I did for so long. Even if it’s only for a hug, I will try to make it.
The train whistled as it came to a stop, and Zane tapped the glass. I followed his gaze to see a beautiful blonde woman sitting atop a black horse. She wore a light blue wool cloak pulled up over her head, and there were a dozen royal guards behind her.
Dawn.
