Page 22 of Broken Hearted
After grabbing Orchid’s bridle, we began a steep trek up the side of the mountain.
“According to the map, this isn’t the usual path to get to the Wise Ones. It’s longer, but it will have to do.”
I nodded, still in shock at how much of the land the water had eaten up. Poor Dawnie. All of these people … their livelihoods. Gone.
We rode on for hours and hours, but eventually, the path became too narrow and we had no option but to leave Orchid while we continued on foot. My legs burned, but I didn’t complain as we walked slowly in a zigzag pattern up the mountain path.
We traveled for most of the day and I was about to ask for another break when Zane stopped before an open cave. When I peeked inside, I couldn’t see a thing. It was pitch-black.
“We’re here,” he said.
Oh, thank the stars. I wanted to get this over with and get out of this flooding kingdom. I moved to step inside when Zane hooked me by the arm. “Remember—”
“One question. Asked perfectly. I know,” I said.
He’d told me all about the Wise Ones, and Dawn explained a little bit about what this would be like. A disorienting darkness and then voices that come from their minds.
I was ready.
* * *
I had not been ready.
Even after the voices faded and light appeared behind my closed eyelids, I stayed hunched on the ground with my hands over my ears, and my eyes squeezed tightly shut. In the sudden silence, I could hear the blood rushing through my veins with every fast beat of my heart. My ragged breaths sounded like the banging of drums.
I had never been called a coward, but in that moment, I felt like one because I couldn’t force myself to open my eyelids and face the Wise Ones. And it wasn’t just because walking through the black void with disembodied voices ringing in my head had been terrifying. It was because when I picked up some of their whispers, they’d known things.
Not just my name, but my fears as well. It was as if they’d cracked open my head, dug through my mind, and then whispered my fears back to me.
“Worried she’ ll never be loved.”
“Afraid to believe mates are real.”
“Doesn’t want to end up like her parents.”
My darkest thoughts still bounced around in my head, even though the Wise Ones’ voices had long since gone silent.
“Princess Isolde of the Winter Court. Daughter of broken vows, child of ice, spell breaker. You have nothing to fear here.Rise and face us,” a voice commanded.
I didn’t want to. If these unseelie knew my deepest fears and secrets, what other fragmented pieces of myself had they seen? I felt stripped bare, raw and exposed, but even so, I knew I had no choice. I had to face them. For Faerie, for Ethereum, and for myself.
Sucking in a fortifying breath, I forced myself to lower my hands from my ears and open my eyes. In a semicircle in front of me were four beings. Male, with pale white skin, who looked seelie except for the two small horns upon each of their heads. They were unnaturally still, and their neutral facial expressions made it impossible for me to gauge their thoughts, which was unsettling.
The Wise Ones were short in stature, but their height wasn’t anindication of their power. I could feel their magic. It filled every corner of the candlelit room and pressed up against me, even as they sat on their stone thrones, looking down on me with their cloudy eyes.
Gathering my courage, I rose to my full height. “Wise Ones,” I started. “I’m here to ask my question.”
“We know why you are here,” one of them said.
None of their mouths moved, but I somehow knew it was the one on the far left who had spoken. “The Fall princess succeeded in finding the Shadow Heart.”
“She has,” I said, even though it was a statement rather than a question. I reached into my satchel and dug out the crystal. “I brought it with me,” I said, holding it up for them to see.
For the first time, I saw some hint of life in the beings’ milky eyes, and one even went so far as to lean forward.
“I don’t know what we are supposed to do with it,” I said, taking a step forward as I held the crystal out in front of me toward them.
“Put it away!” The voice of the Wise One in front of me cracked sharply, startling me. His fingers wrapped around the arms of his throne and tightened until I heard the stone crack beneath his hand. He shifted forward, and it seemed like his grip on his throne was the only thing keeping him from leaping at me.
