35. Brinley
Chapter 35
Brinley
6 years ago…
A hand covering her mouth woke Brinley with a start. She tried to scramble away, to scream for help, but then she saw it was just André. He held one finger to his lips, and she nodded in understanding. When he released her, she looked around for the threat.
“Get dressed quickly,” her best friend said. “Something you can travel in.”
Her brow furrowed, but she didn’t question the order. She climbed out of bed and ran to the wardrobe. He turned toward the door as she changed into a simple, dark green dress.
“What’s going on?” She began slipping into her boots.
André faced her, his features barely visible in the dim light from lamp he’d lit on her nightstand. He moved closer and knelt to help her lace up the shoes. “You’re getting out of here.”
“What are you talking about?” She’d only arrived at the castle the day prior. It had been a couple years since her last visit, and she was looking forward to spending some time in court. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be as heartbreaking this time. The memory of that horrid day of executions still gave her nightmares.
Before André could answer, the door to her bedroom creaked open. He shot up to stand in front of her, one hand splayed at his side, but she peered around him. A tall, shadowy figure entered, followed by another. Her heart pounded. But André seemed to relax. “I told you I’d bring her down to you.”
A deep voice said, “We’d rather not take any chances.”
She knew that voice. “Donovan?”
As he neared, the lamp light revealed his face. As well as the boy at his side. Her pulse raced for new reasons, and she stepped out from behind André on weak knees. She gulped down breath, but it wasn’t enough. It had been nearly five years since she last saw the boy on the outskirts of the cemetery during her mother’s funeral. She’d tried to slip away to talk to him, to find out if he knew who killed her mother, but he was gone by the time she did. He’d left a note with André saying he would be back for her.
Her grandmother had her packed up and moved to a small village on the eastern coast within a week. Brinley had lived in three more since then. One had been attacked by DeLoup, but the other times had been because of her grandmother’s fear of them finding and killing Brinley just as they had her parents.
She’d returned to the castle only a couple times since.
And she’d never seen him again.
He was supposed to be dead, yet he stood just across the room from her.
Brinley didn’t know how he and his father were here. It didn’t matter though. Not as the boy’s bright blue gaze connected with hers. Not as she ran toward him.
Not as he swept her up into a hug, her feet leaving the floor as she buried her face against him and realized he was no longer a boy at all.
“Gabriel.”
“I’ve got you,” he whispered into her hair.
“I can’t, Gabriel,” Brinley said for what felt like the tenth time. “I’m sorry.”
“But there has to be something you can do.” The misery in his tone broke her heart.
She stepped closer to him. “You know I’ve tried everything, but I don’t know how to use my magic yet. I’m not allowed to start training for another six years.”
“But it’ll be too late by then.” He ran a hand through his dark hair, drawing her attention to the way the muscles in his arms flexed and to the new tattoos twining their way along his tan skin. She swallowed and turned to look at the towering pink willow tree instead. Three days ago, she’d arrived in Zareia, where she quickly found out that Rose was sick and getting weaker. It was difficult for her to be up and running around like she did as a child.
Brinley closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her stomach. She thought it would be Gabriel—they all did. But here he was, nearly twenty years old and perfectly healthy. “I thought you…” she whispered, trailing off. “On your eighteenth birthday, I was inconsolable.”
Saying it aloud terrified her, but he needed to know.
She felt him move to her back, his breath stirring her hair. But he didn’t touch her.
“André tried to make up excuses for me to stay in my room. My grandmother had sent for me a week prior, so I was at the castle,” Brinley went on, reliving that horrifying day. “She dragged me out, parading me to the gallows, where she held trial after trial. She killed eighteen DeLoup that day, as if to remind me how much power she had.”
“Oh, Brinley.” Gabriel placed a single hand on her shoulder, but it was enough to send a shiver down her spine.
“I wasn’t allowed to cry, to show any emotion for them. When I did, she found them guilty immediately without listening to their case.” She knew now that her grandmother would have killed them anyway, but at the time, she thought it was her fault. In a way, it was. “She knew what that day was, what it meant.
“I went to bed that night not knowing what had happened to you. But then, the next day, I… felt you. I felt your pain.” Turning, she faced him and put a palm over his heart. “Not physical pain but sorrow. You were so incredibly sad, and I felt it, Gabriel. In that moment, I knew you were alive and well, but something horrible had happened.”
He wrapped his arms around her with a nod. “That was when I realized it was Rose, not me.”
She understood that now. But that wasn’t her point in sharing the story. “You know that if I could, I would break the curse. I love her like a sister, and I would take your pain away in a second if I knew how. Please believe that.”
Sniffling, he said, “I do.”
They stood like that for a long moment, alone in the courtyard ruins. She’d wanted to come here because it reminded her of her mother. It was where Brinley’s parents were married in a small ceremony, hidden from the rest of the world.
Breaking the silence, she whispered the words she’d held back since reuniting with Gabriel. “I love you.”
He stilled for a moment before he pushed her away enough to see her face. He visibly swallowed and seemed to consider his next statement. “I feel you as well, Brinley—your pain, your fear, your… love and joy.”
“You do?”
He nodded, his lips curving into a shy smile. “Like a tether to my soul.”
She sucked in a breath. That was exactly how she would have described it. “We’re tied together.”
“Yes, my beautiful bijou.” Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her brow.
There was no fighting the grin that overtook her mouth. At least, not until his next words.
“But you’re fifteen.”
“So?”
With a soft chuckle, he stepped back. “We have all the time in the world now. There’s no rush.”
She pouted, which elicited a louder laugh.
When he held out a hand, she took it, her palm fitting perfectly in his. He gave it a squeeze and led her to the exit. “Come on. Let’s go play cards with Rose and Pax.”
“Scared to be alone with me?” she teased.
He looked over and winked before they reached the dark, abandoned building. “Terrified.”
With that, she stepped closer to her mate, following him home.
Present day…
“You came for me again,” Brinley whispered, trying to wrap her mind around this revelation.
Gabriel let out a huff through his nose. “Of course I did.”
Then, she remembered more. “Gabriel, did… did my grandmother curse your village?”
He took her hand in his. Yes .
“Because you brought me here?” Her throat burned.
He brought her hand up to kiss it before leading her to the settee. “The day she took you and made you forget, it felt as if she ripped a part of my soul from my body. And then, she hid you somewhere beyond where I could travel during… I had no idea where she’d taken you, but I scoured the queendom for years in both forms.”
Her chest tightened. He’d spent so much time searching. “During the night of the full moon?”
Gabriel tapped her hand.
“But fête de la lune,” she said, lifting one knee up to pivot on the sofa toward him more. “Didn’t you need to attend that?”
He shook his head. “Not every time. I only attended when I was feeling particularly low and hopeless.”
“Gabriel…”
Lifting his free hand to her cheek, he leaned in closer. “Finding you was more important than a fucking party.”
She closed the distance between them to press her lips to his. Only because she still had so many questions did she stop kissing him. Her body screamed for more, but she needed answers first.
“How did you find that village I happened to be in? How did you get there so…” She shook her head. “You left before the full moon?” It took all night to make it to Zareia; they hadn’t reached it until almost dawn. Meaning he had to have left much earlier to make it there when the moon was up.
With a nod, he said, “Two days before, so I could search areas out farther. I knew your birthday would fall on the same night and thought maybe I would feel you once you started using your magic again. Happening across the right place was either a massive coincidence or fate. I strongly believe it was fate that brought me to you, that let me find and save you from both the rogues and your grandmother.”
Brinley didn’t know what to say. Her grandmother was strict and harsh, but she wasn’t normally cruel. Though, even as she thought it, she knew that wasn’t true. That day of seeing all those DeLoup going to the noose would haunt her forever.
But Queen Mildred had experienced so much hurt in her life. The DeLoup had killed everyone she’d ever loved—her parents, her husband, her two sons. She blamed them for the death of Brinley’s mother too. After losing almost everything, her heart had grown cold and hard. She shielded it with iron, not letting anyone in too close.
Except Brinley. There was never any doubt that her grandmother loved her. Sure, she wasn’t a doting old lady who baked pies and told bedtime stories, but she cared in her own ways. She did everything in her power to protect Brinley. It was all to protect her.
And now, she was gone.
“When you brought me here, I was sure you were going to torture and kill me because of her, because I was the heiress,” she said, shifting to lean into Gabriel’s side. It still didn’t feel real that she should now be the queen. She kept forgetting that monumental truth. “You should hate me.”
“I could never hate you.” He squeezed her hand.
“But I’m a witch.”
“You’re my mate .”
The declaration made her heart flutter. He said it with such surety, such confidence.
“Even if I didn’t want to admit it, I couldn’t resist the pull to protect you.”
She almost laughed at that. “You threatened to rip my heart out.”
“Yeah… and then immediately fucked you on that desk.” He tugged on her hand, drawing her closer.
Smiling, she obeyed. She moved onto her knees and straddled his lap, grateful for the loose, flowing skirt of today’s navy dress. As she lowered, his arms came down around her, holding her to him. She twisted hers behind his neck.
“You knew this whole time who I was.” It wasn’t a question or an accusation, simply a statement, her realizing the truth. When he nodded, she sighed and leaned fully against him, hugging him and resting her chin on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. For everything. I…”
“It’s not your fault.” He tightened his embrace. “I mean it, Brinley. I never blamed you for anything. You’ve just been a pawn in this war, and it makes me sick.”
She heard the honesty in his tone, and yet, she couldn’t believe it. How could he not see that it was her fault? If she hadn’t come here six years ago, his people wouldn’t have been cursed and trapped in their wolf forms beyond these walls. And if that hadn’t happened, maybe they could have found a way to save Rose.
Whose curse was also somehow related to her.
“Gabriel, did she kill my father?” she whispered. Everyone had told her he died when she was a toddler, that he was killed by wolves while trying to protect her and her mother. Weeks ago, Gabriel denied that and said that he had been trying to protect them, but it had been the witches who’d ended his life. But he wasn’t specific.
Gabriel’s thumb brushed her side in a soothing motion.
She closed her eyes. Not wanting to hear it, she scrambled out of his lap and turned away. “Never mind. Please don’t say it.”
“You know it’s true.” He got up and stood behind her. “They have been killing us for centuries, bijou.”
A sob made its way up her throat. She covered her face with both hands as a shudder ran through her. Gabriel wrapped her in a hug from behind, covering her body with his, as if to shield her from this pain. Because she knew what he would say next. She knew who killed her own father, and she couldn’t bear the thought.
So, instead, she asked, “Was it… because of me?”
His silence was all the answer she needed. She dropped to her knees, shaking her head and crying. Gabriel lowered beside her, not leaving her.
“My father once told me that you were the hope of our people.” He smoothed her hair back from her brow. “It’s one of the reasons he tried so hard to get you out of the castle, though he also loved you as the daughter of his best friend. He said your parents’ union and your birth was the chance to stop this war and prove that both races could co-exist. But the royal council didn’t like that; they didn’t want to give up power.”
She sat back on her feet. As he brushed away the dampness on her cheeks, she whispered, “You mean the High Sorceress didn’t want to give up power.”
Sympathy filled his gaze. He hesitated only a moment before nodding.
“I…” Her pain, her grief, began taking a new shape. A rattling sound came from the shelf as the room shook with her growing anger.
“Brinley, you need to calm down,” Gabriel said. “Breathe.”
She bared her teeth at him and stood, clenching and releasing her fists over and over. A book tumbled from the bookshelf. Something glass shattered, and in the distance, she heard another person shout.
Gabriel appeared in front of her again. He took her face in both hands and pressed his lips to hers. She tried to pull away, needing destruction, but he was stronger when she wasn’t using her magic on him. He wrapped one arm around her waist, anchoring her to him.
Slowly, the room settled. The rattling stopped. But he didn’t let her go. His tongue pushed past her lips as he deepened the kiss, distracting her, bringing her back to the present. This time, when she pushed away, he broke the kiss to hold her gaze.
They stood like that for a long moment before she whispered, “Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
The door opened, and Paxton appeared. “Are you two all right? What was?—”
“We’re fine,” Gabriel said. “Just talking about some painful histories. It’s under control now.”
“Are you sure? The entire house was shaking.”
“We’re sure.” Gabriel looked over her at his friend.
Paxton chuckled. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t barge in on you two going at it. I came back for Rose’s blanket—Joel is sitting with her—and as I was opening the door, I had the briefest fear that the tremble was caused by an intense org?—”
“Paxton,” Gabriel growled. “Get. Out.”
Brinley turned to smile at the beta. “Thank you for checking on us.”
“Of course.” He dipped his head with a smirk.
“Now, please close the door so your fear can come true.”
He laughed harder and made to leave when she called out to him.
“Oh, and Paxton?” When he paused and glanced back at her, she said, “Unless you plan on joining, don’t return for a while.”
Ignoring Gabriel’s warning growl, Paxton winked. “Tempting, Princess.”
With that, he left them alone. Brinley walked to the door and flipped the lock. When she faced Gabriel again, he stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed.
“You shouldn’t encourage him like that,” he said as she slowly moved toward him. “What if he tried to take you up on that offer?” He grabbed her by the hips and tugged her close.
She knew he wouldn’t. Even if he was fighting it, the man was clearly in love with Rose.
Before she could come up with a response, Gabriel added, “I don’t share.”
Brinley’s lips curled into a small smile. “What if it was Joel and we wanted to share you for a night?”
Gabriel growled, but she could see the desire darken his gaze.
Chuckling, she reached down to take his hand. “Come on, let’s go break our final rule.”