“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.”
Why would I need protection, though? Protection from what? A king who doesn’t even recognize me as someone with a name? A witch who doesn’t even know of my existence? I didn’t need protection—I needed allies. And it was clear there were none to be found amongst the Silver Wolves.
No, nothing would happen, nothing would change, unless I forced it into being. I knew then for certain what I had always known: I’d have to carve out my own path in the world, because no one would clear the way for me . . . not even my mate.
I huffed a bitter laugh, grabbing the amber stone from around my neck and yanking the chain free. “I have no use for your protection nor a mate who’s a coward.” I threw it at him, watching his shock morph into devastation as it fell to the floor.
I pushed past him and left without another word. He didn’t stop me.