“And I grieve her along with the rest of the kingdom.”
“We have to go get her,” Grae insisted. “We can’t just leave her to that sorceress.”
“You step one foot in Olmdere and Sawyn and her Rooks will kill you, Grae,” Nero growled. “You are not going. What’s done is done. We can still mine the outer reaches of Olmdere in secret. The pack won’t question it once you marry that girl.”
My hands shook with unrestrained rage. I shot out of bed, snatching the charcoal gray robe hanging over the back of Briar’s chair and belting it. I threw open the door and the two men paused.
“Calla,” Grae breathed, relief washing over his expression as his eyes narrowed to the bruise on my head.
I glared at the King. “You were never going to help Olmdere, were you?”
Nero chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Why would I do such a foolish thing?”
“Because you swore to my parents.” I stormed forward and Grae took a half step between us, putting a steadying hand on my shoulder. “You were meant to be their ally!”
“My allies are dead,” King Nero snarled. “The only thing left of their kingdom worth keeping is the gold mines.”
I blanched.
“Careful, father,” Grae warned.
“Or what?” King Nero lifted his chin with the arrogance of someone who knew they had the upper hand. “I am your king. I’ve let your leash grow too long, Grae.” His cold eyes slid from me to Grae. “Remember your lessons. Remember what I can do.” Grae shifted another step in front of me, a growl rumbling in his throat. “Olmdere is gone and so is Maez. The Crimson Princess will never wake from her slumber. You will marry the other one and we will take what is left of our ally’s resources.”
Grae balled his fists, taking a swift step toward his father. I was certain he was about to strike him, threats be damned. I grabbed him by the crook of the arm, forcing him to look at me.
“I want to stab him as much as you,” I whispered, holding his eyes as his wrath cooled. “But if you hang, I hang, remember?” I turned to Nero. “Now, where is Briar?”
“We’ve put her in a room in the eastern tower,” the king answered. “Far out of the way.”
I gritted my teeth but held Grae’s eyes. “Take me to her.”
He bobbed his head, giving one more warning look at his father before heading off down the hall.
Tightening the belt on my robe, I followed Grae through the labyrinth of winding halls and spiraling stone staircases. The castle was quiet, the haunted memories of the night before still filling the dreary passageways. Higher and higher, we climbed up the eastern tower until we reached a dusty wooden door.
Grae paused, hand on the handle, as he looked at me. “We will find a way to break this curse.”
The door creaked open and tears instantly pricked my eyes at what I saw. Briar lay in her wedding dress upon a stone tomb. Her red hair was still perfectly braided atop her head, her veil flowing over the hard stone. Her lifeless hands clutched her bouquet of wilting white flowers.
My eyes welled at the rise and fall of her chest. She was alive. Numbness spread through my limbs as I drifted toward her.
“Briar,” I whispered, resting a hand on her cold cheek. “Wake up.” I shook her shoulder. “Please.” Tears slipped down my cheeks. “I don’t know how to do this without you.”
My sister’s cold body moved, limp as a rag doll, as I shook her again. It was like looking down upon a piece of my soul, and I remembered what Briar had said in the forest. She and I had always been opposites, but of the same coin. One didn’t exist without the other. Her being gone took a part of me, too, and I didn’t know who I was if not Briar’s twin. Briar would’ve been the one to know what to do right now, as well-versed in the dances of politics as she was in the waltz. Guilt swarmed through me. I’d failed as her protector. Goddess in the sky, I needed her to wake up.
“How do I fix this?” I cried, shaking her harder, her veil falling askew. “I can’t do this without you.” My rage boiled over as a sob racked through me and I smacked her hard across the face. My palm stung. “Wake up!”
Strong arms wrapped around me, trying to haul me back. I spun on Grae, shoving him away. He held up his hands as I shoved him harder, ready to absorb all my pain. I shoved him again, his back colliding with the wood door, his face a steely neutral. My hands fisted in his shirt and I slammed him against the door again, and I knew he’d let me shove my grief into him all day long if I needed to.
Another silent sob shook through me and I dropped my hands. As I hung my head, Grae was there, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his warm body. I buried my head into his hard chest, shoulders shaking. With each pained cry, he drew me further into him. The moment stretched on as that smoky scent filled my lungs and wrapped around me as tightly as his arms.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “We will fix this, Calla. I swear it to you.”
My breathing slowed as I curled my arms around him.
“We have to go after Maez,” I murmured into his chest. His burgundy tunic stained with tears. “She can break this curse. Sawyn wouldn’t have taken her otherwise. We have to fix this.”
“We will go after Maez,” Grae assured. “But I need time to convince my father that it is the right plan. Rally the rest of the pack to this cause.”
“We don’t have time.” How long would Briar survive like this? A day? A year?
“Time might be all we do have. Maez is alive,” Grae insisted, glancing over my shoulder. “Sawyn could have just killed her, but she didn’t, and that means she’s not planning to. But we can’t rescue her on our own.”
I turned back to my lifeless sister, a fresh bout of tears springing to my eyes again—a well of sorrow that would never run dry. “We can’t leave her like this.”
“Give me time to work on my father.”
Those words snapped the final tether to my rage. Work on his father? He said it as if he’d been successful in the past. But, judging by my icy reception, King Nero would never be swayed by his son.
I pushed off Grae’s chest, stepping out of his hold. “I have waited twenty years—my entire life—for promises that your father never intended on upholding.” My voice wobbled as Grae reached to wipe my tears. I smacked his hand away. Enough of this charade. “I don’t want your comfort.”
“To disobey him is more dangerous than you understand,” Grae said, some fear-tinged heat in his voice now. “You don’t know what you’re asking, and I can’t do it.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“The answer is no, Calla.” Grae’s face was stone. “One day you’ll understand I’m doing this to protect you.”