Page 93 of Black Hearted
And I knew just from looking at them that the Spring princess had found her mate.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Zane
Lorelei was amazed by the train system I’d built, and I couldn’t help but feel a burst of pride at that. Her gaze flitted here and there, her eyes wide as saucers as she took everything in—the wood-lacquered benches, the paneled walls, the electric lights, and the Western Kingdom landscape flying by the windows.
The staff onboard were overjoyed to see me, and I was thrilled that we were only a short stop away from Windreum. It was well into the night when we arrived at the main train station, but even with the lateness of the hour, fae danced in the streets. They cheered and threw flower petals as we passed.
“The curse is destroyed! The plague is gone!” they shouted.
Lorelei just smiled, peering at me as she took it all in. “Oh, Zane, these shops are so quaint,” she said as we passed the boutiques.
“I’ll take you tomorrow when they open. Whatever you want is yours,” I told her, and she blushed.
When we reached the front of my castle, my guards were visibly shocked to see me.
“My lord. We’ve been so worried. Your brothers are inside.”
“All of them?” I asked, surprised. When I left, Adrien and Isolde were going to go back to the Southern Kingdom. Something must have happened to make them return.
He nodded. “Lady Dawn had her babies early. Everyone is healthy,” he added quickly, when he saw my brows knit together in concern.
Lorelei squeezed my hand beside me, and my guards opened the front gates to let us in.
“My lord!” Jessie, my favorite housemaid, an elderly unseelie with pointed teeth and gray skin, greeted me with a deep bow as we entered. “Oh, you must come and see what’s happened.”
“I heard. Dawn had her babies,” I told her as we followed her.
“No, my lord. I mean,yes, but it’s not that.” She scurried along the hallway, leading us to my throne room.
I kept a tight grip on Lorelei’s hand as she looked around my castle in wonder. I hoped she liked it, but if she didn’t, that was fine too. I’d let her redecorate the entire thing if she wanted.
When we reached the double doors leading to my throne room, a large crowd of voices could be heard from behind them.
My maid cracked the door open and then bowed before disappearing behind me.
“Are they having a party for Dawn?” Lorelei wondered aloud, echoing what I was thinking.
When I stepped inside and scanned the space, shock rippled through me.
These were not all my people. I recognized Lorelei’s mother, Glori, right away. Seelie from Faerie were in my house.
How?
Then I spotted the mirror on the far wall. It looked identical to the one I’d seen when I rescued Lorelei from Queen Liliana’s Summer Court manor house. And through it, rather than reflecting the scene in front of us, I could see into what I recognized as the Spring Palace’s throne room.
“Zane!” Nellie’s voice pulled my head to the right, where she was sitting at a table with Lorelei’s sisters, eating what looked like chocolate cake.
I grinned, releasing Lorelei’s hand and opening my arms as Nellie ran into them.
“You came back for me,” she whimpered into my ear and sniffled.
“I told you I would. Were you a good girl for Queen Glori?” I asked.
She nodded, pulling back and wiping at her eyes. “But she said I need to learn better table manners.”
We both laughed at that.
