Page 85 of The Dark Prince
“Arne!” I called out. “ARNE!”
The dark man didn’t waste a moment, calling over a villager to take his spot as he moved to my side. He took in the princess and her wounds with a knowing eye, but he looked awful. “Fix her the way you’ve always fixed me,” I begged him. “And then fix Tyr. Please.”
Arne’s wife was at his side, giving me the evil eye. I didn’t blame her at all. We worked her husband to the bone, and right now he looked gray and half-dead himself.
I didn’t care. I’d give him anything he wanted. Hell, I’d give him the entire castle if it meant Tyr was well. Even Aella. I suspected she used her bitchiness as a front more than her actual personality.
Arne shot a glance at Maddeus, then sighed. “Here, drink this. It’s the best I can offer you.”
He shoved his water skin at me and dumped a few more of the tree flakes into it. I laughed. “This was why you and the others didn’t turn. You’ve been feeding them tea from a magick northern tree.”
Arne shrugged. “It worked.”
I gazed again at Aella, still crouched on the ground and holding her ruined face. “You’re sure?” I asked quietly, already resigned.
Arne nodded. “I cannot heal them without undoing the consequences of their sacrifices. I don’t think they’d want that.”
I drew back, horrified. “You mean all this? Iit would go back if you healed them?”
Arne put his hands in the air, helpless. “We have restored balance. Let’s not mess with it.”
“Then we won’t do fuck-all to disturb it,” I muttered, mostly to myself.
Thirty Six
TYR
Iwas in shock. Vaguely I understood it, but working through it was another thing altogether. Isadora had done what I couldn’t; what my father couldn’t.
The curse was gone.
I couldn’t process it. I half didn’t even believe it. So I focused on what I could: the lying, traitorous little bitch in front of me who’d tried to murder me in my bed as my horrified wife had watched.
Isadora was still clutching onto me, so I was forced to take her with me as I stalked forward toward Maddeus.
“Tyr, what—no!”
Isadora fought to keep herself between Maddeus, Aella and I. To my surprise, Maddeus backed away as I advanced, turning his back and shielding Aella from me.
“Tyr don’t. She’s suffered enough! We’ve all suffered enough! Look at her!”
Aella was injured; her face horribly mangled. I saw it, but didn’t care. Why didn’t anyone understand?
“She came to me in the night like a coward,” I choked out, memories of the moment sending fresh terror through my veins. “She tied me down to my own bed. She held a knife over my heart.”
Isadora wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed. “I know,” she whispered desperately, her hot tears mixing with mine. “I know.”
No, she didn’t.
“Isadora, you don’t understand. I’d never been afraid to die before; rather, I’d actively sought it out in the past. But when she came to me, I was terrified. Not of dying, but of leaving this world before I told you I loved you.”
There, I’d said it.
Isadora froze in my arms, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. “What did you say?” she asked, her fingertips resting on her mouth in disbelief.
I gathered my courage and plunged forward. This woman had saved me, and I didn’t care if she didn’t want anything to do with me anymore. She had fulfilled her obligations as my wife and then some; I would give her anything she asked for. Even her freedom.
“I love you. I’ve been in love with you since that night in Mosfell, with the villagers surrounding you as you sat on my lap and my people accepted you as their own. I knew for sure when you saw me as I was without my mask, and had the audacity to lecture me about proper wound care. ”
