29. Mistakes Were Made

CHAPTER 29

Mistakes Were Made

" F uck!" Brynleigh screamed, her voice echoing across the night. Droves of shadows poured out of her, hiding the moon and stars as her powerful wings beat against the darkness. The wind swallowed her screams, stealing them away before anyone else could hear them.

It didn't matter. She heard them. Over and over again, she cried out into the darkness. Every second, every moment felt longer than the last. Anger, bitterness, and confusion were a twisted, acerbic trio pounding through her veins.

Hours had passed since she'd spoken to River in the study, yet it felt like mere moments ago.

The water fae's words would forever be seared in Brynleigh's mind. She had never seen this coming.

After River had finished turning Brynleigh's world upside down, Brynleigh walked back to the dining hall in a daze. She told Ryker she wasn't feeling well and needed to go home.

It was the truth.

She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't fucking do anything at all.

The moment the sun set, Brynleigh left the Waterborns in their mansion and launched into the sky. Shadows streamed from her, covering her as she flew aimlessly through the night.

She couldn't get River's words out of her head.

"Six years ago, I made a mistake ."

A rushing, roaring sound had started in Brynleigh's ears, and it hadn't let up since.

"My magic was too powerful. I didn't know… it slammed into me. I was out with some friends, and it just… poured from me. I… tried to stop it, but I couldn't. I lost control." She shuddered. "It's my curse. My burden. "

Lost. Control.

How could such small words be used to describe the death and destruction of that night?

River had looked at Brynleigh with tears in her eyes.

Gods-damned, fucking tears.

As if she cared. As if she was pained by it. As if she was the one who had lost everything that night.

"The storm was too big. I tried to reel it in, to make the rain cease, but I couldn't. It wouldn't listen to me."

Shadows had slipped from Brynleigh's fingers. She hadn't even noticed they left her until the light was nearly gone from the study.

No.

Brynleigh had wanted to stand, scream, and tell River to stop, but her mouth had been incapable of forming words. She was a statue, rendered immobile by the confession she'd never expected to hear.

"It poured out of me like water from a broken dam ."

"No!" Brynleigh yelled again, her wings carrying her across the darkened sky.

How could this be happening? Brynleigh had done the math quickly, sitting on that blood-red couch. River had been fifteen at the time. Not even Mature. Not even an adult.

How could someone so young be responsible for such devastation?

Brynleigh had so many questions, so much to say, but in the end, she'd stared at River.

"Ryker came. He saved me and stopped the storm before even more people could be hurt, but the destruction…" More tears had slipped down Ri ver's cheek, and she buried her face in her hands. " He's so good, and I'm so fucking dangerous."

How could Brynleigh have missed this? Moreover, how could Jelisette have missed this?

Brynleigh yelled into the night, letting the shadows devour the sound of her anguish. It didn't help. No matter how often she cried out, it didn't alter the reality of what she'd learned.

Wrong. It was all fucking wrong . Nothing made sense anymore. Not a single thing.

Brynleigh had left without hurting a hair on River's head. She'd been frozen by disbelief but couldn't have done anything even if she hadn't been.

Not really.

Killing Ryker was one thing. He was a decorated officer in the army and a fully grown, Mature fae.

River was twenty-one. Barely a legal adult. Even by her own admission, she'd lost control of her magic and made a mistake. One that had cost Brynleigh everything… but it was a mistake .

All these years, Brynleigh had operated under the assumption that Ryker had a reason—a twisted, wicked one, but still a reason—for what he'd done.

But no.

This was infinitely worse than that.

It was a gods-damned accident.

She flew and flew and flew.

Brynleigh's phone buzzed in her pocket, but she ignored it. She knew who was calling. She should have been at the safe house hours ago. She hadn't even texted Zanri or Jelisette before flying off. She should have responded, but she just… wasn't ready yet.

Maybe she never would be ready.

There were no rules for this. This wasn't a change in the game. Fuck, this wasn't even a game. Not anymore.

This was a new situation, and Brynleigh had no idea what to do. The ring on her finger was a thousand-pound weight, reminding her that she'd almost killed an innocent man.

The worst part of this entire thing was that it all made sense .

The moment River had started talking, pieces fell into place. It was little wonder that Brynleigh had been so confused by Ryker's behavior.

Everything she thought she knew was a lie.

Now, when Brynleigh thought back to that night when her world changed, she knew the much smaller person she'd seen standing next to Ryker had been River.

It was all River.

At some point during her flight, the box holding Brynleigh's emotions shattered. It didn't just break—it exploded into a million pieces.

All the feelings she'd shoved deep down inside came rushing out at once.

Tears flooded her eyes, pouring down her cheeks as she yelled her frustrations to the world.

No wonder Ryker seemed like a good man. No wonder she couldn't see the evil in him. She wasn't insane. She hadn't given her heart to the fae who had killed her family.

She'd been given the wrong information.

Did Jelisette know ? Had she planned this whole thing? Did she have an ulterior motive, or was it like River had said?

"Ryker and my mother helped cover it up. I… I didn't mean to do it. I'm so sorry. I carry the weight of what I did every day."

Brynleigh could've had her revenge right then. She could've ripped out River's throat on that crimson couch and been done with it.

Something had stopped her. She didn't want River's blood on her hands.

Brynleigh killed people who deserved it. Bad people.

But River? Despite the water fae's confession, Brynleigh didn't sense any evil in her. She was hurting, like Brynleigh.

And now, Brynleigh had no idea what to do.

Hours passed.

She flew until the first rays of sunlight stretched through the darkness. The impending day clawed back the night. Her heart galloped as the dawn approached, the sun's deadly fingers drawing nearer.

One touch from them, and she'd be burned from the inside out. Dead. Forever. There was no surviving sunlight. Not for vampires .

She waited and waited and waited until she had mere seconds left.

It was only when the sun made its final stretch across the sky, its golden claws reaching for her, that Brynleigh called on her shadows and allowed them to draw her into their safe embrace. The dark magic enveloped her. She grabbed onto it and allowed it to pull her into the Void.

Keeping her wings out, Brynleigh moved through the shadows until she reached her destination. The safe house wards rippled as she passed through them. She landed in the living room.

As soon as Brynleigh stepped out of the Void, her Maker's eyes landed on her. Jelisette's gaze was as cold as ice, sending skitters running down Brynleigh's spine. "You're late, daughter of my blood."

Brynleigh had suspected this would be the reception upon her arrival. "I know."

There was no point in denying it. Besides, Jelisette disapproved of lying. A fact that Brynleigh was now realizing was rather laughable. But she wouldn't laugh. She had to tread carefully.

Over the past few hours, Brynleigh arrived at three conclusions. The first was that she absolutely would not kill Captain Ryker Waterborn. She had already been having doubts. This was the nail in the coffin. He was innocent, and Brynleigh did not murder people who didn't deserve it.

The moment she'd reached that conclusion, a powerful wave of relief had washed over her. Brynleigh's wings had faltered for a moment before she continued flying.

If her first realization had brought her immense relief, the second had brought worry. The rules had changed. In Brynleigh's mind, they no longer applied. But there was no way in hell that her Maker would understand or care about her sudden change of heart. The old vampire did not see things like most people did. Telling Jelisette of her change of plans would result in a swift execution for Brynleigh.

Instead, she'd come up with a new plan.

Brynleigh would marry Ryker in a week, and then, she'd strive to become exactly what River had called her: good.

She wasn't exactly sure how forgiveness worked—it wasn't something she'd engaged in particularly often—but it seemed like the better course of action. She couldn't kill River. The water fae had been little more than a child when she lost control of her magic. Brynleigh might be a vampire, but she wasn't heartless.

Brynleigh would protect Ryker and his family, including his icy bitch of a mother, for as long as she could.

If she survived this.

"I was with Ryker and his family," Brynleigh said calmly, careful not to let any emotion show in her eyes. "Things ran a little long."

"So long that you couldn't send me a message?" Jelisette snapped as shadows slithered from her palms. "I've been waiting for you."

"My apologies." Brynleigh bowed her head in deference, lowering her gaze to the floor. Her wings were snapped tight against her back, and her shadows were within reach, just in case.

Brynleigh may have looked the picture of the perfect, apologetic progeny, but inside, she was anything but.

Thankful that Jelisette hadn't inherited their bloodline's gift of reading minds, Brynleigh focused on keeping her face blank despite the barrage of questions swirling through her.

Did Jelisette know it was River, not Ryker, who'd destroyed Chavin? Did she care? What other lies and half-truths had she fed Brynleigh?

Fae couldn't lie, but vampires had no such trouble. Brynleigh had proven that time and again. Doubt caused her to reconsider everything she'd been told from the moment of her Making.

The clock ticked, echoing the hammering of Brynleigh's heart, as Jelisette glared at her. Brynleigh studied the striations in the wooden planks beneath her feet, waiting for her Maker's next words.

Survival was the only thing on her mind.

Eventually, Jelisette exhaled. "Alright. I believe you. Tell me what you learned."

Brynleigh lifted her head and met her Maker's gaze. Anything less than perfection would be viewed as an act of weakness. Brynleigh couldn't afford to be weak, especially if she was going to lie her way through this. She assumed Jelisette would have questions for her when Ryker was still alive the day after her wedding.

She had already thought about that. She would tell her Maker the water fae fought back, and she'd have to try again. Hopefully, after a few variations on the lie, Jelisette would back down. The plan was shaky at best, but it was the only one Brynleigh had.

She needed it to work because she had no other options.

The third and final conclusion Brynleigh had reached was one that she'd never expected.

After the box containing her emotions exploded, she'd had to deal with everything she'd ignored for weeks.

Of all the feelings, only one had slammed into her like a freight train, leaving her breathless.

She liked Ryker more than anyone else she'd ever met. Maybe even more than that if she was being completely honest with herself. She wanted him, not because he was her mark, but because he was hers.

And that frightened her more than anything else.