Chapter Twenty-Four
Seraph never mentioned to me that the entire family of Brynn’s and of Nicholas would also be present to hear the penalty they would be receiving. Brea was there with her arm around Isabeau who, although not back to herself, was much better than when I’d visited with her last night. Toryn was standing near Isabeau and looking incredibly pleased.
“Nicholas.” Seraph nodded at him. “Brynn.” She looked out at their families and then at me. I swear I could feel her nervousness, and it was contagious. “Because it was an offense against Kellan, I have allowed her to select the repercussion of your actions.” She looked at me and so did everyone else.
I still hadn’t come up with a punishment and everyone was waiting. “Okay, so for your act of secrecy you….” I glanced around and prayed for inspiration. I leaned to one side and more water gushed out of my shoe. Looking at Nicholas, I couldn’t think of what he was even being punished for. He had done nothing. Brynn was a she-devil and deserved to be hit with another bucket at the very least.
Someone cleared their throat and I looked around again. I met Toryn’s gaze and remembered what his punishment was for kissing Brynn and I got an idea. “Your consequence for being secretive is that the promised partners you are to marry may opt out at any time before marriage without offense being given to your families.”
Toryn and I were the only two smiling in the room. Everyone broke out into angry sounding gypsy gibberish. Brea and Isabeau looked around with worry, while Seraph’s face turned red. Nicholas was soothing his mother while his father glared at me. It sucked that no matter how hard I willed Nicholas to look at me he wouldn’t.
Was it so terrible to save Toryn from a lifetime of misery?
The arguing and fighting went on for a few more long minutes before Seraph asked everyone to be silent.
“The punishment has been given and cannot be undone.” Seraph turned toward me. “You disobeyed the alpha, your promised one, and must answer for this.” Her eyes were cold like stone. “You also raised your hand against a clan member after promising me you wouldn’t.”
Her right hand raised up pointing towards Nicholas and Brynn. “Your manner of dealing with them was harsh, heartless and so you can be dealt with no more mercy than you have shown them.”
No mercy? Heartless? She was talking about me?
“Giving their promised ones a choice is heartless? How is it so heartless? The only reason her family is all angry with me is because they know no one is ever going to want that snake for a wife. And the only reason they’re mad,” I stated as I pointed at Nicholas’ family, “is because I’ve taken back the promise my birthmother had no right to give away. If I marry Nicholas it will be because I gave him my promise.”
Seraph’s eyes were no longer unreadable. They were filled with anger that boiled into rage. “No matter what you want to believe it will never change the fact that I am your mother. You are my daughter and I have every right to protect you in every aspect of your life.
“For disobeying the alpha you will be his family’s servant and obey their every command until they release you. For raising your hand against a member of this clan for the second time you will put your apprenticeship on hold for three days and spend your free time serving and bonding with Brynn.”
This was such bull crap. She was punishing me for standing up for myself.
My hands were fisted and shaking at my sides. “If making me your clan’s gypsy slave is your way of teaching me anything, I should take this moment to thank you for selling me to that man beast, Harold. He was obviously better qualified.”
“Get out of my sight.”
I didn’t have to look around to know everyone there hated me, including Seraph. I didn’t wait to be told twice. From years of training and conditioning I straightened my back, cleared my face and put my fake non-feeling smile in place. “My pleasure.” My shoes squished with each step I took out of the ballroom.
Zorrin was outside the door and I almost bumped into her when I passed through it. “Wow, well done.”
I kept walking and ignored my stinging eyes and aching throat. She had called me heartless and so, maybe she was right. When I got to my room, I closed the door. I was pacing.
There was so much freaked out energy just racing through me. There was no way I could be still. I walked my room hundreds of times before I ended up sitting on the bed, waiting.
Isabeau came and didn’t knock, she just came right in. “What were you thinking?” The door slammed shut behind her. “You’ve just insulted the entire clan. You’ve spit on our traditions and way of life. You compared our queen to a man beast and came out saying a man beast was better than her.”
“I did not insult every member of the clan. I just gave the decision back to whom it should belong-”
She threw her hands up over her head. “That is not our tradition. It is not our way of life.”
“You see it that way because you loved Duncan. Do you think Toryn deserves Brynn?”
“Maybe he does. What do you know about it? You’ve been here what, a few days? Messing with other people’s lives because you think you know better? Honestly, I don’t know if Nicholas will still want to marry you.” I got up off my bed and was glaring at her. “How many times are you going to tell him he’s not good enough for you?”
“He is the only one that has said that.”
Isabeau opened my bedroom door. “You’ve just said that he isn’t good enough by giving yourself a way out.” She looked up and down the hallway. “I’ve seen Seraph suffer all these years without you and she doesn’t deserve the disrespect you’re showing her.” She closed my door before I could respond.
I wanted to see Grandma Sidney, and I wanted someone to be on my side. After Isabeau chewed me out I wasn’t entirely sure I’d done the right thing.
Nina answered by the second ring and was grounded. Even so, she was on her way to pick me up. I needed to get away and just get my head on straight. The clear lines of black and white in my judgment had acquired a gray since I’d moved into the gypsy community, and I didn’t like it.
There was no guard at my door or anyone telling me not to leave the house even though I did pass members of the clan and pack. Most of them were looking at me like they wanted me to leave. Toryn was waiting outside the front door.
“So, I’m pretty psyched you gave me a way out.”
“At least someone is happy about it.”
“Yeah, a lot aren’t.” He eyed my purse. “Where are you going? You’re not supposed to leave the property.”
I spotted Nina’s hummer pulling into the driveway. “I won’t be long. Don’t squeal on me, Toryn.” Nina opened the passenger door from the inside.
“Hop in.”
“Wait.” Toryn took off a leather strap from around his neck that had a dark black metal symbol on it. “It’ll keep black Siths away but not the Baobhans.” He glanced in at Nina. “If they know it’s you it won’t hold off the black ones either. I should really be coming with you.”
“No. I don’t want to hurt Nicholas. Every time we go anywhere together it upsets him.”
“He would be more upset if he knew I let you leave without werewolf protection.” I looked back at the house wondering if at this moment that were true. Nicholas and his entire family hated me and probably hoped I would opt out.
“Fine, get in.” Toryn picked me up and put me in the middle and climbed in after me.
Nina pulled away from the house and back out onto the main road. “Where are we going?” She asked me. True disappointment that Toryn wasn’t in the middle was obvious in her body language.
“Can you take me to the sanctuary?”
Nina drove like a crazy person. I asked her to slow down and she glared at me. “Being grounded has really made you grumpy, Nina.” She slowed down and started laughing. I didn’t realize she was crying until Toryn nudged me. She parked in a red zone on the main road. I had to scoot Nina, who was bawling
uncontrollably, to the middle so that Toryn could park in a legal parking spot.
“Daniel dumped me. He said I wasn’t anything special.” Toryn just tried to look anywhere but at us. “He only likes me for my status. He just wanted to meet people that I know and when I cut him off he dropped me.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. But this is the eye tattoo guy you’re crying over?” I was patting her back when I saw him walking with his arm around the waist of a gorgeous brunette. They stopped walking and Rick tickled her and then kissed her. I’m not sure why I felt so stunned. I had told him to move on.
“Are you okay?” I looked at Toryn and was grateful he was looking at me and not at Rick.
“Of course.” I didn’t feel fine though. “Please take us to my grandma’s.” He was like a little boy locked in a toy store.
“This truck is so cool. We should make Nina Didikai so I can drive this again.”
“Didikai?”
“Friend of gypsies.”
Nina didn’t pay any attention to his gibberish word. Instead, she wiped at her eyes and looked at me. “Who is Nicholas, your boyfriend?” Toryn looked at me and I shrugged in answer to Nina’s question. “If he’s not your boyfriend why are you worried about upsetting him?”
“Because, I care about him,” I answered Nina.
Of course, Toryn was quick to jump in with, “But now you can get out of marrying him. You wouldn’t have given yourself that escape hatch if you weren’t going to use it. I’m happy to wait until you do.”
I hissed out a breath. “I only did it so you wouldn’t be stuck with Brynn.”
“Yeah, and free for us to get together.” Nina was grinning watching and listening to our discussion. She had been trying to get me to break rules our entire friendship. “You wanted to kiss me when I asked you back at the waterfall.”
My face was heating up and I tried not to react to Nina’s eyes growing wider. “I really like Nicholas, and I was just trying to help you. That’s it, so drop it.” He was driving up the on ramp and the playfulness in him was at a low. “Isabeau thinks I insulted the entire clan by doing what I did.”
“Well, yeah.” He stopped smiling when he saw my face. “Nicholas was really ticked. He even removed the rule that I’m not allowed to be alone with you.”
“He did?”
“No. But you were hoping he did,” Toryn said.
Nina stuck her head in my view. “Are you dating brothers?” I shook my head and her mischievous grin slanted to the left. “Best friends then. That is ballsy, Piper.”
“I’m not dating Toryn.” I folded my arms. By the time we were climbing the mountain to the sanctuary I had come to the conclusion that men could never love anyone more than they love themselves.
As soon as the hummer stopped I hopped out and ran to the house. I found Grandma Sidney serving Nicholas hot chocolate in the dining room. He didn’t seem very happy to see me. “Well, I’ll be. Nicholas told me he was sure you’d be dropping by.”
Grandma Sidney set the tray down and I hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad you did.” Nina and Toryn joined us and Grandma Sidney picked up her tray again. “Well, I guess we’ll need more hot chocolate.” She tipped her head toward Nina. “Your mom has phoned me twice.”
I met his heated gaze. “How did you know I was going to end up here?” He stood up from the chair he was sitting in and Nina started drooling looking at him.
“I knew you were upset and when you weren’t in your room, I thought you would come here.” His eyes crossed to Toryn’s. “And here you are.”
“She didn’t want me to come, but I told her you would prefer I be with her than to be unprotected.”
Nicholas did not respond to him, instead he looked at me. “I am always free to bring you to see Sidney.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Sidney said, reentering with three steaming mugs on the tray. “Deception sure has grown on me while you’ve been gone.” Adriel padded alongside her. “But I can tell he’s missed you as I have.”
There was a brisk knock at the door and we all looked at Grandma Sidney, who bristled before our eyes. “Nina, you need to call your mom and let her know you’re here. Nicholas, take your friend outside and tell Tony he had better steer clear of me for a good bit yet.”
“We’ll do that.” Nicholas stepped around me taking care not to touch me. I heard Toryn call him an idiot as they walked down the hallway to the front entrance. Sidney pointed to the phone eyeing Nina who obeyed at last.
I followed my grandma into her room and she closed the door. “You look quite shook up. What happened?”
“I may have done something terrible.”
She raised a brow. “May have? No. Either you did or you didn’t.” This was exactly where I learned that everything was either black or white with no in between shades of gray.
“I did something half terrible. But even the good part of what I’ve done has upset everyone.”
Grandma Sidney put her arm around me and looked at Grandpa’s picture. “You are leaving out a lot of detail but it seems to me you know what you’ve done that is wrong. Just go and make amends.”
“But how can I truly be sorry when I don’t disagree with my own standards in this case?”
“You can be sorry to have offended.”
What she’d said hadn’t been profound or rocket science but a simple truth. “Thank you, Grandma.” I hugged her tightly again.
“You’re welcome.” She opened up the door, but I caught her wrist gently.
“What’s all this about Tony?”
“Oh.” She waved her hand at me and her face got all red. “He’s a silly man with silly ideas.” She pulled the door open and shoved me out. “Did you see my roses?”
We passed Nina, who was sitting on the floor apologizing into the mouthpiece of the phone. Outside Tony, Nicholas and Toryn looked our way as we came out of the house. “See?” There was only one yellow rose blooming, and it already looked half dead. “I’ve never been able to get it to bloom. Not ever.”
“It’s beautiful.”
She blushed and shook her head. “No, it’s not the garden I dream of but I’ve never been able to get anything to grow. Wouldn’t it be glorious to have a dozen all blooming at once?” She laughed. “I’m going to go get myself a mug of that cocoa,” Grandma Sidney said after looking over her shoulder. I noticed that Tony was coming our way before she left.
“I’ll be right in.” I took the chance I had while waiting for Tony to reach inside myself and the earth and bring Sidney’s garden to life. I grew several more rose bushes, big full ones as big as my face, blooming yellow, white and pink in blossoms.
“That’s quite a talent you’ve got there,” Tony said sounding strangely proud. “You’d better not let Sidney see you doing that.” Because I was still mad at him for upsetting my grandma, I grew a fern next to the white rosebush.
“Why doesn’t Sidney want to see you, Tony? What did you do?”
He looked toward the house. “Just found ourselves in an awkward position is all.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder, “Looks as though you’re in one too.”
“I am in complete control of the position I’m in now. Everyone can get mad at me about it too but I will not be pushed into a life I don’t want.”
The features on his hard and weathered face softened as he looked down at me. “Sometimes in order to have a life you take what you can get, little princess.”