Page 121 of A Game of Love and Betrayal

After River had finished turning Brynleigh’s world upside down, Brynleigh walked back to the dining hall in a daze. She told Ryker she wasn’t feeling well and needed to go home.

It was the truth.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t fucking do anything at all.

The moment the sun set, Brynleigh left the Waterborns in their mansion and launched into the sky. Shadows streamed from her, covering her as she flew aimlessly through the night.

She couldn’t get River’s words out of her head.

“Six years ago, I made a mistake.”

A rushing, roaring sound had started in Brynleigh’s ears, and it hadn’t let up since.

“My magic was too powerful. I didn’t know… it slammed into me. I was out with some friends, and it just… poured from me. I… tried to stop it, but I couldn’t. I lost control.” She shuddered. “It’s my curse. My burden.”

Lost. Control.

How could such small words be used to describe the death and destruction of that night?

River had looked at Brynleigh with tears in her eyes.

Gods-damned, fucking tears.

As if she cared. As if she was pained by it. As if she was the one who had lost everything that night.

“The storm was too big. I tried to reel it in, to make the rain cease, but I couldn’t. It wouldn’t listen to me.”

Shadows had slipped from Brynleigh’s fingers. She hadn’t even noticed they left her until the light was nearly gone from the study.

No.

Brynleigh had wanted to stand, scream, and tell River to stop, but her mouth had been incapable of forming words. She was a statue, rendered immobile by the confession she’d never expected to hear.

“It poured out of me like water from a broken dam.”

“No!” Brynleigh yelled again, her wings carrying her across the darkened sky.

How could this be happening? Brynleigh had done the math quickly, sitting on that blood-red couch. River had been fifteen at the time. Not even Mature. Not even an adult.

How could someone so young be responsible for such devastation?

Brynleigh had so many questions, so much to say, but in the end, she’d stared at River.

“Ryker came. He saved me and stopped the storm before even more people could be hurt, but the destruction…” More tears had slipped down River’s cheek, and she buried her face in her hands. “He’s so good, and I’m so fucking dangerous.”

How could Brynleigh have missed this? Moreover, how could Jelisette have missed this?

Brynleigh yelled into the night, letting the shadows devour the sound of her anguish. It didn’t help. No matter how often she cried out, it didn’t alter the reality of what she’d learned.

Wrong. It was all fucking wrong. Nothing made sense anymore. Not a single thing.

Brynleigh had left without hurting a hair on River’s head. She’d been frozen by disbelief but couldn’t have done anything even if she hadn’t been.

Not really.

Killing Ryker was one thing. He was a decorated officer in the army and a fully grown, Mature fae.

River was twenty-one. Barely a legal adult. Even by her own admission, she’d lost control of her magic and made a mistake. One that had cost Brynleigh everything… but it was a mistake.

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