41. Brinley
Chapter 41
Brinley
H er grandmother pushed to her feet and closed the distance between them, folding Brinley into her arms. Cooing over her, holding her tightly, she said, “Oh, my sweet girl.”
As a child, Brinley had loved staying with her grandmother in the palace in Créll. But over time, the woman grew distant. Then, when Brinley’s mother was killed, her grandmother sent her away ‘to protect her’. For more than a decade, she’d been the only parental figure Brinley knew. Yet, she wasn’t truly there for her. More than that, she’d kept Brinley away from the DeLoup, repeatedly taking her from them when they attempted to bring her home. She had killed Brinley’s father and kept her away from his people. Her people .
She’d taken Brinley away from her mate and made her forget him.
With great effort, Brinley didn’t let the angry emotions show across her face. If there was a chance of this happening, she needed to act somewhat clueless for now.
“Where were you?” her grandmother asked, pushing her away to look her up and down. Her nose scrunched as she took in Brinley’s pants and belted tunic. Shaking her head, her tone shifted, sounding almost angry. “Where did you get these clothes, Brinley?”
“From a new friend.” She supposed now was as good a time as any to jump in. “I have much to tell you.”
“I’ll give you two some space.” André turned to go.
Brinley reached out to grab his arm. “No, please stay.”
His eyes widened a fraction in surprise but only for a moment before he nodded. She understood; she was shocked by her reaction too. Even if she didn’t believe her grandmother had worked with the rogues to have her killed, she didn’t trust the woman. And she wanted her friend beside her.
Her grandmother returned to her chair while Brinley and André took the adjacent dark blue sofa. Brinley didn’t know where to start. She had so many questions, but she feared the answers to most. To save Gabriel’s people though, she needed to do this.
“What happened the night of my birthday?” she asked first. “Who attacked the village?”
“The DeLoup.” Her grandmother’s brow furrowed. “You know that.”
“Yes, but how did you survive?”
At that, the queen smiled a little. “I’m not the High Sorceress for nothing. I do hold quite a bit of power.”
Brinley nodded. That made sense, and she’d assumed her grandmother had been the one to save the others, but she needed to ease into the conversation.
“Brinley, where were you?” André asked beside her.
She remembered the fear that had consumed her when he left her in the cellar alone. When she heard his shouts and then the shifter appeared before she could shut the door. “I managed to escape, and I made it to another village. I thought you were all dead. They sent a few scouts the next morning but didn’t find any survivors.”
Not entirely a lie.
“We had to move quickly,” her grandmother explained. “We didn’t know if more would come back to finish us off. I had drained most of my magic in protecting those I could, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it two nights in a row. We searched and searched for you, but we didn’t find any sign you’d escaped. I… I thought they took you and…”
Shaking her head, Brinley reached over to hold her hand. “I’m fine. I was safe.”
She knew that now. There were no more doubts in her mind that Gabriel had saved her that night and that he never intended to keep her as a prisoner. He was always going to protect her. And now, it was her turn to save him.
“Do you know which pack it was?” she asked.
Her grandmother scoffed. “Does it matter?”
“It might. I learned some things while in the other village,” Brinley said, choosing her words carefully. “Apparently, there are rogues unassociated with the bigger packs who are staging these attacks. My new friends have caught a few and questioned them. They haven’t been able to gather much information, but it’s clear the rogues are wanting to spark a war between Les Sorcières and the DeLoup.”
“We’re already at war with the wolves.”
Brinley nodded. “Yes, but they want an active war. They want a reason to fight and kill us. They’re tired of this time of fragile peace.”
Her grandmother pursed her lips. Slipping her hand out from under Brinley’s, she braced her tilted head on it. “I have heard whispers of these rogues, but I don’t believe it was them. It was too big of a coincidence that it happened the one night I was there. It was too organized.”
“What do you mean?” She clasped her hands in her lap to keep from fidgeting or wringing them together.
“There is a large pack from the north who… doesn’t like me, to put it kindly. I think this was their work. We had to take a different route than I wanted to because of other villages being attacked, and I think they did that to lead us right into their trap.”
Brinley fought not to show any reaction on her face. “What pack?”
“The Crimson Pack. They’re one of the largest communities of DeLoup, occupying an entire village. And they want me dead specifically.” Her grandmother sighed.
“Why?” She could barely breathe.
“Brinley, there is a lot you don’t know, a lot of pain I have tried to shelter you from. Please don’t ask me these questions.”
She straightened, trying to appear more confident than she felt. “But I am your heiress. When I take the throne, I will need to know these types of things, right? I need to know our past.”
Her grandmother hesitated, staring at her as if attempting to figure out what information Brinley was truly after.
“She’s right,” André said. “She should know.”
Brinley glanced at her friend with a grateful smile, but the look on his face made her pause. So much sorrow filled his gaze. When he put a hand on her shoulder, he inclined his head once. She wasn’t sure if that meant he knew what she was hiding or what her grandmother was hiding.
“Fine,” her grandmother whispered with a sigh before jumping in. “Do you remember the stories of your grandfather at all?” When Brinley didn’t answer right away, the woman shook her head. “Don’t worry; I didn’t suspect so. He died before you were born, and it’s always been so difficult to talk about him. He was… killed by the Crimson Pack.”
Unsure what to say, Brinley stayed quiet and waited for more.
“I will admit, I made some rash decisions back then. He was the love of my life though, so the grief and anger just consumed me.” Clearing her throat, she lowered her hand to her lap and lifted her head. “In my need for revenge, I led an attack on their village, Zareia, when you were just a little thing. I killed one of their leaders before it ended, but the back and forth was far from over. They were responsible for your parents’ deaths after that, and then they attempted to come after you.”
“That’s why you sent me to live in those small villages,” Brinley said with a nod, acting the part and reciting what she was supposed to know.
“I hated sending you away, but I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you too. So, I thought it was the best option—to hide you until you came of age and I could train you to use your magic properly. I knew, in time, you could become powerful enough to protect yourself from these monsters.”
André squeezed Brinley’s shoulder. She already knew all that though. This was it. She had to tell the truth now.
“I think we can stop this cycle,” she started quietly. “We can end this war. I can end this war with your help.”
“The only way it’s ever going to stop is with all of them dead.”
This time, Brinley couldn’t help but grimace. “But what if they were willing to talk and negotiate some sort of peace?”
Her grandmother stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “Even if we attempted it, we can’t trust them. They’re all vicious beasts, Brinley.”
Taking a deep breath, she said, “No, they’re not.”
“Excuse me?”
“They’re not the monsters you think they are.” She stood, needing to move around. “Most of them don’t want this war any more than we do. They just want to live their lives.”
“How could you possibly know that?” her grandmother asked, though her tone implied her suspicions.
Brinley stopped pacing, but she still couldn’t bring herself to say it. At least, not until André said, “Tell us, sweetheart.”
Nodding, she started rambling. “The last few months, I was in Zareia with the Crimson Pack. Their alpha, Gabriel, is who found me the night of the attack and helped me escape. He protected me, brought me to safety… I’ve been living among his people all this time, and I can assure you none of them are these vicious beasts you speak of. But they are suffering; the families in that village are struggling because of a?—”
“Brinley, stop,” André said, cutting her off.
She glanced at him in confusion, but his eyes were on her grandmother. Her very quiet grandmother, whose face had contorted into what Brinley could only describe as pure rage. Despite her age, the queen shot to her feet. Trinkets on the bookshelves and the teacups on a small side table rattled with the rest of the room.
Ah, so that’s where that little trick comes from.
“You were there,” her grandmother whispered. “You were with those vile creatures?”
“They’re not vile?—”
“They destroyed this family! They ruined your mother.” She examined Brinley up and down again, this time with disgust. “He ruined you too, didn’t he? That boy pretending to play alpha.”
The back of Brinley’s throat burned, but she refused to back down. “Gabriel is a great alpha. He cares about his people tremendously, cares about?—”
She slammed her lips shut before she could reveal too much. She’d been ready to say that he cared about her.
Her grandmother sneered. “You are just like her.” Jaw visibly clenched, she turned to André. “Can you tell if she’s with child?”
Brinley’s eyebrows shot up, her eyes widening. “What? No, I’m not.”
But it wasn’t until André confirmed it with his magic that her grandmother faced Brinley again.
“Good. Perhaps you’re smarter than your mother after all.”
Brinley felt as if the breath had been knocked from her lungs. “So, it’s true? My father was DeLoup.”
Her grandmother lifted a hand, and Brinley was moved against her will. She landed in the armchair. Before she could ask what was going on, ropes appeared and tied her to the seat. André stood. “What are you doing?”
She ignored him. “Yes, your father was DeLoup, and when I found out my daughter was pregnant and planning to marry him, I forbade it. I all but locked her away, promising not to touch you. It would’ve been easy enough to hide your heritage; I managed to do so most of your life.” Her grandmother walked toward the doorway. She stopped and leaned against the frame. “You were born, and she agreed to stay away from your father, admitting it had been nothing but a foolish mistake. My mistake was believing her. I caught word that she’d started sneaking out to see him, bringing you with her.”
The meadow. Brinley bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming and crying.
“I confronted her, locked her up again, but she escaped,” her grandmother went on. “When you were three, she tried to run away with you for good, and she actually made it to Zareia. They offered her refuge without question because of their beta, whom she married in secret, but also because of you.”
Brinley’s head reeled, her chest aching. It was one thing to hear about it from Gabriel, but for her grandmother to openly admit it all…
“Of course, that left me no choice but to go in and get her,” she went on. “I killed him, hoping that would be the end of it—your mother would grieve but move on, and then we could all pretend it never happened. But she wouldn’t let it go. Her grief was so strong. And even without the filthy monster’s protection, she threatened to leave with you again. She mourned in her rooms for years before escaping with you again. I went in that time with a smaller group to retrieve her, giving her one last chance to put it all behind her, but she refused. I dragged her home, and it was a never-ending nightmare. So, she left me no choice.”
Brinley’s mouth opened, but she had no words. Her grandmother couldn’t have been implying that she… “You killed her.”
“I did what was necessary to protect you and our family line.”