My chest felt tight. It was the first time she’d ever said she loved me. The first time she’d mentioned us being family.
I’d always hoped she’d felt that way about me. Lately, more than ever, I’d questioned it. But here it was, written as proof.
…a new life for you…
…you are not alone…
I love you.
Someone bumped into me and I blinked away the tears enough to notice the bustle of people around us. We’d exited the city and walked down the gradual decline toward the port. A great ship was waiting at sea, boats at the pier to take people out. One was a strange sort of barge with a lot of flattened decks. For the horses, maybe?
“Did you go into that house?” I asked Hadriel. “Granny’s cottage. Did you go in there?”
“No, I did not. I was told everything secondhand when they delivered you to me.”
A tear slid down my face as I desperately looked at the faces we passed, wondering if I’d see her.
Ihadseen her, though. In that cottage, laying on the ground. That bloodhadbeen fresh, hadn’t it? I’d seen it. I’d seen the carnage. She wouldn’t sacrifice one of her people so that she could go free. She was a better alpha than that.
Besides, why would Weston have lied? Why wouldn’t he have told me that she’d lived? It wasn’t like he’d been trying to get on my good side in those first days. We’d hated each other. Chemistry and desire aside, we hadn’t gotten along. He wouldn’t have been trying to spare my feelings.
Alexander knew Granny. He had worked closely with her since before I’d gotten there. I doubted anyone knew her better. He could mimic her handwriting, I was sure of it. He could mimic her style. He might’ve done it in the past without me knowing. It’s not like I had ever questioned anything.
I hesitated getting into the little boat near the end of the dock that would take us across the water. The throng of people thinned out here. I studied each one, looking for the gray curly hair, the lined face.
“Come on, love,” Hadriel said solemnly. “Time to go.”
“But...” I clutched the note, tears blurring my vision. “What if she’s alive?”
“What will that change? Would you go back to that life?”
Would I?
“I mean, maybe I could at least talk to her. Say goodbye.” Sobs made my battered body shudder painfully, suddenly so confused. She was family. She could make things better. Now that I knew what was going on, she could change things to make it better, like she had in the past. Couldn’t she?
Would she?
The thought made me cry harder, all the things I’d realized over the last weeks coming to the surface. I could ignore everything Weston had said. Everything the pack had insisted on. The changes to my product. I could ignore all of that, but could I ignore my own journals? My own thoughts and feelings and experiences?
“Please,” I said, not knowing who I was begging or what I begged for as Hadriel firmly moved me toward the boat. “Just... please.”
I didn’t want to leave like this. I didn’t want to walk away. I’d had no choice the first two times, but this time I did. She was still alive. We could talk about it. I wanted to give her a chance to explain, to change. If she’d altered my product to protect me, surely she’d be amenable to altering it so that it was just as effective but safe. She’d been my guardian for nearly sixteen years now. It felt like a betrayal to leave like this when she so obviously wanted to see me. She’d saved me all those many years ago. If not for her, I’d be dead.
Is one’s life a fair trade for losing one’s freedom?
“Stop,” I said, physical pain and emotional torment making me bow in misery. “Just... wait. Let me think.”
“Get in the boat.” Weston was there, his hand wrapped around my upper arm and firmly directing me. “Get in the boat, Aurelia. It’s time to go. You’re not safe here.”
“But I won’t be safe in the dragon kingdom either,” I said as he picked me up.
Weston’s hand on my ribs as he set me down into the boat sent a flare of pure agony through my body, halting my breath.
“This is the right thing to do,” Hadriel said as he sat next to me, grabbing my hand. “It’s the right thing.”
“But...” I struggled to catch my breath through the radiating pain.
The boat drifted away from the docks as Weston stood at the edge watching it go. A moment later, he turned and directed everyone else to get moving. His movements were hastened, his urgency obvious.
