Page 25 of Broken Hearted
The important thing was that now I knew Zane and I weren’t mates. All the friendship vibes I felt around him made sense. We needed to move forward from this and focus on what needed to be done to end the curse.
Looking up at Zane, he still seemed a little lost, but at least he wasn’t arguing with me.
“Lorelei is amazing,” I said. “I can already picture the two of you together.”
He started to relax a little at that, as if not having a mate at all would have sent him into a spiral, but hearing that he’d just gotten stuck with the wrong one for a bit was okay.
“That means Adrien is yours,” he said, and we both just let the giant unsaid words linger in the air.
And he’s engaged to marry someone else.
“That kiss was mortifying,” he graciously changed the subject. “We never speak of it again.”
I laughed. “Like pecking my mother.”
“Hey,” he scolded. “I’m an amazing kisser, given better circumstances.”
I grinned at him. “I’ll bet you are. With Lorelei.”
He shook his head, a look of chagrin on his face.
“We should go,” I said. “I have to figure out not only how to get to the belly of the sea, but convince Adrien to come with me.”
I turned to leave, but Zane stayed rooted in place, his gaze fixed on the dark cave opening.
“Zane?” I asked, and he glanced over at me.
“I need to know something,” he said. “Will you wait here for me?”
“You want to see the Wise Ones?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’m here. And you’re not my mate. I need to ask them—” He cut himself off before revealing what his question was. I wanted to know what he felt he needed to ask the Wise Ones, but it wasn’t my place. And I think I already knew …
“Yes. Of course I’ll wait,” I said.
With a grim but determined look on his face, Zane turned and walked into the cave. He was swallowed by darkness immediately. A chill ran over me when he disappeared so suddenly from view, but I hoped that whatever Zane felt like he needed to know, the Wise Ones would tell him.
Chapter Eight
Iwas sitting on a stone, tossing pebbles into a circle I’d etched in the dirt to pass the time, when Zane all but stumbled from the cave. His face was pale, and he wore a dazed expression. I imagined I looked similar when I emerged as well.
Popping up to my feet, I hurried over to him. “Are you all right?” I asked when his gaze didn’t seem like it was focusing on anything.
Zane gave his head a small shake and looked at me. “Sorry,” he said and then ran a hand through the long strands of his hair on the top of his head. “That was just … a lot.”
“Did you get the answer you were looking for?”
He let out a shaky half-laugh that I didn’t know how to interpret. “I got an answer,” he said. “But it wasn’t exactly the one I was looking for.”
“I’m so sorry, Zane,” I told him, my heart aching for the kind lord.
“Don’t be,” he said as he straightened his shoulders, shaking off the last vestiges of fog from his mind. “I now know what I have to do.”
“And what do you have to do?” I asked, not able to keep my curiosity in check.
When he turned to me, there was a fire in his eyes I’d not seen from him before. Determination was etched on every sharp angle and curve of his face. “I have to go to Faerie and get my mate. Together, we will destroy the curse.”
* * *
