Page 22 of Goldrage
I regard him with ice in my veins. “Come to gloat? I know how you plotted with Lady Harrow and used Aurelia. I want nothing to do with you.”
Valentine flinches, his usual stoic mask cracking at the edges. “I deserve that. I deserve worse.” Heapproaches the bed, each step careful, as if I might somehow break free and tear him apart.
He’s right to be cautious. The rage I feel toward him burns bright. “You conspired with Lady Harrow. You helped her manipulate Julian and kept her secrets.” My voice remains level, clinical, but each word carries enough poison to kill. “You betrayed Aurelia’s trust.”
At her name, Valentine cracks further. The man who never shows emotion, who taught me to bury feelings beneath layers of control, crumbles in front of me. He sinks into the chair beside my bed like a marionette with severed strings. Then he buries his face in hands that have done terrible things.
“I never wanted her hurt. I swear.” The words come out muffled and broken. “I loved your mother. That’s the truth. And you, of all people, know how far you’ll go for the woman you love.”
My jaw ticks because, yes, I understand. But I know if I had a daughter, I’d do everything in my power to keephersafe. I would never fall for a woman who would ask something so terrible of me.
So yes, I understand love, but I also understand choice. Valentine chose to continue a relationship with a woman who wanted to hurt his daughter.ThatI can never forgive.
“I thought I could protect Aurelia while helping your mother,” Valentine continues. “I know I made a mistake. I was wrong. So terribly wrong. I love Aurelia. She’s everything to me.”
I watch this mountain of a man shake with silent sobs, and despite the anger burning in my chest,something else stirs. Compassion, perhaps. While I may not be able to completely forgive him, I understand. We’ve all made devil’s bargains in this family. We’ve all sacrificed pieces of ourselves for people who didn’t deserve it.
“Liora said she killed her.” Valentine’s voice cracks completely. “What have I done?”
I turn my attention to the window, to the stars scattered across the darkness like fragments of hope. I’ve spent days mourning Aurelia, yet it felt hollow. It felt like a lie. I was so confused because I loved her. I was in pain because she wasn’t in this world. And yet, that agony was like a performance. I tried, but I couldn’t shake the wrongness of the emotions spilling out.
Now, the certainty that’s been growing in my chest since the initial shock wore off solidifies into something unshakeable.
“She’s alive.” The words come out quiet but absolute. “I thought she was gone at first. I grieved. But it didn’t feel… complete. Like mourning the living.” I turn back to Valentine, meeting his tear-stained gaze. “My heart knows she’s still in this world.”
He sniffs and wipes at his cheeks. “How can you be sure? No one has seen her. And I know Liora wanted her dead. Isawwhat Liora was doing to my daughter. I’m certain she finished what she started and Aurelia is…” He breaks into sobs again.
“I can’t explain it.” I extend my hand as far as the chains allow, and after a moment’s hesitation, Valentine takes it. His grip is that of a drowning man finding shore. “I just know she’s alive. She’s okay,Valentine. And she always will be. I’ll make sure of it, even if it costs me my life.”
I thought I had already witnessed Valentine breaking, but the certainty in my voice causes him to fully shatter. His body convulses with sobs that seem torn from somewhere deep and long-buried. I hold his hand through it, offering what comfort I can despite my own captivity and the anger that still simmers beneath my skin. He’s made terrible mistakes, but I see that he truly regrets them. He does love Aurelia.
Strange.My old self would never have been so… accommodating. Definitely never so comforting to a man I can’t fully forgive.
The realization brings a smile to my face. I prefer the new man I’m becoming.
We stay like this for a handful of minutes—two men bound by love for the same woman, by mistakes that can’t be undone, by the weight of what comes next.
“I should never have helped her,” Valentine manages between shuddering breaths. “The things I’ve done… the secrets I’ve kept…”
“We all have secrets. And regrets. What matters now is what we do next. From this moment forward, make better choices.”
Valentine’s breathing gradually steadies and he nods. “I will. I will.” He straightens in the chair, wiping his face with the back of his free hand. The mask begins to rebuild itself, but something has shifted between us. Trust, a fragile trust, begins to form in the space where only suspicion lived before.
I lean as close as my restraints allow, dropping myvoice to barely a whisper. “I need to know everything about Julian and Lady Harrow’s plans. Help me understand what’s been happening to my brother.”
Valentine nods slowly, his grip on my hand tightening briefly before he releases it. The look in his eyes tells me there are depths to this story I haven’t begun to fathom, truths that will cut deeper than any physical wound. He glances at his watch. “We’re almost out of time. But your brother… The darkness that took your father has found a new mark. And your mother has been nurturing and shaping it into exactly what she needs.” He glances at his watch again. “I need to leave. But I’ll have another opportunity to visit after midnight. I’ll return in a few hours and tell you what I know.”
I give him a nod and he slips from the room like a shadow.
Alone again, I turn my head to gaze at the stars and wait. I have a feeling Valentine will return to paint a picture of manipulation and madness that will be hard to hear. My baby brother, the boy I swore to protect, has become something I’m not sure I can save.
But I have to. For him. For Aurelia. For the memory of who we once were before this world poisoned us all.
CHAPTER NINE
AURELIA
The gravel crunches beneath my shoes like tiny bones breaking. Each step toward the Harrow estate gates sends another spike of adrenaline through my veins until I’m practically vibrating with it. My purse weighs nothing because all it has are Gideon’s forged medical documents and a tube of lipstick, but it feels like I’m carrying boulders.
