Page 114 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

Power screamed inside me, sealing my lips shut. Forcedsilent, I nodded at her, urging her to make the gods-damned choice already.

She scowled. “I don’t see how it’s a choice at all. Heliconia’s power was gifted by Hel. Why would I fight for the same side as my enemy?”

Fuck.

I blew out a breath, and with it, all my hope drained away.

The pain in my head receded, but the ache of disappointment hollowed me out to my very bones. She’d made her choice. My duty was done. But try as I might, I couldn’t make myself walk away. Not even the blood vow pounding in my veins had the power to override my need to protect her.

Whatever I did next was going to be reckless and stupid and would likely get me killed. But Duron would make his move on her soon. Maybe seeing the donation center would help her understand the danger she was truly in here. She could still choose to leave Grey Oak—to save herself. I couldn’t tell her what he had planned, but I could show her.

“Come on,” I said, taking her elbow and starting for the door.

“Where are we going?” she asked, but her feet moved with mine.

“The donation center. But I’m telling you now, you won’t like what you see.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Aurelia

The air around the donation center was thick with magic, but not the kind that had filled the streets of Rosewood with life. No, this was different—stifling, suffocating, like it was draining the very breath from the fae who passed by. The constant buzzing of whatever siphoning magic they used inside grated on my ears and made it impossible to stop imagining how it might work. Not that I ever wanted to find out for myself.

Rydian was silent and stiff beside me, hovering close as if he thought I might defy his order to remain out of sight. Part of me wanted to try if only to feel his hands on me again. But he’d been acting weird since our conversation in Callan’s study. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d disappointed him with my comment earlier. And I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how.

He’d been angry about the bargain I’d made. And still, he hadn’t hurt me. Somehow, I knew he never would. And that made his touch all the more dangerous. Especially out here where anyone might see.

Not many pedestrians ventured by us, though. Thelocation on the outskirts of the city meant it wasn’t exactly on the way to much else. But I had a feeling most avoided it out of principle. It could’ve been smack in the city center, and the Autumn fae would have taken the long way around it.

I didn’t blame them.

The building loomed ahead, a cold, squat thing that seemed more like a prison than a government building. The fae coming out shuffled like shadows of themselves, shoulders sagging, eyes glazed over. On the right, a line wound out of the main entrance and down the sidewalk where those waiting to make their donation huddled. They looked worn down already—as if they’d accepted their fate, and that acceptance alone had drained them of something vital even before they’d passed through the doors.

I’d thought I needed to see it for myself, to understand what Callan’s kingdom had become. But all it did was break my heart in two.

“They’re walking to their deaths,” I said.

Rydian didn’t respond, but I felt his gaze on me—the displeasure of it thrummed right alongside the magic in the air. He was upset, but I had no idea why.

A fae woman stumbled out the front doors, her skin ashen, her eyes glazed and empty. The sight of it hit me like a punch to the chest, and I barely suppressed a gasp.

This fate felt so much worse than the one my own family had been cursed with. Guilt tugged at me, raw and sharp-edged as I thought about this horror happening just across Summer’s borders. All the while, I’d been crying over the Summer fae’s perpetual sleep.

This was on me.

Callan and Duron might’ve enforced this atrocity, but I was the one the prophecy had been written for. I was the one who had the power to stop the monster who’d cursed us all.Instead, I’d thought only of my own people’s fate while the rest of the realm suffered their own nightmare.

“Aurelia.” Rydian’s voice was gentler than I’d ever heard it. But I didn’t want to be coddled.

I clenched my fists. “This is monstrous.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything, didn’t agree. He didn’t need to. His silence was enough, his presence beside me an echo of my own outrage.

I watched as another fae, this one barely older than sixteen, exited the building. His eyes were dim, his shoulders sagging. No one even glanced at him as he ducked his head and hurried down the street.

I turned to Rydian, the rage building inside me. “How long has it been like this?”

“Long enough,” he said, his voice flat. He didn’t look at me, his eyes fixed ahead, jaw clenched tight.

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