Kaelric’s handwriting.
My throat tightened as I picked it up, clutching the letter to my chest. Tears blurred my vision when I looked at my mother. She stood in the entry, silentlyweeping, her face lifted as if she were offering thanks to the Creator.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to check out the back,” I told her quietly, unable to stand there another second without reading what Kaelric had written.
The back porch overlooked a wide yard lined with three weeping willows whose branches trailed the ground like curtains. Beyond them stretched endless farmland, golden fields rippling under the breeze. A swing set waited near the fence, its chains swaying softly, and a wooden target stood nearby, scarred with fresh knife marks. The boys would love that.
I sank onto the porch steps, bracing myself, and opened the letter.
Brynn,
I’d never been in love until you. I didn’t have the luxury. My entire life has been about getting my birthright back and avenging my family. I never in a thousand years would have thought that my own mate would double-cross me.
The words hit like steel. My breath shook as I pressed the parchment to my knee, fighting back tears that threatened to fall. Still, I forced myself to keep reading.
And yet I can’t bring myself to hate you. I find myself still wondering if you’ve eaten enough today and how you slept the night before. It’s not your family’s fault you made a mistake. A huge mistake I will never forgive. So I have done what I think my mother would have wanted. Valkaryn chose you, not me. She chose you twice. Once in the binding hall, and again when you won the trials, she convinced you to keep her.
I bit my lip until it stung. Even with betrayal thick between us, he still thought of me. Still cared about whether I had eaten, whether I had slept.
And so I leave you her childhoodhome. She was found at the train station, a human infant whose mother had died from an infection and never got off the train in Aerlyn, where she was supposed to. The train rode all night with my mother screaming inside the empty car, and when it landed here, my grandparents took one look at her and knew they couldn’t leave her alone. They brought her here to 301 Park Lane and raised her as their own. She was raised riding on the backs of wolves at age three, sword-trained since age five with my father’s third in command, who was her brother, and the rest you know.
She rose to the highest ranks in my father’s army and fell in love with him. My mother was the smartest, strongest woman I knew, and so if she chose you, then I wish you well together.
I pray that your family has many happy, healthy years in this home. I pray that you and my mother enjoy your bond together. I wish you no ill will.
Tears blurred the words. I could almost see her, a crying infant left behind on a train, then years later, sword-training among wolves. This house wasn’t just a gift; it was her legacy.
The ink smeared beneath my thumb where my tears fell.
I’ve tried, but my heart and my wolf cannot conceive of even thinking badly about you. I will finish out the week here in Hildreth to make sure your people are settling well, and then I will move closer to the war front and finally finish what I set out to do the day my entire family was murdered. Or die trying.
May your plate always be full,
Kaelric
A sob wrenched free from me, jagged and raw. I clutched the letter to my chest as though I could hold him through it, though he was already gone. I sat therewith the sting of heartbreak as fresh and sharp as the first cut. The ache in my heart was raw and jagged, as if he had reached inside and carved something vital out of me.
Kaelric’s hand had written this, steady and strong, but I could feel the war inside him bleeding through every line. He claimed he would never forgive me, yet his care lingered in every word. He wondered if I had eaten. If I had slept. He had given me his mother’s childhood home, the very place she had been raised, as if placing me inside her memory would somehow keep me safe.
The yard before me swam with tears. The weeping willows bent low along the fence, their branches swaying in the breeze. The swing set creaked faintly, and the wooden target bore the marks of knives freshly thrown. It was a place meant for family, for children’s laughter, for a future he was giving to me while he turned his back to walk toward war.
My throat closed so tightly it hurt to breathe. I pressed the letter to my lips and let the sobs come, my shoulders shaking as grief poured out of me. I had thought I was prepared for his anger, but I was not prepared for his grace. His heartbreak, laced with love, cut deeper than hatred ever could.
At last, I lowered the letter to my lap, my tears dampening the ink. I tilted my head back and stared atthe endless stretch of sky, begging the Creator for strength. The air was cool, but my skin burned with shame. I had chosen wrong. I had lost him. And now I sat on the back porch of the house he had gifted me, breaking apart like the very girl I had once promised I would never be.
Inside the house, I could hear my siblings shouting in delight, their voices echoing through the walls. They had already claimed this place as their own, filling it with joy and life. For them, this was the beginning of something new. For me, it was the end of everything I had hoped for with him.
I folded the letter carefully, pressing the creases smooth with trembling fingers, and slid it back into its envelope. My heart felt split in two, one half clinging to the life Kaelric had just given me and the other mourning the life I had thrown away.
With a deep, shuddering breath, I rose from the step and turned toward the door. Whatever storm raged inside me, I would not let my family see me unravel. Not yet.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kaelric left the very next week, and I slowly began to settle into life in Hildreth. It had only been seven days since he placed his mother’s childhood home in my hands, yet every time I walked through its halls, I felt as though I were trespassing in someone else’s life.
The house was vast compared to anything I had ever known. There was enough space for my mother to finally have her own bedroom and for each child to share with only one sibling instead of six. I had claimed the study, turning it into my room with a bed and a desk picked up in town. Valkaryn sat buried in a trunk in the closet, hidden from view. I had no need of her in a place this peaceful, and looking at her only filled me with anger. She was a reminder of what I had thrownaway. If not for her, I might have had magic now. I might have had Kaelric. He could have had his revenge, his justice for his people.
Often, it felt like I was inhabiting a dream. The home he had gifted us had running hot water, flushing toilets, and a wood-burning stove with an oven. It was the sort of comfort I had only ever associated with the elites, though here it came without magic, without cruelty. My siblings thrived in this environment. They went to school each day, bellies full from three meals, and already I could see the weight returning to their thin faces.
