She suddenly turned away. I stepped around a couch to try to look her in the face when something caught my eye.
A pile of broken wood was shoved into the corner of the room—shattered pieces of a chair. One of the legs was splintered, the end stained with dark red spots.
Blood.
My mouth fell open. “What happened?”
“Nothing!” She turned on her heel and headed for the door. “If you cannot get anything more from that damn dress, you can leave.”
I ran my eyes up and down Brietta’s body—no injuries other than her knuckles. Was she hiding anything under her robe?
Or…wasDerrickthe one who was injured?
She opened the door, but I did not move.
“No, tell me!” I said. “You really think I believe—”
“I do not care what you believe!” She gripped her arms, her swollen knuckles turning white. “Get out. Give me some time to fucking think so I can fix this damn Dukedom!”
My heart sank. She did not sound like the Brietta I knew. She sounded like…
…me. She sounded exactly like me.
I looked at Brietta and did not see my friend, but a fortress.
She had completely shut me out, just like I had done to the rest of the world for years.
Nothing I did not deserve.
I had turned my back on her when she was vulnerable on that velvet couch. I chose to make her my villain instead of reaching out with the same helping hand she had given me for years.
But if Brietta was suddenly like me, I was too late to say sorry.
Slowly, I stepped out of the room. Though my feet obeyed the future Duchess’s order, my white flame swirled around my heart, beckoning me to speak.
I could still try to find my friend again.
As soon as my feet found the blue carpet in the hallway, I turned to the still open door. “Brie?”
Brietta’s hand froze on the door handle.
I swallowed and the Nordingaard crystal radiated a gentle warmth against my throat. “I see you, Brie. I see those walls you have stacked up.”
Her brown eyes flared. No one liked to be seen, but she had to hear it.
“I had a wall just like it, for years,” I said. “It’s lonely, but you think you are safer in there.” I shook my head. “You are not safer. Or stronger. Just colder.”
The gleam returned to Brietta’s eyes and I recognized her again. “How…poetic.”
“I learned from the best.” I gave her a soft smile. “You were there for me when I was behind a wall and…even though I know I am part of the reason you have that wall…I will be here if you want to come out.”
Her lip trembled, her eyes growing glassier by the second. “Thank you, Sera.”
She slowly closed the door and clicked the lock shut.
My smile stayed on as I remembered my last promise to Riyan—try to be happy.
Though my insides were still bleak, reaching out a hand to Brietta was at least a start.
