Page 11 of When Ashes Fall

“Then we will figure something else out… maybe,” Alwin said. “Do you have any suggestions, Knox?”

Before I could speak, Briar blurted, “It doesn’t matter what you all decide; I’m not going back.”

All eyes flew to her as she stood with her shoulders back and her chin high. She looked regal and determined, but also so small and fragile compared to the powers gathered within.

“There’s nothing to negotiate,” she stated as she glared at her mother. “I will not return to Nightshade.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Briar

“Yes!” Gizzi shouted in my head. “Fuck them all!”

With a sinking sensation, I realized that’s exactly what I might do by refusing to return. “I’m condemning the shifters to their current fate if I refuse to leave with my mother,” I told him.

“You didn’t condemn them to anything; your mother did.”

“But I might be able to help fix it.”

“And why should you be the sacrificial lamb who rights the wrongs of others?”

“None of this would have happened if I hadn’t fallen in love with Seth… I mean Knox.”

“You cannot help who you love.”

“No, but I knew my mother would destroy us if she ever caught us together. And then she did.”

“He knew the consequences of that too, right?”

“Yes,” I reluctantly admitted.

“And he was also willing to face them. He stayed there willingly with you. I know neither of you expected her to destroy the shifters, but you’re not at fault here.”

“She destroyed Seth too.”

“And she also made you suffer. You were both punished for years over something you never should have suffered for. It’s not on you to suffer more by returning to that place. You are not the key to fixing this.”

“Then who is?”

“Your atrocious mother and her cohorts.”

I didn’t argue with him, but I couldn’t help thinking I was condemning all the shifters to a fate worse than death by not returning to Nightshade. Was my one life really worth more than thousands of them?

No, but I couldn’t go back to my kingdom; my mother had punished me before, but this time, I’d beg her to lock me in a tower and shun me again, as I had no doubt she had far worse plans for me.

She might put me in the harem. I had no doubt there was torture in my future, and she might try to make me bind myself to Mond, the moon god.

I hadn’t suffered through my Needing with absolutely no relief to be forced into the harem and bound to a deity now. I would not become a night or day caster.

“Does she really think she has a choice?” Malakor tittered. “Your daughter’s a silly child, Marina.”

I glared at the king of the strigoi. “I’m not a child.”

“He looks as appetizing as shit, but I’ll bite him for you, if you’d like,” Gizzi said.

“Are you trying to start a war between the kingdoms and get us both killed?”

“No, but I don’t like that ugly prick.”