Blinding Beauty (37 page)

As though confirming Ansel’s
words, a sudden tug at his heart alerted Ever of the familiar
presence before the shouts of a servant did, and without a thought,
he found himself running as though a demon chased him towards the
Fortress. His heart felt like it might leap from his chest. Is
it...? He asked the Fortress, too afraid of the answer to finish
the question. Up the field and across the gardens, he tore. His
head pounded and he was nearly lightheaded from the delirium that
drove him on. How?

His sensitive intuition had not
failed him. As soon as he crested the mountain meadow upon which
the Fortress sat, he could see the multitude of servants that was
gathered round a single horse at the front Fortress
steps.

“
Be gentle!” he could hear Gigi
order. “Watch her head! She can’t hold it up!”

Despite his speed, his approach
seemed painstakingly slow. “Hold back, all of you!” Garin ordered
from somewhere above the din.

“
Move!” Ever shouted. So loud was
his call that the startled servants scrambled to clear a way for
him. Finally he reached the crowd. Everyone watched solemnly as he
slowed, gasping for air.

There she was. Draped upon the
horse as though there was no life in her, Isa clung to the horse’s
mane with fingers that looked like they might break. Her auburn
hair had fallen from its place, and spilled in tangled bunches down
the horse’s side.

“
Isa.”

She did not raise her head to look
at him when he called her name. With unsteady hands, he reached up
and pulled her limp body from the horse. As she fell into his arms,
her eyelids didn’t open, and her lips barely moved as her shallow
breath went in and out. Cradling her to his chest, Ever began the
long walk up to their chambers.

By the time they arrived, Garin
already had an army of servants preparing the room. Blankets were
pulled back from the bed, and curtains were drawn shut. A healer
had a tray of potent poultices and herbs prepared beside the bed,
and he was arguing in a low voice with Garin over their necessity,
but Ever shook his head at all of them.

“
Out!”

No one objected, and soon the room
was clear of all but Garin, who paused to squeeze Ever’s shoulder
before leaving and closing the doors behind him. With more care
than he had ever taken in his life, Ever laid his wife in the
center of their bed.

Her cheeks were red and dry with
the early stages of frostbite, and her fingers were even worse. No
warmth emanated from her skin as he felt her head and then her
neck. The only sign that there was still life in her was the
ever-shallow rise and fall of her chest, and the sense of purpose
that the Fortress now poured inside of him. He knew what he needed
to do.

Before he began, he laid his lips
on hers and lingered there. To think he might never have kissed
those lips again.

“
I’ll make this better,” he
whispered. “I promise.” Then, with all that was within him, he
gathered his power and let it go. An ocean of blue light filled the
room and lit the walls. He wondered how long it might take before
she was healed enough to open her eyes, but then decided it didn’t
matter.

She was home.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN

Nothing

Even in the
dark of the early morning, Ever couldn’t take his eyes from her.
The soft glow of the moon peaked in around the curtains, lighting
her face in a dreamlike glow. Isa’s eyes were no longer sunken in,
and all sign of frostbite was gone. The Fortress’s power had healed
her body in every way. But, Ever wondered, what state would she be
in once she awakened? She had not so much as stirred since he’d
first laid her in the bed.

“
I will never have the power to
express how truly sorry I am,” he whispered into the silence. “But
I promise you that never will I fail you in such a way again. I do
not know why I ever doubted you. You were the one who broke the
curse, and you were the one who taught me to be alive once again.”
He tenderly brushed wayward strands of hair away from her face. It
was easier to practice his apology when she couldn’t hear
him.

“
I hope,” he breathed, “that in
spite of all my blind foolishness, you’ve never had reason to doubt
my need for you.” He leaned down placed his lips on her brow. “Or
that place which you hold in my heart.” He smiled into the darkness
as the words which he should have said months ago now flowed with
abandon.

“
I cannot wait to begin the rest
of our life after all of this is finished. You will make the most
intelligent and wise queen the Fortress and Destin have ever seen.
And,” he leaned forward, as though telling her a secret, “when the
Fortress so chooses, the most wonderful mother our children could
ever ask for. Whether it is soon or later, I will be
overjoyed.”

As he spoke to her, Ever wondered
how he would ever be able to let her out of his sight again. To
think he had nearly lost her was unbearable. And yet, an unease
wriggled within him. Unless she had escaped on her own, there was a
reason the enchanter had allowed her to return. Her body had been
pushed to the brink of exhaustion, and she had to been without
water and food for a few days, but for Ever, those wounds were
simple enough to heal. And the enchanter would have known
that.

What Ever feared was not the
injury done to Isa’s body, but that which had been done to her mind
and spirit. If only he could know what else had been hurt, he might
be able to help her more. But such was impossible, as he was
unaware of what had happened during her abduction. Without
thinking, for the thousandth time that night, he leaned down and
softly kissed her lips once more. What was he going to
do?

“
Ever?”

“
Isa?”

Joy and fear and trepidation
rushed through him as he lifted and cradled her to him, tears
running down his face. Relief flooded him so entirely that it felt
as though he might drown. But Ever couldn’t have cared
less.

“
Isa,” he whispered over and over
again. “You’re home. You’re safe.” He could feel her swallow hard,
and loosened his grip so she might breathe more easily. He was
nearly giddy as he felt her lean back into the crook of his
arm.

“
Where...?” She stopped and
cleared her throat. “Where am I?”

“
You’re home,” he said. “Do you
not remember your journey here?”

Isa paused. “Not much, I
suppose.”

“
What do you remember?”

“
The... the enchanter... he took
my power. He took my power, and placed it in a mirror.”

“
What?” Ever had never heard of
such a thing. Alarm raced through him, but he knew that for her
sake, he needed to remain calm. She was in no condition to handle
more stress. “This is not something we should worry about now,” he
said. “We will talk to Garin in the morning. For now I simply want
to be with you.” He leaned down once more to kiss her, but instead
of leaning in like she always had, Isa turned her head away
instead.

Pain hit him, along with
confusion. She had never turned away from his kiss before. Worse
than her refusal, though, was the realization that for her to move
the way she just had, she must have opened her eyes. If she had
opened her eyes, why weren’t their blue flames piercing the
darkness?

“
I’m tired,” she said. “And
hungry. Is there something to eat?”

Ever shook his head and scrambled
to bring her the tray that had been waiting in the room, just as
she had asked. But as he did, panic threatened to overwhelm him.
Isa’s fire was gone.

***

“
She never
even asked about her brother,” Ever muttered as he paced the floor
in front of Garin, who sat more patiently in one of the great
chairs pulled up before the fire in the king’s study. “All she
wanted was to be left alone.”

“
Patience, Ever,” Garin said
mildly. “We do not yet know how deeply she was injured. Perhaps
quiet and solitude is what she most needs to heal.”

But Ever was already shaking his
head. “When she awoke the second time, she told me she wanted to go
outside. I tried to warn her of the cold, but she insisted.” He
sighed and scratched his head. “I’m supposed to be getting our
horses prepared as we speak.”

“
Well then, you can tell me more
as we do just that.” Garin stood and pulled one of the bell chimes
upon the wall beside the grand fireplace. Moments later, a knock
sounded at the door. “Prepare the king and queen’s riding horses,”
Garin told the servant boy, and with a quick bow, the boy was
gone.

Ever could see that his mentor was
curious as to what had riled him so, but it was difficult to
explain. He didn’t yet have words to describe the disappointment
that had filled him when she’d awakened the second time that
morning.

“
Garin, her fire is
gone.”

This time, there was no soothing
calm in Garin’s face. He put down the parchment he had been
examining and stood straight.

“
What?”

“
It’s just that. She has no fire
left. The flames are gone!”

Ever had convinced himself he was
wrong after she had first awakened. He’d been so relieved to simply
hear her voice and see her move that he’d hoped that perhaps he had
been wrong, distracted. The second time she’d awakened, however,
had been different. She’d allowed him to kiss her quickly that
time, but there was no warmth, no return. She had merely seemed to
tolerate it, turning away from him as soon as he was
done.

It was then, as he searched her
face for some hint of affection that he realized her eyes were
indeed as hard and cold in their blue depths as glaciers. The
Fortress’s fire was completely extinguished. And yet, she was still
alive. Ever had never heard of such a thing in all his years of
studying the Fortress’s history. How was there breath still in her
when the Fortress’s life giving fire was gone?

“
What do you feel?” Garin’s voice
was strained. “What do you sense when you’re near her?”

“
Nothing.” Ever hated the words
even as he said them. “I feel nothing.”

Garin’s eyebrows rose, and Ever
knew the steward was beginning to understand his state of
panic.

“
She shows no sign of joy at being
home, no anger towards me for failing her, not even sorrow at what
the enchanter did to her.” He shrugged. “And whenever I ask her
about what he did to her, all she does is repeat herself, saying he
stole the power from her heart.”

“
My lord.” A young voice came from
the other side of the thick wooden doors. “The king and queen’s
horses are prepared.” The two men left the study to fetch Isa for
their ride, but Garin looked far from done with the
conversation.

“
Go with her,” Garin ordered him
outside the chamber door, his voice suddenly fierce. The fine lines
at the corners of his eyes and on his forehead were more pronounced
with worry than Ever had seen them before. “Do not let her out of
your sight. I don’t like this. I will see her myself
later.”

Ever gathered his courage as he
knocked on the door. Garin gave him a curt nod and stalked
off.

“
Our horses are ready,” Ever
called through the doors. It felt foolish to ask permission to
enter his own chambers, but for all Isa had suffered at his hand,
he was willing to play the part of any fool if it would help her
heal.

Isa appeared in her riding gear,
but remained silent as they walked down to the stables. Her eyes
stayed trained on the end of the hall. Not a word was spoken as
they mounted their horses and left the servants behind. Only the
early winter wind whipped around them, as though agitated with
everyone and everything, threatening to send them back home. Dead
leaves hit their faces, and the gray of the sky did nothing to
cheer the somber mood. Ever had hoped that being outside would help
him find the words he was looking for, but he didn’t gain the
courage to speak again until they were far from everyone and
everything, way out on the far end of the back field.

“
Isa,” he finally said, clearing
his throat twice before he could continue. “I wish you would tell
me what’s wrong. I want to help you, but I can’t unless I know
how.”

“
Nothing,” she answered. “Nothing
is wrong.”

“
Something is most definitely
wrong.” He pulled his horse in front of hers, forcing her to stop.
“Have you tried using your power?”

Isa stared at him as though he
were dim. As he waited, Ever decided he disliked the way she had
told the servants to fix her hair. It was too tight, too severe for
her young face.

“
There is nothing left to use. I
told you, he took everything.”

“
Well, at least tell me how you
feel about it.” He was grasping for smoke, desperate for some
answers. “Surely you must feel something for me, if not for him.
Anger? Sorrow? Hatred?” He took a deep breath, steeling himself for
the answer he knew he deserved to receive. “Do you hate me, Isa?”
For a moment, he was sure she would say yes. A brief flash of
recognition lit her eyes, but then she only resumed the bored,
impatient expression she’d worn all day.