Brie
Logan steps into my dad’s office. All eyes turn to him as he scans the men–Sydney, Grandpa Ryatt, my father, a few others that serve both my father and grandfather as generals, captains, and commanders. Logan’s eyes are like polished, imperfect emeralds as he eyes my grandpa wearily, like he’s not entirely sure he understands what Ryatt just said to everyone in the room.
“Brie, you don’t need to be here for this,” Aviva whispers behind me, knitting her fingers in mine.
But Logan growls, “She stays.”
A silent, heavy, creeping hint of tension scatters around the room. The entire castle would explode if someone lit a match right now, I’m sure. My spine tingles as Logan turns to Ryatt and says, calmly despite the bite in his voice, “There’s nothing in Emberfyll.”
“Quite the contrary,” my grandfather replies immediately, rounding my father’s desk, his shadow powers simmering and coiling around his fingers, “Debris has been washing up on the southern shore of Tarsian for decades now. You might not remember much from the war there, given how young you were, but if there are survivors–”
“There was an illness,” Logan cuts in, shaking his head, “I’m the last of my pack. I swear.”
“But you don’t know that for sure,” my father says with calm quiet. His eyes meet mine through the crowd of family gathered, family starting to trickle in from the hallway, curious about the raised voices. “And if there are people left in Emberfyll, Logan, you are the king, by blood, by birthright.”
Maeve brushes past me into the room, settling silently near the far window, her body cast in shadow, but her eyes glowing.
“The Allied Kingdoms,” Grandpa Ryatt continues, “will expand to include Emberfyll, with you as Alpha King.”
Logan is rigid beside me. I feel Aviva tugging me back toward the door. I feel my Mom’s hand grip my shoulder, but my eyes are on Logan as Grandpa Ryatt explains, “Alpha Alex of Tempest Valley was able to cross through the sea veil of KiloKilo using alexandrite, and you will do the same to cross into Emberfyll, but with a legion of Ghost warriors with you. Four armored ships from the royal Tarsian fleet have already been ordered and will be ready in three days’ time. You’ll take two-hundred men with you.”
Logan’s lips part, but he doesn’t say a thing. His eyes… Goddess, I know that look. It’s the same look I saw aboard the Asteria when he’d been looking out over the valley, his eyes shimmering with… purpose, but he’s… conflicted, like he can’t decide whether he’s happy about this or not.
“Alex of Tempest Valley and some of his pack mates will accompany you with the promise of setting up a new pack territory within Emberfyll, with you as his king. He’s already agreed,” Grandpa continues, but the rest of his words begin to blur together as my head spins.
Logan blinks, shaking his head. “And what about Brie?” he says to the group, and the whispered murmurs floating through the room cease abruptly. “What about my mate?”
“She stays here,” Dad says, sighing, his eyes flicking to mine and full of empathy, pain, and possibly regret. “Brie, I am sorry–”
“You can’t do this to us,” I rush out, my voice cracking. “We–we just got home. We just found each other, and now you’re separating us?” Anger courses through my body, making my skin tingle. “You can’t force him to leave!”
“He’ll return, Brie,” Grandpa Ryatt says sharply, but his eyes betray his tone. They’re soft, full of the same regrets I see in my dad’s eyes, but neither man is willing to tell me the truth.
“How long?” I ask, looking from them to my mate, who’s now bracing himself on the back of the couch across from my father’s desk. “How long is he going to be gone?”
Logan exhales deeply, closing his eyes as he shakes his head. “It’ll take three months to get there once we cross the veil.”
My chest quakes, my breath catching my throat. “Three months?”
“Then another…three months to get back, but that’s if we turn right back around.”
“Six months?” I say under my breath, a silent sob choking the words. I feel myself beginning to lean into my mother, who is just as still and solemn as everyone else in the room watching two mates get torn apart… again.
“We think it would be wise to set up a small colony–a base–on the shore. Even if Emberfyll is empty, we’ll need a place to return–” Dad’s voice fades as my heartbeat hammers in my ears. I’ve been looking at the floor, but when I lift my head to Logan, he’s staring right at me.
His expression is so… broken. Conflicted. Worn-thin.
I turn from the room and run like my life depends on it, racing up one of the back staircases, ignoring the people shouting my name. But just as I reach the top of the stairs, footsteps echo behind me as someone rapidly climbs to my side.
Long, pale fingers gently wrap around my wrist and tug me into the light of a window overlooking a sweeping view of the city below.
Grandma Ella tucks my hair behind my ears before tilting my chin so I have to look into her eyes. I’ve never seen her cry. I think this is the closest I’ll ever come to it, honestly.
“You’re stronger than this,” she says in a low whisper, nodding, like she’s agreeing to her own statement. “This is temporary.”
“It’s unfair.”
“It is, but deep down, you know this is right. Your mate is an Alpha King, Brie. You were meant to be his queen–it was destined by the Goddess, and he was always destined to return to his homeland.”
“He’ll be gone for months while I, what? Sit here. Wait for him? What am I supposed to do?”
“He’ll return.”
“You weren’t in the room,” I argue. “My own father and your mate are forcing him to go back. We decided we’d settle in Eastonia. He told me he’d be happy–”
“Do you believe that? That an Alpha King could be happy giving up his title, his territory, for the rest of his life?”
“Cole did it for Misty,” I grind out.
“Cole never wanted it,” she whispers. “Cole wasn’t meant for it. Logan is, and he’ll be king. And you’ll rule beside him, rebuilding his pack.”
I step away from her. “You act like this is right–like separating us is what’s good for us, but this is only because Grandpa and my dad feel threatened, don’t they?”
“Not by Logan.”
“Obviously not,” I sputter, tears filling my eyes. “But Hannibal? Is it really bad enough that they need an Alpha King stationed that far away on an island lost to time?”
“KiloKilo is threatening war on Maatua and their alliances if the Luna of Tempest Valley isn’t returned. I spoke to her directly–Monica–and our family is standing behind her fully. She will not be returning, and I’ve already tried to reach out to KiloKilo for a convention, to try to find a way to move past this, but they’re digging in their heels, which makes me, and your grandfather, believe they’re hiding something behind that veil that threatens us. If Logan’s assumptions about where Emberfyll is located are correct, KiloKilo isn’t that far away from there, and if they attack and gain access to that territory with their stones , they’ll have access to both Eastonia to the south and Crescent Falls to the north. We are doing what we need to do to protect our people, Brie. I know you understand that. You’re smarter than this–smart enough to see the pieces in play in this game. You always have been.”
“I’m going with him.”
“No.”
“Why not? I’m his mate!”
“You,” she says, stepping toward me, “are needed here. You will be his Luna when you marry. You’ll be building his pack from the ground up. You need to stay to prepare for that moment because once Logan returns to Emberfyll, he’s king. Whether he has to… fight for that title, or not.”
Dread coils in a knot in the pit of my stomach.
“We don't know anything about Emberfyll. Aviva’s new memories of the Firestone era make no mention of it. It was lost millennia before that, we believe, somehow. Logan needs to go home to find out the truth, and in time, you’ll join him.” She squeezes my upper arm before leaning in to say, “Unless… something else works out in your favor.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
Grandma turns and walks back down the stairs, her footsteps mingling with the hushed voices coming from the hallway below. My heart thunders as I watch her shadow descend, then disappear. My head starts to pound and I’m reminded that twenty-four hours ago, I was on a ship, watching pristine water rush by as Logan and I sailed into an uncertain future… but one thing was clear.
We made a choice to reignite the bond we originally wasted. We choose each other, no matter what.
I guess this is what, huh?
I walk up to my room in the tower and calmly shut the door. I take a shower, using my familiar shampoo, conditioner, and body wash for the first time in over a month. I change into my own clothes, not the homespun dresses of a pirate, and sit at my vanity, where my lotions and potions smell familiar, scenting the air with vanilla, lavender, and honey.
But my face in the mirror has changed. Weeks at sea bronzed my skin and bleached my hair to a soft honey-gold. My loose waves are tighter as I run a comb through them, holding my gaze without so much as blinking.
I don’t feel the same as the last time I sat here. I don’t feel the same at all. Maeve’s reign is the furthest thing from my mind. Hannibal Arachnis and his continued terror of the Allied Kingdoms ceases to matter.
I couldn’t care less about the heightened strife with KiloKilo and what it could do to our sea trade relations with Maatua and Crescent Falls.
I’ve changed. I can see it, notice it in the way my eyes shine with rest and love. I can see it in the smooth skin no longer marred by heavy, dark circles beneath my eyes.
I can see it in the way my expression shifts as my bedroom door opens, and Logan appears, his eyes on the floor as he leans against the door to close it tight, turning the lock.
The magic of the house whispers through the room–pulling the blinds, fluffing the pillows. The magic drifts away on a phantom wind, and then we’re truly alone… for the first time since we arrived home.
“Brie,” he says, swallowing hard as he lifts his face to meet my eyes.
I take a deep but painful breath, swiveling on my stool to face him. It’s obvious neither of us have the words to convey our feelings about our situation, but he steps toward me, his eyes never once leaving mine. I rise as he closes the distance between us, taking my face between his hands. I close my fingers around his wrists as he leans his forehead against mine, and silence settles around us.
We stay like that for a long time–holding each other. Finally home but not knowing how long we actually have before we’re separated again.
Eventually, I whisper, “I understand why they’re doing it. Why you have to go.”
“I promised you I’d stay.”
“You never promised. You didn’t have to.”
“Brie, I don’t want this. I wanted–I wanted to bring you home to Silverhide for the summer and then… use my meager captain's salary to buy us a house here, somewhere we could settle.”
“We’ll have all of that when you come home,” I breathe, squeezing my eyes shut against the influx of tears trying to breach my eyelashes.
“It could be a very long time before we’re together again,” he admits. “Months. A year.”
I press my face into his shirt, struggling to breathe as a sob tightens my throat.
“But I’d be an Alpha King. Someone worthy of you–”
“You’ve always been worthy of me. It’s me that hasn’t ever been worthy of you.” I tighten my arms around his waist.
“Marry me,” he whispers into my hair.
Tears slide down my cheeks, soaking into his shirt. “Yes. I will. Of course, I will–”
“Tonight,” he adds, tilting my chin to look up at him. “Marry me tonight.”