Page 14 of Break Her Heart
“I’m coming with you,” I said, turning to face them both. I was barely holding it together. “To the castle. I’ll live there too.”
Bronwen looked at me, her brows pulling together in silent protest, but it was August who responded first.
He tilted his head slightly, that ever-present smugness tugging at the corner of his mouth. “That won’t work.”
“Why not?” I snapped. “She’s my sister. I’m not leaving her there alone.”
August’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Because that’s where most of the vampires live. Hundreds of them. I will have my hands full keeping them in line as it is. I can’t protect both of you.”
He said it like it was a kindness. Like he was doingmea favor.
My jaw tightened. “Then don’t. I’ll protect myself.”
“Adar—” Bronwen pleaded.
“No,” I said. “If this is happening, then I’m staying close. You don’t get to shut me out again.”
Bronwen stepped closer, her eyes wide. “Adar, listen to me—you can’t be there. You need to be with the coven. They need a leader now more than ever.”
I blinked at her, stunned. “Why do you even care about the coven?” I asked, the bitterness slipping out before I could stop it. “You’ve spent your whole life hating them! Hating how they treated us.”
Her jaw clenched. “Because it’s what Papa would have wanted,” she said, her voice cracking at the edges. “He spent his life trying to keep them safe. Trying to keep us safe. If I can do that now—ifwecan give them a future without fear—then I won’t turn my back on that. Not now.”
I stayed quiet, the silence stretching. There was so much I wanted to say, so much I didn’t know how to. I saw the guilt she had for what happened to them, and I knew there was nothing I could say to help her. She was going to drown in her own guilt if she didn’t find a way to honor Papa and Mama.
Bronwen shifted closer. “You can move into town. It’ll be safer, and closer. We can meet for breakfast every morning. You won’t be far.”
“Every morning won’t work. Weekly—maybe.”
She glanced at August. I waited for her to argue, but instead she nodded. She fuckingagreedwith him. I had never seen her so submissive with someone.
“Weekly breakfast.” She leaned in to whisper as if he still couldn’t hear everything she said, “unless I can sneak away more.”
Her words tugged at something inside me—something fragile and tired. I didn’t want to let her go. But I knew where she was going wasn’t just some grand hall with velvet curtains and royalguards. The castle wasn’t just a building. It was a prison filled with bloodthirsty monsters.
I saw it written all over her: she was scared. But she was still walking in anyway. Because she thought it was the only way forward.
And gods help me, I wanted to scream. To beg. To fight her on this. But I didn’t.
Because the truth was, Papa would’ve seen it too. The logic behind it. The sacrifice. The strength it took to offer yourself up like that.
So instead, I nodded.
“You won’t be far,” she said again. “It’ll be different now.”
A pointed cough cut through the fragile quiet. August shifted in his chair, the chains binding him rattling faintly. “Now that we’ve all had our heartfelt little moment, can someone take these off?”
I turned to him slowly, jaw tight. He looked too calm. Like he hadn’t just sat here and dismantled everything we believed in. Like he wasn’t enjoying every second of this.
But Bronwen’s gaze was already on him.
There was something in the way she looked at him now—not affection, not exactly. But familiarity. Like she’d accepted something about him I couldn’t. Maybe didn’t want to.
My stomach twisted.
Bronwen reached out and grabbed the chains, pulling the magic out of them. They unclasped one by one and fell to the floor with a dull clatter. August rose slowly, flexing his fingers and rubbing at his wrists, the skin there slightly raw.
“That stuff is good.” He stretched, neck rolling with a few satisfying cracks before flashing a crooked grin. “Other than the truth part, it made me feel better than wine ever has.”
