That might’ve been better than what came next.
But like most things in River’s life, she was destined to take the most painful route available. This was no different.
Ryker and Brynleigh shared a long look, communicating in that silent way that only couples who had been together for years were able to achieve. Sorrow crossed Ryker’s face, and dread wove its way deeper into River’s heart.
“Come and sit,” Ryker said, moving away from his wife. “This might be better if?—”
“No,” River whispered. Then, more loudly, she repeated, “No.”
She didn’t want to sit like she was back in her therapist’s office and being told to use mantras to keep her magic under control. She didn’t want to wait or be managed. She just wanted the truth.
“I really think you should sit down for this,” Ryker tried again.
“I don’t want to.” River looked over to Brynleigh. The vampire appeared to be on the brink of tears. “Please, Bryn. We’ve always had a connection, right? Tell me what’s going on.”
Her sister-in-law nodded slowly. Almost painfully. Taking Ryker’s hand, she laced their fingers together. She was clinging to him, as if she needed him to ground her.
River’s stomach churned.
“You’re right,” Brynleigh said. “You deserve to know what’s going on.”
Ryker made a sound in the back of his throat, but he didn’t say anything.
“Chavin is… was…” The vampire inhaled deeply and laid her hands flat on her thighs. “Before I married your brother, I came from there.”
River stared at her sister-in-law.
Blinked several times, trying to force her brain to make sense of what she was hearing.
It didn’t seem to be working.
“I don’t… Chavin no longer exists.”
Because of River. Most of the town’s buildings had been completely destroyed by her storm, and the flooded homes that had survived were uninhabitable. Even if Chavin had been salvageable, no one wanted to live in the same place where hundreds had met their deaths in a “fluke” storm.
Chavin was a ghost town, haunted by the souls that had passed on too soon. Cursed, just like River.
“I know,” Brynleigh said sadly.
“Then what are you saying?” River asked.
“I was there, the night of the storm.”
A knife shoved directly into River’s heart would’ve hurt less. As it was, her legs shook, and black spots danced across her vision.
Brynleigh had been in Chavin.
What?
How?
“When you… Were you a vampire?” River asked when her mouth could form words again.
A flash of pain crossed Brynleigh’s face. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared, but River knew she’d seen it.
“No. I was with my family when the storm hit, and they…” Brynleigh shuddered, wrapping her free arm around herself. “They didn’t make it.”
They were dead because River killed them.