Page 60 of Forsaken Fate

“Right,” I said as I made my ascent.

I stood in front of Brynna’s door for a moment. I raised my hand to knock but let it hang there. Despite all of it I still wanted her. The hurt in her eyes as I brushed past her last night tore at me. Doyle was right – she was very, very good.

I knocked softly and stepped in before she could answer.

Brynna sat at a vanity table; she looked up from the reflection in the mirror. She flinched, blinking rapidly; she rose and turned to face me.

“Thanks for seeing me,” she said in a clear voice. Whatever else she was, Brynna Carrington wasn’t afraid of me.

I crossed the room and went to her. She wore a fitted white dress cut straight across her chest; her ample breasts threatened to spill out the top, just thin spaghetti straps holding them up. The straight skirt came only to her knees. The dress was a stunner, classy. No way Grayson picked it out. It looked like a fucking wedding dress.

“What the hell are you doing, Brynna?” I said. “Is that even your name?”

“It’s my name,” she said. Then she turned and pulled a single strand of pearls from the top of the dresser. “Can you help me?”

She held the pearls out and turned her back to me. I took them from her and stepped forward. Brynna wore her hair up in a classic bun. I slipped the pearls around her neck and fastened them. I let my fingers trail along the spot at the nape of her neck. The place where she would be marked. Or had been marked. I could feel no trace of a scare. No trace of any magic that would have erased it. I rested my hand on her shoulder and breathed her in. She looked at me in the mirror. My eyes were hooded and dark. She looked down and turned to face me again.

“Are you going through with this?” I asked.

“Are you going to stop it?” she answered.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t.”

“Can we sit?” She motioned to the bed. “Will you hear me out?”

“How do I know you’re not just going to lie to me?”

She sat on the edge of the bed and patted the space beside her. “Because you will. Because you’re the only person I haven’t lied to. You could have gone to Grayson a thousand times to tell him what we’ve done, and you didn’t. I’m not a whore Theo ... or maybe I am. But not the kind you think.”

“You’ve already taken a mate,” I said as I sat next to her.

“That’s what Doyle told you?” she asked.

“Brynna,” I said. “I will listen to you. That’s all I’ll promise, okay? But don’t play coy or cute or do anything other than tell me the direct truth. I’ll know you’re lying, and I swear to God I’m going to walk out of here and blow this whole thing up.”

She nodded. “Lucien Wade isn’t my husband or my mate. He’s my father. He had me when he was seventeen years old. And he’s been sent to hell. He’s been there since I was ten years old and now, I know who’s responsible. Everything else Doyle told you was true.”

I covered my face with my hand. “Diana.”

“Yes,” she said. “She was working with the fae during the war, Theo. I’d long suspected it. Now I believe I can prove it. Grayson was too. My father was the Alpha of a powerful pack in California. He was helping to get refugee shifters to safety. Just like your father did for you. I believe Grayson and Diana used dark magic to imprison my father for the fae. They offered him up in exchange for an alliance with someone even more powerful.”

“Do you know who?”

She nodded. “I didn’t until last night. I’m going to ask you not to make me tell you who just now. Not yet.”

“Why Grayson?” I said. “Where does he fit in?”

“He brought me access to Diana. Then when she died, he brought me access to her house. You were right, Theo. Diana has a lot of secrets hidden here. And they’re not all mine.”

“What do you mean?” The hairs stood on the back of my neck.

“If I can find the spell Diana used to imprison my father, I think I might be able to reverse it. So, I needed access to her spell books. Her family grimoire. I knew it had to be here, in the house. Theo, I found it. Up in the attic. But your things are there too. Family photos. Your mother’s clothes, I think.”

Bubbling rage heated my blood. I took a breath, then another, until the red haze receded from my vision.

“So, you’re telling me you think Diana sold shifters out to the fae during the war?”

“Yes. My father is still alive, Theo. But he’s running out of time. I have to find a way to undo Diana’s spell and bring him home. I’ve been trying for years to reach him. I’ve danced pretty close to some dark magic myself. He’s out there somewhere. I know it. I just…I can’t get him back. Not without finding a way to reverse the spell that sent him wherever he is now. Grayson has the answers. It’s in his head. I know it. If I can….”