23. Brinley
Chapter 23
Brinley
W hen Gabriel tapped her hand, Brinley’s throat tightened. Rose was part of the curse. “But how? How is it connected? Something is happening to her, and the rest of you can’t be in your human forms outside of the village…”
He released her.
Their signal for no .
“I’m wrong about something?”
“Kind of,” he said. It seemed that he could answer questions so long as it wasn’t directly related to the curse.
Directly related.
“Are the two not connected?”
He covered her hand again, sending her heart into a rush of flutters. She didn’t want to think about that though.
“Two separate curses?”
Tap.
“And you need me to break them?” Her head reeled when he laced their fingers together. “But I don’t have my magic. I don’t know anything about breaking curses. Even if I did…”
His shoulders seemed to sag inward. “I know you hate us?—”
“No, it’s not that,” she cut in. Déesse above, how did she explain this? It would shatter every bit of hope they had. And despite not trusting them, she found herself not wanting to cause them more pain. “Curses are very… personal. It’s all about intent. Whoever set each curse had to have a strong reason, and the true depths of it, of its meaning and how to break it, only they can know that. Because only they know how they felt upon casting.”
With each word, Gabriel’s face paled a little more. It made her sick. She might hate him, but she didn’t want to be cruel to anyone. Even him.
“If you could tell me who it was, then there might be a chance, but—” She stopped when his head snapped up to hers again.
He lifted his free hand to her cheek and leaned in to press his forehead to hers. “You know,” he whispered. “Brinley, please… remember.”
The sincerity and devastation in his voice gutted her. She closed her eyes, breathing him in. “Tell me who.”
“I can’t.”
She remembered her first week here when she was still injured. When she’d been in pure denial about her father being one of them. If he wanted her to remember something, they needed to start at the beginning. Even if she didn’t believe him, at least she might get some answers about this pack’s history and why the curse was cast. “Fine, then, tell me about my father.”
Gabriel backed off to see her face, as if to gauge whether she was serious. When she didn’t move or speak, waiting for him, he visibly swallowed. She was more than aware of his hand still clasping hers but didn’t draw attention to it.
Not as he said, “Your father’s name was Keir. He was my father’s best friend and beta. He was my godfather… and I was holding you the day he was killed in front of us.”
“I want to train,” Brinley said, barging into the dining room.
It was far earlier than she usually got up. She’d started getting her own breakfast last week, but she usually waited to make sure Gabriel wasn’t eating before going down. And she always brought enough food upstairs for both her and Rose to share. But today, she wanted to catch Gabriel. After all that happened yesterday, a new determination filled her.
He sat at the head of the table, a steaming mug halfway to his lips, staring at her. Paxton sat on one side of him, Daciana on the other. Both wore looks of surprise.
It was the latter who asked, “What do you mean?”
Brinley ventured forward. “I was supposed to begin training with my magic after my twenty-first birthday. That clearly didn’t happen, so I want to try here. I know you all don’t trust me—the feeling is mutual—but if you want me to try to break this curse, I’m going to need to know how to control my power.”
Three sets of eyes bore into her. She refused to back down though.
“Good morning, Brinley. Why don’t you join us?” Paxton patted the open chair next to him.
She took the seat with a sigh but kept her eyes on the alpha as he set his drink down. Paxton passed her a basket with croissants, an amused smirk in place. Grabbing one of the warm, flaky rolls, she nibbled on the corner and waited.
“Gabriel?” she said when he still didn’t speak.
“Last night, you said?—”
“I know, but it’s worth a shot, right?”
The corner of his mouth curled up, and she looked away, ignoring the way it heated her to the core.
“Why now?” Daciana asked.
Brinley wasn’t sure if she was supposed to keep what happened a secret, so she glanced at Gabriel. He stared back at her as he told his friend, “Rose had another episode yesterday while Brinley was visiting.”
After he’d finished telling Brinley what he could about Keir yesterday, Gabriel had told her he’d already found out that she’d been sneaking up to sit with his sister. He had apparently assigned his friends shifts in the solarium not as guards but to be there for Rose should something like that happen, and he’d been taking their place on occasion to keep an eye on the two of them throughout the week. That was why he’d been there so quickly.
They had then gone to sit upstairs with Rose the rest of the night, waiting for her to wake up. Brinley bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. The four of them—Brinley, Gabriel, Paxton, and Rose when she woke—had eaten dinner, talked about Rose’s paintings, and relaxed together for hours. It had been pleasant, which only confused Brinley more.
Focusing on the current issue, she explained to Daciana, “I haven’t been able to use my magic since the night in the forest. I’ve tried on my own, but I can’t reach it. I think I need to feel some sort of danger to spark it, so I thought maybe if one of you would help me…”
“You haven’t been able to use it at all since healing Gabe?” she asked, and Brinley shook her head.
Gabriel nodded and took a sip of what looked like tea. “Fine, I’ll work with you. We’ll start after breakfast.”
Her heart raced at the idea of being alone with him again, especially after actually getting along last night. But she wasn’t about to refuse. “Thank you.”
He appeared more shocked by those two words than her request. Brinley took another bite of her croissant to avoid his gaze. Paxton passed her a pitcher of orange juice, and she poured some into a glass while trying to think of an excuse to go upstairs with more food. She wanted to at least tell Rose why she wouldn’t be visiting today.
A foot beneath the table bumped hers, and she glanced around. Daciana had turned to whisper something to Gabriel, but Paxton was looking at Brinley. He smiled before grabbing a spare plate and piling a couple rolls on it, along with a stem of grapes. As he poured another glass of juice, he said, “I’m going to take this up to Rose.”
“Thanks, Pax.” Gabriel gave a nod and went back to his hushed conversation.
Paxton winked at Brinley then walked out of the room. She took a sip of her own juice to hide her smile, knowing he would relay the change of plans to her new friend.