Page 89 of Black Hearted
It couldn’t have been more than a half hour before my husband and best friend returned. When he first walked into the room, I noted that he didn’t look great, but he looked infinitely better than the last time I saw him. He was still in his dirty and bloodied clothes, but his face and hands had been scrubbed clean, his finger was wrapped, and a small bandage covered his ear.
“Is it true? Is the curse—?”
Nysa walked in behind him, and I swallowed a sob. Her light green skin was healthy and fresh. The black streaks that had marred her complexion were gone, and her eyes were bright and clear.
She looked from me to my still slightly swollen belly and then to the babies with wide eyes.
“Dawn, the last I saw you was at your wedding. How?”
I rushed forward and pulled her into my arms. She was frail, skinnier than before from having spent so many months bedridden, but she was alive. Healthy.
And most importantly, free of the curse.
I pulled back, my grin wide. “There’s so much to tell you. I’m not even sure where to start.”
I turned to Zander, excitement bubbling over inside me, only to see that my husband looked despondent. Something was wrong.
The grin dropped off my face. “Zander?”
He and Isolde shared a look, and then Zander smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Zander, what’s wrong?” I asked, releasing Nysa and stepping toward him.
Aribella and Isolde both walked over to Nysa and started explaining what she’d missed in low, hushed tones as I went to meet Zander in the doorway of the small sitting room.
“The curse is broken, but …” A shadow passed across his face, and my stomach sank.
“But what?”
“Zane’s gone.”
No. I shook my head. It couldn’t be true. I didn’t want it to be true. Not sweet Zane.
“Are you sure?”
Zander swallowed hard. “I’m sure. We all felt it.”
When he said,we all, Stryker and Adrien came up behind him,looking freshly washed and dressed, as opposed to my husband. They nodded to both of us as they entered the room, their gazes going toward their wives, who were still speaking with Nysa across the room before turning back to us.
The atmosphere turned somber.
The curse had ended, which was miraculous, but if Zane had sacrificed his life to end it …
I thought of Lorelei then, sweet Lorelei. She and Zane were perfect for each other. Had she succumbed, too? We Faerie princesses didn’t have a connection with each other like the Ethereum lord brothers did, so if Lorelei had perished as well, we wouldn’t have felt it.
“I … I don’t know what to say,” I told them. There had been so much joy recently with our babies being born healthy and with the curse ending. But it was mixed with sorrow.
Zane and my mother were gone.
Although my mother had allowed her bloodthirsty quest to stop the curse to supersede any morals she once had—going so far as to try to kill my husband—I’d still loved her. I hated what she became, but I loved the mother she had been before all of this.
At the same time, I was relieved she was gone, knowing my babies and my love were safe. Yet, I missed her. I felt … discombobulated.
We rejoined Aribella, Isolde, and Nysa, and then all just stood there in a strange, melancholy haze, watching the babies doing cute things like hiccupping or blowing bubbles on their lips, while talking about the latest news as messengers arrived.
It was late, past nine in the evening, but word was spreading fast.
The unseelie who had been cursed with disease, were now healed. We assumed the lands were still damaged, but in time, we hoped they could heal as well.
