Page 6 of Broken Hearted
In the letter, Dawn went on to describe a crystal called the Shadow Heart that Princess Aribella and her new husband, Stryker, the Ethereum lord of the Eastern Kingdom, had found. They all believed this Shadow Heart would play a part in destroying the curse, yet they didn’t know how. She wrote that I needed to collect the Shadow Heart, which they’d given to Zane in the hopes that I’d arrive in his kingdom instead of here. Then I had to travel to see some sort of prophetic unseelie fae called the Wise Ones, who lived in the Northern Mountains near where Dawn now lived. She assured me they would set me on the right path toward ending the curse. The letter ended with . . .
As soon as we have things stabilized here in the Northern Kingdom, I will come to where you are. My thoughts are with you, but I know how strong you are and that you will be able to overcome anything in your path.
Your friend,
Dawnie
Refolding the note, I stored it in my bag. Elisana didn’t bother pretending not to know what it said.
“We had hoped you’d appear in the Western Kingdom. Terrible timing that you are here because Adrien and I are set to marry in three weeks. We don’t need the intrusion.”
She paused, as if waiting for a reaction from me. But I didn’t have one to give her. Besides the rudeness of the comment, what did I care that they were getting married? Better them than me.
“But I suppose there’s nothing to be done about it now,” she went on when it was clear I wasn’t going to respond however she expected. “The important thing is to get you out of our kingdom as soon as possible. We’ll send word to Lord Zane to let him know you are here, and then you can be off the moment he arrives to collect you.”
“I’llgladlyleave the second he gets here,” I said, meaning it. I didn’t want to spend any more time in this woman’s presence than I had to.
“Then we agree,” she said, her smile looking sickeningly sweet.
“In this, we do.”
“Well, then, I’ll show you where you can stay until I come get you for dinner.”
And with that, I followed the wench out of the room, trying not to second-guess all of my decisions up to this moment. Killing the handsome Lord Adrien would have been easier.
Chapter Three
Elisana put me in a servant’s room, of that I was certain. The only things in the room were a sleeping pallet in the corner and a chamber pot. There wasn’t even a washbasin for me to clean up.
After two hours, a maid finally appeared with a dull brown dress so large I had to rip a strip off the bottom of the skirt to create a sash to keep it in place. It couldn’t have been less flattering. I should have just gone ahead and asked for a potato sack because it would have had more shape. But at least it was light and flowy and allowed air to breeze through it.
The sun had set, offering a little bit of reprieve from the oppressive heat by the time Elisana showed up to bring me to dinner. We ignored each other as we walked the halls of the castle and toward the dining room. Not speaking to this woman was fine by me, but I was curious about her relationship with Adrien, especially since Dawn had hinted that the Ethereum lords were our ‘mates’. I had already taken that to mean that this Zane fellow must be mine, but where did that leave Adrien? Where did that leave Lorelei, the Spring princess?
I shook my head to dislodge the thoughts. It didn’t matter anyway. Even if Zane was my mate, there was zero chance I was ever getting married.
“How long have you known Adrien?” I asked her as we approached a set of open double doors that led to a dining table. I saw that Adrien was already seated with a lavish display of food out before him.
Elisana gave me an annoyed side glance. “A while,” she said shortly and then stepped ahead of me to rush over to her fiancé.
“Sorry I’m late, my love. I had to look my best for you.” She pulled her shoulders back, puffing up her cleavage and turning just so to show off her expertly done hair and make-up, but his gaze only rested on her for a second before it flicked past her to me.
I wore no make-up, my hair was messily tied back, and the dress was not flattering, yet the way he looked at me lit a fire inside of my chest that burned all the way to my belly. It felt like the air was sucked from the room as I was caught up in those blue-green eyes.
“Glazed pork,” Elisana shrieked, and both Adrien and I jerked our heads in her direction.
“Darling, you know that’s my favorite.” Taking a seat next to him, she reached out and stroked his upper arm. And for some wild reason, I felt something ugly flare to life inside of me.
Calm down, Isolde. He’s taken, and you’ve sworn off love.
Adrien sat at the head of the table with Elisana to his right, and so I took the seat to his left, which put me directly across from her. She kept her hand on his upper arm and gave me a glare, letting me know she was marking her territory.
Our meal server entered the room then, and I caught my breath as I stared at the small horns protruding from his forehead.
Unseelie.
I didn’t want to be rude, but I couldn’t stop staring. I’d never seen an unseelie before, obviously, and even knowing this world was filled with the fae folk, I still wasn’t prepared.
The fae came over, poured me a glass of wine and gave me a kind smile. “Enjoy your meal, my lady.”
