44. Brinley
Chapter 44
Brinley
T he sun had long since set when footsteps approached the drawing room. A few of the gas lamps had been left simmering, so Brinley wasn’t in complete darkness, but it was still difficult to make out the dark figure in the doorway at first. Before she could register his familiarity, his hand lifted and the lights brightened.
Brinley blinked, letting her eyes adjust. “She left you to watch over me?”
“Once I convinced her I agreed with her, yes,” André said with a smirk as he leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest.
Of course he was on Mildred’s side. If Brinley had any tears left, she might have cried again.
But then, he flicked his wrist, and the ropes around her fell to the floor. Her lips parted, and she slowly stood, trying to figure out if this was a trap. “What are you doing? Why would you let me go?”
And how had he done that? Was he strong enough? Or was it because Mildred’s magic faded with distance?
André straightened and dropped his smile. “We might not be blood, but you’re my family, Brinley. You’re my sister.”
She let out a shuddering breath before running toward him for the second time in as many days. And just like before, he wrapped her in a tight hug.
“I love you,” he whispered. “I’m so, so sorry about all of this. I promise, I had no idea about your mother. I believed your grandmother was keeping you from the wolves to protect you; she said she took your memories because she didn’t want you to keep suffering from what they did to you and your mother. That’s why I stopped questioning her. I was the one who helped them take you that last time, and I knew you and Gabriel had grown close, but she was so convincing, Brinley. I thought he hurt you.”
Nodding against him, she said, “I believe you.”
“I thought it was my fault.” Pain filled his voice. “Whatever they’d done to you, it was because of me, and I couldn’t…”
“Nothing happened to me,” she said, squeezing him tighter. “You did nothing wrong.” She didn’t doubt him one bit. They had been too close over the years, and she couldn’t believe it was all a lie. “I love you.”
“And you love this DeLoup alpha?” There wasn’t a shred of judgment in his tone, only curiosity.
“So much it hurts.” Brinley leaned back to see his face. “He’s my mate.”
André smiled. “Well, then, we better get going if we want to catch them.”
“ We ?”
“Of course,” he said, guiding her from the room. “You don’t think I’d make you face her alone, do you? Besides, I’ve worked for her since I was a boy. If anyone knows what she’s capable of, it’s the two of us, but I’m the only one with training.”
It was her turn to grin. As they headed toward a door in the rear of the house, she raised a hand and doused all the lights. “That’s not entirely true.”
He laughed and opened the door. “You’ve been busy these last few months.”
“Gabriel helped me,” she said in a hushed tone.
André wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her away from this prison. As if understanding, he said, “We’ll reach him in time. We’ll stop her.”
She looked up at the night sky. All her life, she’d loved watching the stars and moon, but now the sight filled her with dread. In just a couple days, the moon would be full. If they left now, by the time they reached Zareia, it would be the last possible day to break the curse. If they found horses, of course. She wondered if the witches had taken them all, if they had taken Stella.
“Even if we make it, I don’t know how to break the curse without her.”
“Then, it’s a good thing I might.”
Brinley snapped her gaze toward him. “How?”
“I’ll tell you on the way,” he said. “First, we need to steal some horses.”
Every single part of Brinley’s body ached, but she refused to slow down or take a break until absolutely necessary. In other words, she wouldn’t stop until the horses needed to. By some miracle, Stella had been left in the stables. Brinley and André had shared her until they reached the next village, where he bought a second horse. They then rode north.
They’d stopped for a short time the first night to rest, much to her dismay. Being so far from Gabriel was torturous. Not only because she missed him but because she felt so out of control of the situation. She needed to get back so that she could try to stop the queen. After Brinley’s desperate pleas to keep going, they’d ridden through the second night and into the morning. As they cleared another field of wild grass and flowers, André said, “Brinley, we need to stop.”
They reached the shade of the forest and slowed—the same forest that extended all the way to Zareia. Even still, it was already afternoon. Their time was running out.
“We can’t,” she said, shaking her head.
“If we don’t, our horses won’t make it the entire way. They need water and rest. We do too, otherwise we’ll be useless once we get there.”
There was a tightening in her gut, but she knew he was right. “Fine, but not for too long.”
The closer they got to Gabriel, the more she could feel that tug guiding her home.
As she and André headed toward a spring, winding through the trees, this feeling of such sorrow and longing reminded her of something. She stopped and dismounted, her stomach churning.
“André, when we first moved to West Trillor six years ago, I was…” She led Stella to the water, trying to figure out how to word this. Grabbing her own waterskin, she took a long gulp.
“Brin?”
She turned toward her best friend, the man who’d been by her side through everything. No one knew her better than he did. Not even Gabriel. Though, she hoped they would get the chance to change that.
André moved to sit on a large boulder. His dark brown gaze held hers as he waited.
With a sigh, she went to sit next to him. “I was so unbelievably sad and couldn’t figure out why. People kept telling me it was grief for my parents and that I missed home, but it wasn’t the castle I missed, was it? You told me it was melancholia, at one point, but it… it was Gabriel, right?”
He nodded. “She took your memories but didn’t break the mate bond. Only those connected to one another can choose to break it. I assume it was your soul crying out for him, even if you didn’t know him anymore.”
A moment passed with nothing but the sound of trickling water and the horses. In between the time her grandmother— Mildred —had left with more than a few dozen sorcières and human guards and when André came to release Brinley, he’d prepared for their journey, packing enough water and food to get them through the next few days if needed. He went and pulled out some dried beef for them to share.
Setting her water down, she stretched out her back as she nibbled on it. She couldn’t really bring herself to eat. She just wanted to get back to her mate. Instead of focusing on the urgency dwelling within, she asked, “So, how exactly are we going to break this curse?”
They’d barely talked as they raced north. André lowered beside her once more. “Her wording, to my recollection, was that a sorcière must fully love and accept DeLoup.”
“But I do,” she whispered. “I love Gabriel. I love the friends I’ve made there.”
“It’s more than that though, I think.” Finished eating, he picked up a twig from the ground and twisted it around in his hands, as if needing something to occupy them. “If that was all it took, why would she hide you away specifically? You’re the one who can break the curse.”
Brinley already knew that much. “Yes, but how?”
“Because you’re one of them,” he said in a soft tone. “They’re your people, Brinley.”
“I know, but that still doesn’t help me.” She snatched up a pebble and tossed it into the stream. “I’ve accepted that too. That’s why I was…”
“Going to return for good?”
She sighed. “You and that damned clairvoyance.”
André leaned over to bump her shoulder with his. “I didn’t need my power to know that. I see how much you miss them—miss him —and how much it hurt you to hear your grandmother speak so harshly against them.”
“They’re not monsters,” she whispered, holding her cloak around her more.
“I believe you.”
“André, I… I have to make it in time to stop her. If she kills them?—”
He put a hand over hers. “She won’t. We’re not far now, right? We should make it by nightfall.”
“Which will give me approximately no time to confront her and figure out how to break the curse by midnight. It’s not just about them being able to leave their village in whichever form they want,” she explained. “Most of them could live with that part of the curse, but it’s killing Rose. She’s been getting sicker, weaker with each passing day, and we don’t know what’s going to happen if the curse becomes permanent.”
“She’s not dying. She will enter an eternal slumber, remember?” André ran a hand over the top of his short, dark hair.
“Eternal slumber,” she repeated under her breath. Rose wouldn’t die, but she’d fall asleep forever. It would destroy Gabriel all the same, not to mention Paxton. “So, how do I break the curse? You said you might know how, but I’ve already admitted to loving and accepting them. Why isn’t that enough?”
“Throughout the years, I’ve heard stories of the DeLoup beta who was killed for falling in love with a witch,” he started. “I didn’t know he was your father, but it all adds up. Your mother was… grief-ridden by the time I knew her. I can only imagine how full of love and life she was before he died because I see her in you.”
Brinley’s chest ached, and she pressed a hand to her broken heart. Her memories of her mother were so muddled and vague, but she’d started dreaming of those days they’d visited her father. The times she’d played near this same stream with Gabriel when they were children.
“But here’s the thing, Brinley.” André turned to face her more. “It’s not just her in you. Your father is there too. You are part DeLoup, and until you come to terms with that and accept it, I don’t think this curse is going to break.”