Chapter six

EMILIE

They gave me a room that was bigger than my entire house had been. Huge bed, private bathroom, windows overlooking the forest. It should have felt safe.

It felt like a cage.

Aurora and Ethan tried to talk to me, but I couldn't. Every time I looked at them, all I could think about was Mrs. Hawthorne's broken body on the floor. The woman who actually raised me, who actually loved me, who died protecting me from the consequences of their choices.

"We'll let you rest," Aurora finally said, tears in her eyes. "But Emilie... we really did think we were doing the right thing."

"Maybe you did," I said quietly. "But that doesn't make it hurt less."

The words came out flat, empty. I wanted to scream at them. I wanted to ask them how they could sleep at night knowing they'd left me with a target on my back and lied for a foundation. But I was too tired, too broken. The anger would come later, I was sure of it. Right now, I just need them gone.

They left, and I was alone for the first time since Mrs. Hawthorne died.

That's when it hit me. It really hit me.

She was gone. The only person who'd ever been there for me was dead, and I was surrounded by strangers who claimed to be family but felt like enemies.

I curled up on the bed and finally let myself cry. Not the pretty, quiet tears from movies. This was ugly sobbing, the kind that made my whole body shake and my throat burn. I pressed my face into the pillow so no one would hear, because even in my grief, I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing how thoroughly they'd destroyed me.

A knock on the door interrupted me maybe an hour later. I wiped my face and opened it to find Kai standing there with a tray of food.

"Thought you might be hungry," he said. "It's been a long night."

"That's an understatement." But I let him in because he was the only person here who didn't make me feel like a pawn in someone else's game.

He set the tray down and sat in a chair by the window. "How are you holding up?"

"My guardian is dead, my parents abandoned me. I'm some kind of prophesied freak that an evil sorcerer wants to kidnap. How do you think I'm holding up?"

"Fair point." He was quiet for a moment. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about your guardian, about all of this."

"Are you?" I looked at him. "Or are you just following orders to keep me calm and cooperative?"

Something flickered in his eyes. "What makes you say that?"

"Because I'm not stupid, Kai. Your father looks at me like I'm a weapon he wants to control. My parents look at me like I'm a bomb that might explode. You're the only one who's been kind, and I'm trying to figure out if that's real or a strategy."

He was quiet for a long moment. Then: "Can I be honest with you?"

"Please."

"My father wants me to win your trust. To make you fall for me so you'll agree to a binding ritual that would tie your power to Silvercrest to him." He looked me in the eyes. "He thinks I'm down there right now, starting that manipulation."

My heart sank. "And are you?"

"No." He leaned forward. "I came up here to warn you because I think you deserve to know the truth. My father is going to try to control you, Emilie. And when that doesn't work, he's going to try to force you. You need to be ready for that."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because when you healed me in that forest, I felt something. The mate bond it's a werewolf thing. And I think..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I think you're my fated mate. Which means I literally can't stand the thought of anyone hurting you, including my own father."

I didn't know what to say to that. Part of me wanted to laugh at the absurdity. I'd known this guy for all of five hours and apparently we were cosmically connected? But another part of me remembered the warmth that had flooded through me when I'd touched him in the forest. The way healing had felt like coming home.

"You don't have to trust me," Kai continued. "I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. But I want you to know that whatever happens, I'm on your side. Not my father's, not the pack's. Yours."

"Why?"

"Because you healed me when you didn't have to. Because you're brave and honest and you deserve better than what everyone here wants to use you for." He stood up. "Get some rest. Tomorrow we start training so you can defend yourself. Because something tells me Thane isn't going to wait long before making his move."

He headed for the door.

"Kai?" He turned back. "Thank you. To be honest."

He smiled, and it was sad. "Don't thank me yet. Things are about to get a lot worse before they get better."

After he left, I sat by the window and watched the sun rise over the mountains.

Mrs. Hawthorne was dead. My parents had abandoned me. An evil sorcerer wanted to use me to end the world, and apparently I had some kind of mate bond with a werewolf I'd just met.

My life had become completely insane in the span of one night.

But as I sat there watching the dawn, I felt something settle in my chest. Determination, maybe. Or just stubbornness.

They all thought I was either a savior or a destroyer. A weapon to be controlled or a bomb to be contained.

But I wasn't any of those things.

I was Emilie. Just Emilie. The girl Mrs. Hawthorne raised to be kind and strong and good.

And I would survive this. All of it.

Not because some prophecy said I had to.

But because I chose to.

I touched the pendant around my neck, the last gift from Mrs. Hawthorne and made a promise to her memory.

I would learn to control my power. I would stop Thane from hurting anyone else. And I would choose my own destiny, no matter what anyone else wanted.

The broken queen, Storm, had called me.

Fine. I'd be broken.

But I'd also be free.

And maybe, just maybe, I'd figure out how to put myself back together in a way that was stronger than before. Not for them, not for prophecies or ancient powers or political games. But for me. For the girl who deserved a chance to decide who she wanted to become. Mrs. Hawthorne had given me that gift, the belief that I could be more than what others expected. I wouldn't let her death make a liar out of her.