Page 63 of Turret

But I was no longer the sickly princess—I wasGemma. If my relationship with my brother had become strained, I would do all in my power to fix it.

Yet my determination did little to quell the nerves knotting my stomach, especially when my not-quite-dormant fears seemed determined to remind me of the brother I’d witnessed in the tower mirrors—a cold, beastly man who was nothing more than a shadow of who he used to be.

Quinn stood in his usual position beside me, and though he couldn’t see my expression, he was attuned to my restlessness. He reached for my hand and wove his fingers through mine. Calm immediately enveloped me. I glanced up at him, a question in my look he couldn’t see, but which he seemed to sense anyway.

“All will be well.” And he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

His words and presence helped me remain calm as we waited for Briar to complete his duties and approach us. His gaze darted briefly to our intertwined hands, but looked neither surprised nor, to my relief, disapproving, though he did appear displeased to find me standing.

“Forgive me for keeping you waiting. You should have done so inside where it’s warmer so you wouldn’t overexert yourself.”

Though I was exhausted from the events of the long night and still hadn’t regained all the energy mother had drained from me, I still felt a twinge of annoyance that my poor health would be the topic of our first exchange in three years. “But waiting indoors would only delay our reunion. I’ve missed you.”

His expression immediately softened into the kind, brotherly look I remembered well. “As I’ve missed you.” He enfolded me in a warm embrace.

At first I stood stiffly, surprised by this rare show of affection from my rather stoic brother, before I melted into the brotherly love filling his arms. In them I felt an assurance that despite a childhood of distance, it wasn’t too late to forge a relationship with my siblings.

He pulled back and rested his hands on my shoulders to slowly take me in. I studied him just as carefully, searching for any sign of the hardened man I’d seen within the tower, but to my relief he was all gentleness.

“How are you feeling? Were you comfortable in the tower? Did you receive enough medical care?” His brow furrowed when he noticed my cuts from the broken mirrors. “You’re bleeding.”

Beside me Quinn stiffened. “You are? What happened?” He gently felt along my arms until he came to the blood staining my torn sleeve. His frantic reaction only confirmed the wisdom in keeping my injuries to myself.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing to your broken leg.”

Briar frowned at Quinn’s roughly splinted leg. “You’re in need of the medicinal garden’s magical healing herbs. I will bring some.” He helped both of us settle on a nearby bench to wait. I did so reluctantly, wishing I could retrieve these herbs myself so that I could explore the herbs filling this garden. But it would have to wait.

My brother was absent just long enough for me to relay the story of what had happened with Mother to Quinn, but not too long to force me to endure Quinn’s disapproval that I’d almost made such a dangerous deal on his behalf.

Despite my protests, Briar tended to me first. He rubbed a pasty orange substance on each of my cuts, and with each of his gentle touches the stinging pain faded. He turned his attention to Quinn’s broken leg, which required a brown, almost muddy paste.

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from asking questions about what these enchanted concoctions were made of so as not to alert my brother to my growing interest in herbs too soon; I was certain he’d disapprove and I was in no mood to endure a lecture now.

When he’d finished, my cuts had sealed and no longer hurt, and Quinn was able to put weight on his leg, though Briar said it’d be tender for several weeks. Now that our injuries had been tended, Briar studied me again, this time with less worry.

He smiled. “You’ve certainly grown up. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“Nor I you. You’ve grown into your new title well.”

He blinked in surprise. “Did news of my inheritance reach where you were being kept?”

“The tower showed me.” Along with many other things. They crowded my mind as Briar greeted Quinn and then offered me his arm, which I accepted to allow him to escort me from the garden, keeping my other hand woven securely through Quinn’s, both to guide him and because I didn’t want to let him go. I needed his strength for the conversation that was sure to come.

Despite years of longing to experience the beauty of the enchanted gardens and their palpable excitement at seeing me, I scarcely noticed my wondrous surroundings throughout our stroll through the palace grounds. The dark images from the tower cast a shadow over everything, as haunting now as they’d been when I’d first seen them.

I stole a sideways glance at Briar, searching his expression for any sign of the frightening beast…yet there was no sign of his previous indifference. But that didn’t change what I’d seen in the tower, whose visions had been reflections of the outside world, and I knew they were true. Did I dare ask him about it?

He felt my stare and glanced over, a question puckering his brow. “Is something troubling you?”

The knots invading my stomach tightened. Only Quinn’s reassuring squeeze of my hand gave me the courage to speak. “When did you stop looking for me?”

Briar’s eyes widened in astonishment. “I’ve never once stopped looking for you.”

I frowned. That couldn’t be true, for the moment he’d given up on finding me had been seared permanently into my memory with no way to possibly forget or misconstrue. “But youdid. I saw it, Briar.”

His confusion only deepened. He slowed to fully face me. “What did you see, and how?”

I took a steadying breath. “The tower possessed the ability to show me glimpses of not only my past but of the outside world, allowing me to know what was occurring at home. I saw many things—Father’s death, Drake and his wife’s struggles to conceive, Reve losing her memories, and…a scene with you.” I bit my lip, hesitating for only a moment. “You stood with Drake in the foyer, informing him you would no longer waste precious resources on searching for me. You were angry and so…frightening. Did the tower make the event up?”

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