Blinding Beauty (54 page)

They didn’t reach the top until
Isa’s lungs felt like they might collapse, and her vision was
spotty. Launce was first to reach the top. He yanked her into the
tower behind him and then immediately shut the door. Isa stood
beside him, waiting for the others to come through the door, but
Launce locked it instead.

“
What are you doing?” Isa darted
back to unlock the door, but Launce grabbed her and held her
tightly so she couldn’t move.

“
They’re too far behind. If we let
them in, the others will follow! Isa! Isa, look at me!”

Isa stopped struggling, and she
stared up at her brother. Launce’s hair had been cropped short for
the coronation, and his eyes were lined with a stress she had never
seen before. He looked older, and for the first time, to Isa at
least, like a man.

“
You know this is what Everard
wants.”

Once she was still, he carefully
let go, and she stepped back. He was right. This is what Ever would
want.

Which meant they had no time to
waste. Isa raised the mirror as high as she could and threw it down
upon the floor with all her might. Instead of cracking, it just
rolled away. Isa grabbed it again and brought it down hard against
the edge of the table this time. But the table only
dented.

“
How do we break it?” Isa cried,
racking her memory for something that might stand a chance against
the enchanter’s magic. She searched the room desperately for
something sharp or heavy. Books would do them no good, and the
furniture was too heavy for her to lift.

“
Hurry!” Launce had his ear to the
door. “They’re coming!”

Isa spotted the rack of swords
that hung above the fireplace. Four of them were displayed against
black velvet, the fourth one looking as if it were just low enough
to reach. She hopped on a chair and leaned over the mantle, trying
to pull it from the bottom rung. As her fingers touched the sword,
Isa’s boot slipped from the arm of the chair she stood on, and both
Isa and the swords crashed onto the stone hearth.

Her left elbow came down painfully
upon one of the stones, but when Isa opened her eyes, she was
amazed to find that nothing was bleeding, and only two of the
swords had broken. She grabbed the two remaining weapons and ran
over to Launce.

“
Here!” She handed him one sword
and then moved back to the center of the room. Placing the mirror
on the floor, Isa raised her sword above her head. Before she could
bring it down, she was distracted by the sound of splintering
wood.

The door shuddered as something
beat against it from the outside. Launce adjust his grip on the
weapon Isa had given him, and Isa realigned her sword with the
mirror. But she couldn’t focus enough to aim. Her breath was coming
too fast, and her palms were sweaty, so the sword kept
slipping.

“
That’s not Everard.” Launce
looked back at her.

They stared at one another for a
long moment. If one of their enemies was here, where were Ever and
the others? Cold panic pooled in Isa’s belly. Had Ever’s fear of
killing his friends allowed him to be overcome? Had Bronkendol
killed him? Fortress, she thought, where is my husband? The only
answer she heard though was the hacking at the door.

Isa shook her head and tried once
again to steady the sword. Please let it break!

The swords above the mantle had
belonged to the first kings, Ever had once told her. That meant
they would have been forged within the Fortress walls, imbuing them
with the Fortress’s power and strength. If any weapon could stand
against the enchanter’s charms, it would be one of these. Isa swung
the sword downwards, but just as it hit the ground, the hilt
slipped from her grasp and missed the mirror. Frustrated, Isa wiped
her hands on her dress and raised the sword to try
again.

“
Isa.”

She stopped and looked up at her
brother. He wore a torn expression. “When he gets through, I will
have to take him.”

“
No!” Isa immediately shifted into
a ready position, mirror all but forgotten. This was what Ever had
trained her for. “I can hold him longer than you can. If we can
just wait until—”

“
They’re not going to make it in
time.”

“
No! Don’t say that!” Isa tried to
run to his side, but Launce held out his sword to stop her. Isa
began to protest again, but he interrupted, and when he spoke, his
voice was resolved.

“
I made the wrong choice by not
trusting the Fortress before. Now please just let me make this
right.”

“
By killing yourself?” Isa
shouted. As if in agreement, the edge of a glass axe made its first
hole all the way through the door, sending chunks of wood flying
towards them.

“
No.” Launce gave her a small
smile. “By trusting the Fortress will help you stop
him.”

“
But how? I can’t break
it!”

Launce stared in frustration at
the mirror on the ground, before a look of understanding lit his
face. “Maybe you don’t have to.”

“
What?”

Launce spoke quickly as the axe
gnawed away at the hole, making it larger with each blow.
“Bronkendol told me that your strength isn’t like Everard’s, that
it’s not like anyone else’s! He said you have the strength of the
heart, not the hand.”

“
What is that supposed to mean?”
Isa tried to dart towards Launce again, but Launce held his sword
in front of the door once more. “I can’t let you do this!” Isa
protested, her voice breaking at the end. “You’re my baby
brother!”

“
Then don’t let me die in vain.
Let me be the hero, just this once.”

As he spoke, the rest of the door
gave way enough for Bronkendol to drop his axe and step through.
His silver curls were matted, and sweat rolled down his face and
neck. He pointed the glass sword straight at Launce’s
heart.

“
Give me the mirror, Isabelle.
This sword is poisoned, and though I don’t want to kill your
brother, I will if you don’t give me what’s mine.” He held his left
hand out to Isa as his right forced Launce against the wall with
the glass sword.

Isa looked at Launce, then down at
the mirror.

“
Don’t do it, Isa! The Fortress
gave you the mirror for a reason!”

“
Give it to me, or he dies! None
of your Fortress’s power can heal the poison this weapon was forged
in!”

Isa looked back and forth between
the mirror and her brother. How could she destroy it even if she
had all of Ever’s strength? Even now, away from its master, the
mirror’s power pulsed through her hands to a rhythm, like the
beating of a heart.

“
I don’t know how,” she mouthed to
her brother, tears streaming down her face. Without hesitation,
Launce launched himself off of the wall. Isa cried out as the sword
bit flesh. Even Bronkendol stared in horror.

“
Now you have nothing to lose,”
Launce gasped as the enchanter stepped back. “Do what you were made
to do!”

Panic and sorrow clouded Isa’s
mind as she stared once more at the mirror in her hand. If only
Ever were here!

Who is holding the mirror,
Daughter?

The familiar voice Isa had waited
so long to hear whispered now.

I am, she cried. But I don’t know
how! I’m not my husband!

A memory flashed before her eyes.
Nevina, lying unconscious upon the floor before her. How did you
know what to do then? the voice prodded.

I didn’t! I just
knew...

That she belonged. That she was
wanted. That she was the Fortress’s. That she had been
chosen.

I chose you then, and I choose you
now. And I didn’t give you strength of the hands, but strength of
the heart.

Isa could somehow feel the
Fortress smile.

Now use it.

Without thinking, Isa lifted the
mirror to her mouth.

“
No!” Bronkendol lunged for her.
“I took your power! You have none left!”

But Isa knew her power wasn’t
gone. It had never been hers to begin with. It was the Fortress’s,
and she was merely the heart to hold it, a vessel. Isa closed her
eyes and focused on what she knew within. Not on what she felt, but
on what she knew in her heart to be the truest of
truths.

“
Peace,” she whispered.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR

An Oath
Fulfilled

Hundreds of
voices cried out in agony as the glass shattered between Isa’s
hands. Their shouts of pain echoed all the way up to the tower,
where Launce laid on the floor bleeding and Bronkendol stood, a
look of disbelief on his face. It didn’t last long
though.

“
Do you know what you have done?”
He raised the bloodied glass sword and began to stalk towards
Isa.

Before he made even three steps,
however, he stopped. A choking sound gurgled from his throat and
his eyes bulged before he slid limply to the ground.

Behind him, Ever stood, his own
sword bloodied as he let the enchanter fall from it.

“
I swore I would kill you,” Ever
snarled.

“
Ever!” Isa thrust herself into
his arms, and held him with all the strength that remained in her
worn, ragged body. He drew her in and silently stroked her short
hair. She hadn’t lost him again after all. As he rocked her from
side to side, Isa caught a glimpse of her brother.

“
Launce!” She tore herself from
Ever’s arms and collapsed on the floor, wrapping her arms as gently
as she could around her little brother. Ever quickly joined her and
turned him so that he was facing up. To Isa’s dismay, his face was
pale, and his eyes were lifeless, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“You have to heal him, Ever!” Isa said frantically. “You have to
stop the poison!”

Ever inhaled and laid his hands
upon the young man. Isa held her breath as the blue flames licked
Launce’s wounds. But as seconds passed, nothing changed. Ever set
his jaw and pushed hard. When still nothing came, however, Isa lost
patience.

She placed her own hands on Launce
as well, but before she could try her own strength, Ever shook his
head and gathered her in his arms.

“
It’s too late for me to help
him,” he murmured into her ear. “I’m so sorry, Isa.” Isa was about
to protest. He had given up too easily, she wanted to shout, when
another voice spoke.

“
I might be able to help him
though.”

Isa looked up through tear-blurred
eyes to see Kartek standing at the door. Her sun-kissed face was
paler than usual, and she held one hand over her side protectively,
but she gave Isa a weak smile.

“
Garin.” She turned to the
steward, who had just walked up behind her. “Can you take this
young man to a dark, quiet room?”

Garin stooped and lifted Launce’s
long, thin body as though he weighed nothing. The steward’s hair
was mussed, and his clothes were torn in several places, but aside
from some sweat, dirt smudges, and the fact that he was wearing the
executioner’s uniform, he looked as much like himself as he ever
did. As he turned to leave with Launce’s body, Isa leaped up to
follow, but Kartek held out a hand.

“
I am sorry, but I will need to be
alone for this. I will call for you when I know his fate.” The
queen’s brown eyes softened, and she kindly took Isa’s face in the
hand that wasn’t holding her side. “Do not despair, young one. The
Maker’s gift to me might yet bring him back from the
dark.”

Ever pulled Isa back to him as
Garin and Kartek began down the stairs, and Isa let him, drinking
in every second as though he’d never held her before. The warmth of
his arms, the familiar smell of leather and the forest were as
intoxicating as a fine wine. Isa gazed up at him and shuddered at
the thought that she might have lost him again.

“
What happened?” She frowned and
reached up to touch the red gash just above his left
brow.

Ever made a face. “An earl managed
to throw a frying pan at me. I must have blacked out long enough
for them to think I was dead, and for Bronkendol to slip by me.” He
shook his head. “Fighting in battle is nothing new, but not
fighting my friends and those who have sworn to serve me...” his
voice trailed off, and he looked away from her.

“
How many?” She could hardly hear
her own voice.

“
Too many.” He closed his eyes,
but they glistened at the corners. “A few dozen of my own men,
three servants, and a Cobrien duke.” He opened his eyes, and a tear
escaped as his face crumpled. “I tried so hard just to hold them
off, but—” A ragged sob escaped him, and his chest heaved
violently.

Isa felt tears running down her
own cheeks as she reached up with both hands and gently pulled his
face down against hers. In turn, Ever took her shoulders in his
large hands and leaned against her as the sobs came faster and
harder. Isa ached for him as he wept in her arms. Ever was always
in command, always had a plan to fix what had gone askew. It was
wrong for him to be this broken, as if the sun had risen in the
wrong part of the sky.