Page 10 of When Ashes Fall

We were going to talk about the creature on her shoulder and the fact that she’d traipsed into the woods for mushrooms… where she could have gotten killed, but she had helped Wildwood.

She’d help more if she could break the curse by returning to Marina.

I inwardly winced at the truth of this. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to free my family and Wildwood from the curse.

After my time in the harem, I was brutally aware of what it was like to be trapped, helpless, and at the mercy of others. I didn’t know if the shifters were aware of what happened to them, but if they were, they would be going mad… if they weren’t already dead.

I didn’t believe one word that came out of Marina’s mouth. And if Marina could break the curse and I handed Briar back to her, I’d sentence her to a life of misery.

I shouldn’t care about that… but I did.

Unable to resist, I glanced at where Briar stood. She twisted her hands before her as her gaze flitted around the room. She squeezed them until they turned red.

Strands of her espresso brown hair had fallen free to frame her beautiful, oval face. Beneath the dirt streaking her cheeks from her excursion beyond the walls, her skin was far paler than normal. When her terrified, sea green eyes settled on me, her full lips, the color of a red rose, compressed into a flat line.

For a second, I was thrown back to a time before life interfered with us; when we were young, happy, and sickeningly in love. It was all so simple then, or at least it seemed that way. But nothing was ever what it seemed.

I was absolutely convinced of her love for me as we made plans to flee to the sea and find somewhere we could live without any interference from those who would try to tear us apart. Never once had I questioned her love or my ability to protect her.

Then Marina came for us, put me in the harem, and revealed to me plans only Briar could have known. It took years for her to twist my heart against her daughter, but once she did, I started to loathe Briar more than her mother.

While I still wasn’t sure how Marina knew so many details about our plans to leave the kingdoms, I’d started to believe that Briar wasn’t the one who revealed them anymore. However, being back in Marina’s presence made me question everything all over again.

I wanted to get away from that woman and the rest of the casters… including Briar. I required time to think but wouldn’t get it.

I had to keep my shit together while they were all here. This wasn’t the harem. We were in Wildwood, where I reigned, and while it would start a war, I could easily destroy Marina. That knowledge helped to stabilize me a little, but my emotions were still a ricocheting mess within me.

During the years I was in the harem, Marina had battered, tormented, and broken me until the man I was then… Seth… ceased to exist. I wasn’t capable of love anymore and rarely felt compassion, but if Briar hadn’t betrayed me, did she deserve a life of despair simply for loving the man I used to be?

And does your kingdom deserve to suffer because of your love for her?

Fuck!

When I took Briar from the harem, I never expected it would lead to this. I believed it would be easy and great fun to destroy her, but it wasn’t turning out that way.

However, there were thousands upon thousands of cursed shifters in Wildwood who depended on me to save them. And then there was her.

But she’s ours, the beast stated.

I’d vowed never to claim Briar as my mate again, but while I could restrain myself from doing so, I couldn’t deny that I hungered to brand her again. It was easy to recall what it felt like to sink my fangs into the delicate column of her throat as the animal I was supposed to be marked her.

A rush of pleasure and possession swept through me while I lost myself to the ecstasy of claiming what was mine. And Briar would always be mine.

Even if I never claimed her as my mate again, shifters were only given one mate in their lifetime… if they were lucky enough to find them. I was one of the rare few who found my mate as a child.

I didn’t know what the animal that marked her was, and I never would, but it emerged earlier than it should have to claim its mate. Before it could achieve its full form, Marina twisted it into the beast.

And she’d unleashed misery on all the shifters because of me. My attention shifted to Dromon, Pierce, and Lyra. They’d also endured the hell of the harem while their families were transformed into roses. They deserved to have their loved ones back.

Dromon’s brown eyes held mine. After I discovered Briar in the woods with nothing but a sprite and that lowleeto for protection, I’d unleashed my fear for her on him, but there was no hint of resentment in his gaze.

Instead, understanding shone in his eyes. Since leaving the harem, he’d become my closest friend, most trusted confidant, and the beta of our small pack. He’d also hated Briar for what happened here, but over these past weeks, he’d seen her kindness and had his doubts about her too.

“What kind of a guarantee would you like in return for returning our full powers to us?” Marina asked.

“We must discuss that. I’m sure there will be many contingencies,” Alwin said. “But a good start might be the release of all our prisoners from your harem.”

Marina’s jaw tightened as Cozameal huffed out a laugh. “The day casters won’t agree to that.”