Chapter 85
85
* 75%
X
A Finished
Lucien Duskgrave’s POV
The longer my grandmother spoke, the more emotional she became–until her voice broke entirely and she started crying.
I gripped the phone tighter, her sobs cutting through the night like claws to the chest. My throat tightened with something I couldn’t name–something uncomfortably close to guilt,
“I’ll take care of her,” I said softly, trying to ease her worry. “Don’t worry, Grandma.”
But she still wasn’t convinced.
“Lucien,” she pleaded tearfully, “Riley’s in a fragile place right now. Please… be patient with her . Comfort
her.”
“I will.”
“And she’s suffered too much, that poor child,” she continued, as if the floodgates had broken open. “Talk to her more. Don’t let her bottle everything up. She needs someone to really see her. To guide her out of all that pain.”
“I know.”
She kept going–concerned reminders to prepare sobering soup, to make sure the blankets were pulled up over her at night, to keep the windows shut so she wouldn’t catch a chill. Her voice was trembling with emotion. She cared about Riley in a way I hadn’t fully realized until now.
And I listened. I listened to every word, nodding silently even though she couldn’t see it.
By the time I hung up, Riley was drunk. Properly drunk.
She tossed the empty bottle aside. Her legs wobbled beneath her. I reached out instinctively, catching her before she could fall.
She leaned against me, soft and warm and helpless, her head tipped up, eyes glazed with confusion.
“Who are you?” she slurred.
I quickly ended the call and steadied her. “You’ve had too much to drink.”
But it was like she didn’t hear me. She lifted her finger and pointed it shakily at my face, squinting.
“You’re Kael Vale, aren’t you?” she declared, voice loud and angry. “You’re Kael. Vale!”
Her emotions flipped like a switch. She scowled, brow furrowing in raw, unfiltered hurt.
וד
“I hate you, Kael. You’re not my brother anymore. Get out. I don’t need a brother like you.”
Then she pushed me. Or at least tried to. Her strength was laughable, kitten–light. But the force threw her
76 29 Thu. Aug 1
M
75%
X
85
off balance, and she started to tip backward.
I caught her again, my arm sliding around her waist automatically.
“I’m not Kael Vale,” I said calmly.
She blinked up at me, confused. “You’re not?”
I shook my head.
“Then… you’re Maddox,” she accused, voice trembling. “You’re Maddox, and you’re no better.”
Her cheeks puffed in frustration, and she stared at me like I was the worst kind of traitor.
Fintsheet
“You were supposed to protect me,” she mumbled, voice cracking. ” You promised you’d always keep me safe. But you took her side. You helped Scarlett hurt me.”
Her breath hitched.
“You said you’d study law to protect me. That you’d put the bad people in jail. But I was the one you put
there…”
Her voice broke completely, and tears fell fast and heavy, glistening beneath the moonlight.
“I worked so hard for you. I paid your tuition. I took every job I could find so you could get your damn degree. And I did it all without ever telling you. I didn’t want to bruise your pride…”
She choked, fists trembling in the air.
take th
“I gave you everything. My heart. My hope. And you let me take the fall for her. You let them throw me in a cell for something I didn’t do.”
The bridge was silent except for her sobs.
And the moonlight–goddess, the way it wrapped around her–made her look like something half–angel, half–ghost. Fragile. Shattered. Still fighting.
“Don’t cry,” I said quietly.
“I want to cry,” she snapped, still hiccupping between gasps. “I don’t need your fake kindness.”
She shoved at me again, stumbling back a few steps, barely staying upright. But she was determined not to fall.
She pointed at me with shaking fingers.
“Maddox, I hate you. I’ll never forgive you. Not in this lifetime. You’re a bastard…”
The breeze stirred her hair, swept the tears from her cheeks, and carried her scent to me–bitter with pain, sweet with buried strength.
And I just… stood there.
*.75%0
0
X
–
Fint bed
85
Watching.
For a man who prided himself on never feeling, never folding. I was folding now. The iron wall I’d built around my chest had a crack.
She didn’t even know who I was.
But she’d cried herself into exhaustion.
When her knees buckled and she slumped forward, I stepped in without thinking and caught her in my
arins.
She was so small. Barely reached my chest. And gods, she was light–too light. Like the weight of everything she’d been through had hollowed her out from the inside.
Her head drooped against my chest, hair tangled across her cheek.
I held her tighter and glanced down. The moon stretched our shadows across the pavement like threads, weaving us together in quiet defiance of the world.
In the car, Duke was driving in silence.
Then I asked, “You told Matriarch Duskgrave?”
His tone was neutral, but I caught the glance he threw me through the rearview mirror.
I didn’t answer right away. Just stared out the window, Riley curled into my arms .
Duke coughed, then chuckled awkwardly. “Boss, I just wanted her to stop worrying…”
“Don’t talk so much,” I said flatly.
Duke laughed nervously. “I did it for you, you know. She was practically summoning the Elders.”
He peeked at Riley again in the mirror, then muttered, “She’s pretty. You two look good together. But damn, she’s tiny.”
I shot him a look sharp enough to make him flinch.
He shut up.
Riley’s breathing had evened out, though she still made the occasional hiccuping sound.
I frowned and gently patted her back, unsure why I even bothered.
She murmured something unintelligible in her sleep, her words little more than breath.
I looked at her for a long time.
Too long.
I didn’t like the way she made me feel. Unmoored. Human.
314
16:49 Thu, Aug 7
—
75%
ס
X
Finished
85
I pulled out a cigarette. Flicked it between my fingers, halfway to lighting it.
Then paused.
Glanced at her again.
And slid the cigarette back into the case.
Outside, the lights of Mooncrest blurred past like falling stars. My reflection in the window looked cold. Distant. Familiar.
But something inside me wasn’t.
“Duke,” I said finally. “By tomorrow, I want a full report on her.”
“Got it.”
Because whatever she was running from…
I needed to know.