Page 56 of The Great and Terrible

What! No. “Jasher would have mentioned something so catastrophic.”

He deflated a bit. “I hoped, for your sake, this one could be tamed.”

“You should kill him while you have the chance,” Patch said, unconcerned by my increasing upset. “Even the monstra hesitate to challenge them once they’re fully grown. That’s why the runts are left to die without exception.”

My gaze swung to Nugget. He peered at me with his sweet, puppy dog eyes and even wagged his tail. Love for him rose in my heart, a brilliant sun shining its light upon the entirety of my being. No. Just no. He would never harm me.

I jutted my chin. “You’re both wrong.”

“Don’t believe us then.” Patch downed the rest of her meal and belched. “One day, he’s gonna turn on you. But you’ll be too dead to hear me when I say I told you so.”

CHAPTER 14

BOOM, BOOM, BANG

“Take the serpens-rosa and punch me.”

I gaped at Jasher. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am deadly serious.”

We stood in the same clearing as last night, where we’d stared at the stars and enjoyed a private moment of connection. This morning, Patch and Leona sat off to the side, eager to be entertained by my first self-defense lesson.

Nugget hunted a snack nearby, ensuring Patch’s warning constantly clanged inside my head. If he made a kill and turned on his mother…if I had to hurt him to protect myself…

Nope. Not happening. What constituted a kill, anyway? Surely not a rodent he intended to eat. Maybe a person who irritated him. I just had to make sure he kept his cool, and we’d all be fine.

Besides, a survivalist like Jasher would never agree to travel with a rabdog that might morph into a murder machine. But come on! Could I not go one day in this world without having a bombshell dropped on me?

“Moriah,” Jasher grated, snagging my attention. “I know you’re upset about your pet, but worrying won’t do any of usany good. There’s a chance he’ll defy expectation. I have. Now take the serpens-rosa and punch me.”

Bright sunlight glistened on the tiny grain I held in my uninjured palm. “I shouldn’t.” Couldn’t. “You told me this wasn’t for sale.”

“I didn’t sell it to you, I gave it.”

Yes, but I didn’t know why. Or why the frustrating man refused to start the lesson until I took it. “My dad needs it more than I do.” Daniel Shaker might not be my biological father, but he was still my dad, and I would do anything, suffer anything, for his health. Though, yes, the temptation to heal was great. Down the hatch, and all my aches and pains would go away.

Jasher’s features softened the slightest bit. “I’ll bargain for more when we reach Lux. If no one bites, I’ll make some. You’ll have to stay a few days longer, since the concoction must steep, but you won’t return empty-handed.”

He made it sound so easy. “You told me acquiring serpens-rosa is exceptionally difficult.”

“It is.” He rolled his shoulders, preparing for my attack. “But it’s not impossible.”

“I…no. My dad might not have extra days.”

Jasher snapped his teeth at me. “Take the grain, Moriah, or I’ll leave our tagalongs behind.”

“You wouldn’t.” The gals might not be my friends, but they couldn’t survive this forest without him. No one could.

“Try me.”

“How dare you!” Leona called. Her favorite phrase. “They aremytagalongs.”

“Kiss already.” Patch covered her eyes and peeked through her fingers. “The sexual tension is too much for my young sensibilities.”

Jasher bent to put his nose level with mine. “If you can’t trust me to keep my word, I have no business traveling with you.”

Dang him! He just had to go and deliver a great point, didn’t he? The fact that I suddenly wished to gift him with the compass before we reached our destination only added weight to his claim. Not to mention my unceasing—and growing—desire to do as Patch suggested and kiss him.

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