Page 56 of When Roses Burn

“Why did you reveal yourselves to him?”

She stared at me with unblinking eyes. “We have our reasons.”

Disappointment filled me; I’d hoped for more insight into Seth as a child, but she wouldn’t give it.

“Do you know anything about the curse?” she asked.

“I didn’t know it existed until today. I don’t know how to break it, and I’m not sure it can be broken. My mother is a very hateful woman who is also exceptionally powerful. She doesn’t make mistakes or have weaknesses.”

“Everyone has weaknesses.”

“If she does, I’ve never found them.”

“You’re a weakness to her.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Briar

I laughed bitterly. “The only reason my mother will be upset to find me gone from the harem is because it will make her look bad. I’ve been nothing but a disappointment to her for my whole life. I’m not a weakness; I’m her greatest regret.”

“How sad,” she murmured. “But weakness doesn’t require love… not always. However, she was so angry to discover you with Seth that she lashed out, and in doing so, didn’t think through the consequences of her actions. The tribunal punished the night casters because she believed she was untouchable. That emotional outburst and arrogance were a weakness.”

I pondered this observation. My mother considered any emotions a flaw and rarely showed them, but she did after she caught us.

“You’re right,” I murmured. “I am her weakness, but only because she wants me to suffer and won’t tolerate being humiliated by me.”

“She might do something rash again if she learns you’re here.”

“She’s very powerful, but there’s little else she can do without the power of the others to back her. I doubt she’ll battle Knox; even she must realize what she created with him is far from normal. There’s a power in him, and this land, she didn’t foresee.”

“A power in this land?” Bertie asked.

“The shadow dragon. Whether a spell created it or because it twisted a visiting dragon into something more, it was an unintended consequence that created protection for this kingdom. I’m not sure she knows of its existence, and while she helped make it, if it protects this land, then it would gladly destroy enemies.”

As if it knew we were talking about it, the dragon roared. When Bertie’s eyes went past me, I looked out the window as the black beast soared down from the distant mountains and swept across the land.

I had no idea what it was doing until I spotted Knox walking outside the wall, examining it closely. He was probably making sure it was secure against an attack.

When the dragon closed in on him, my heart jumped, and I stepped closer to the window. My fingers stretched toward the glass as a scream of warning rose in my throat, but he must hear its approach, and he wasn’t running.

When the dragon was only twenty feet from him, it pulled back its wings and, using currents of air, came to a stop before settling its hind feet on the ground. As the dragon stalked closer to him, Knox turned and held out his hand.

My breath froze in my lungs as I watched in fascination and disbelief. The dragon lowered its head, and Knox ran his hand over the creature’s snout.

Closing its eyes, the dragon turned into his touch like a dog seeking love. When he stepped closer, he slid his arm over the creature’s neck and pulled it in for a hug, confirming it was more solid than it appeared.

“Oh,” I breathed as love burst unexpectedly through me.

I’d been trying to keep my feelings for Knox buried. He wasn’t the man I loved; that was the boy he once was.

Seeing him like this, I realized some of the boy still existed within the man, even if that man was determined to destroy those remnants.

Maybe there was hope I could get past all the hatred that turned Seth into this Knox, but I had no idea what to do to make any of it better. If he believed I’d lied to him, I couldn’t fix that.

You can try, a voice whispered in my head, but I wasn’t sure how much good trying would do either one of us. And hope might destroy me in the end.

Perhaps knowing there was still some love in this man should be enough… but it wasn’t.