Page 115 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

I shook my head, disgust curling in my stomach. “You all just… let this happen?”

His gaze snapped to mine. His temper sliced through me, cutting so deeply I winced away. “You’ve spent the last seven years with your head buried in the sand while the rest of us suffered. You have no idea what I let happen, nor do you have any right to judge me for it.”

I blinked, shocked at the vehemence behind his words and convicted by the truth in them. I’d been naïve—and stupid—to think my suffering was worse than anyone else’s.

Rydian was right that day in the Broadlands.

I’d been hiding.

Shame burned inside me.

But I wasn’t going to hide anymore. I owed it to these fae to fight with everything I had.

“It has to stop,” I said. “We have to stop it.”

I made it one step out of the alcove before Rydian grabbed me.

Our eyes met. His own darkened as he studied me.

“Let go of me,” I said.

He let out a breath, but it wasn’t acquiescence—it was something bitter, almost mocking. “So you can do what exactly?” His voice dripped with skepticism, and something else—resentment? “Walk in and burn the place to the ground? That should go well.”

“I’ll find a way,” I snapped harsher than I’d meant to, but I couldn’t stop the fire burning inside me. Mostly over the fact that he’d guessed my reckless plan so easily. “These people are being drained of their magic, their lives?—”

“And you’re going to what? Ask them to refuse? To fight?” His voice cut through my racing thoughts. “This is the only way some of them survive. The contributions they make here keep their families safe. You would ask them to risk that safety while you sit, warm and kept, inside that castle?”

I flinched at the bite in his words, but I didn’t back down. “We’re supposed to protect them, not?—”

“They don’t need your protection,” he said, his gaze dark and unreadable. “They need someone who understands how this world works.”

“And you think I don’t understand?” I took a step closer, my heart pounding in my chest. He was standing too close, the space between us charged, but it wasn’t just with the tension of an argument. No, it was something more, something that made the air feel too thin, made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

Rydian’s eyes flashed, his expression hardening. “I think you have no idea what kind of danger you’re playing with.”

“I’m not playing. I’m trying to help?—”

“No,” he cut me off, his voice low and angry. “You’re trying to feel better about yourself. But you made your choice.”

His words stung more than I wanted to admit, but it was the look in his eyes that hurt the most. Where he’d been openbefore, now there was only a wall. And that infernal mask. I’d told myself it was an act, one I was learning to see through, but in this moment, I couldn’t as much as glimpse the male who’d sworn to destroy anything that touched me.

I shook my head. “Why do you care so much about my choices, anyway?” I asked, my voice trembling with the need to hear him say it.

His jaw clenched again. He glanced to the line of fae ahead of us then back to me. For a moment, I thought he might actually answer, might finally tell me what it was he really felt about me. But then, just as quickly, he shut down.

“You don’t belong here,” he said, stepping back, his voice colder than ever.

I felt the sting of his words deep in my chest, but I refused to let him see it. “Maybe not. But I’m here now, and I’m not going to stand by and watch these people suffer.”

He stared at me for a long moment, and in his eyes, I saw the war he was fighting within himself. He didn’t think I could change anything. And yet, there was something in the way he looked at me, something that made me think maybe—just maybe—he wished I would try.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Aurelia

The heavy doors of Callan’s study creaked open as I stepped inside, not waiting for his permission. I was too angry for niceties, and the quiet of the palace felt suffocating after what I’d just seen. The image of the fae, drained and weakened, still burned in my mind, and every step toward Callan filled me with a fury that made my magic hum beneath my skin.

Rydian’s words had hurt, but I was done hiding. I would do this with or without his help. He trailed behind me now, the loyal hound watching my back as his brother had ordered.

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