The Bride Tournament (Hexed Hearts Book 1)(51)

“They tried everything.”

“Why—why didn’t you get me?” Pierce glared at him through eyes misted with tears.

“We tried. You weren’t here.”

Pierce hung his head. “I was in town, at the pub drinking. I missed her and just wanted to, I don’t know…lose myself? I snuck back in through my balcony early this morning.”

Pierce dug into his nightstand and procured a thin silver heart on a fine chain. “I had this made for her. Her birthday is—was, next week.”

“Would you still like to give it to her?” Gerard asked.

“Yes, dammit! I should have been with her!” Pierce yelled and slammed a weak fist into Gerard’s chest, an awkward swing in their half-hug position.

“The nurses are cleaning her body and then moving her to the guest chambers while we contact her family. Would you like to see her when she’s ready?”

“Yes…” Pierce couldn’t finish as a fresh wave of agony washed over his face.

Gerard kissed the top of his brother’s head and rocked him as they both cried: one silent, one loud.





Chapter Fifteen



Twigs crunched under Ellie’s silver heels. The forest pressed in and blocked out the moon. She raised her small lantern higher to see the slender path. Stones and dead leaves cleaved the overgrown brush. An owl hooted. Fear pricked at her neck.

I can do this.

Tonight was the last event in the Bride Tournament. Four women displayed a variety of magical “skills,” one would win. And it won’t be me. She’d spent all last night and this morning reminding herself that she needed to wake up from this fairytale. She wasn’t queen material—Ellie laughed—she wasn’t bride material. It was time to go home, keep working, harvest the last of the season’s crops, and horde away what money she could.

In a few seasons, she’d have enough money to buy the estate from Lady Irene and finally take control of her ancestral home.

“Ellie!” Meera’s voice rang through the quiet forest.

She jerked her gaze from the ground. Another lantern bobbed toward her in a haphazard rush. “Meera?”

The older woman came into view, a headscarf trailing behind her and a violent flush spreading across her normally pale cheeks. “Meera, what’s the matter? What’s happening?”

“It’s Lady Olivia, the others—” she panted and leaned forward, arthritic hands grasping her knees. “You are the only other contestant left. The others have fallen to the pox and the royal family won’t let anyone in to see them. And the first two, Ladies Marie and Veronica…they’ve succumbed and died.”

Ellie gasped.

“I should have figured it out by now. I should have protected them. Maybe if I’d tried to heal them again.”

“I was wrong, Ellie, you don’t have that kind of power. The hex needs to be destroyed.” Meera caught her breath and rose to her full height. “Come, we need to get you to the castle. If you do not compete and win, Lady Olivia will become the next queen.”

Anxiety froze her in place. “I can’t. I-I can’t win.”

“Of course you can.” Meera grabbed her arm and with surprising strength for one her age, dragged Ellie along the path. “You don’t have a choice.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen. I only entered to figure out how to stop the Lange women from hurting the competition. I haven’t even managed that.”

“You’re not a sleuth. So what? You are a powerful woman whom the prince likes. That’s far more than any other choice for queen. Perhaps you are the best option after all.” Meera let go as the path narrowed and hobbled on ahead.

She hadn’t told either Rachel or Meera what had occurred in the library last night. It only confirmed how much Gerard “liked” her. And she liked what they had done. Panic eclipsed anxiety and tears pricked the back of her eyelids.

“I don’t want to be queen.”

They cleared the path and reached the unguarded Citadel gate. White stone rose in the distance, shimmering in the light of the full moon. It resembled a towering mausoleum to Ellie. For surely, she walked toward the gallows. Either she lost Gerard and watched him marry an evil slip of a woman who would ban the non-magical citizens from the rights they’d worked so hard to earn, or she won and lost her place in the world. Lost her home. Lost her freedom.

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

Meera gasped and Ellie squinted into the shadows beyond the gate. Two women stepped forth and she recognized their faces immediately.

“Dame Lange, Lady Olivia, what are you doing here?”

“I’d thought that was rather obvious given my mother’s overture.” Lady Olivia raised a perfect pale eyebrow in the light of the flaming sconces that lined the gate.

“Why?” Ellie tucked Meera’s arm into the crook of her elbow.

“To kill you, of course.” Lady Olivia smiled, her baby voice made the words more menacing.

“What?” Meera sputtered.

“Why kill us?” Ellie squared her stance. Unease flickered down her spine as several crows appeared and landed on the bare branches of the dark trees. Their feathers rustled on the leafless frames.

“I want to be queen, obviously. Lord, you are dense,” Lady Olivia said.