Page 7 of Stolen Thorn Bride

Her brother shot her a strange look. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” she said helplessly. “I’m fine. Look, I need to get to Gianessa’s early today to fix the fence so the pigs don’t escape. Can you promise me you’ll look after Liam and Ell? Keep them out of trouble? And if you have a minute, the garden needs turning over, and we have to chop more wood.”

Rordyn stood and nodded solemnly. “I’ll do it, Kasi. Don’t worry. And tomorrow I’ll go find a new job, I swear.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, offering him a smile she hoped didn’t look forced. “We’ll be fine for a while. Maybe this is for the best. With you home, maybe we can find a way to have a bigger garden this year.”

* * *

With Rordyn’searnest promises echoing in her ears, Kasia took to the road just after sunrise, shivering in the chill morning air. Her ragged jacket did little to keep out the wind, but it was better than nothing, and she would soon warm up with the exercise.

She made the trip quickly—not eager to linger in the cold—and went straight to the rear of Gianessa’s cottage, hoping to fix the pig’s enclosure before completing her other chores in the warmth of the shed.

But the moment she rounded the corner of the pen, her optimistic thoughts disappeared beneath a surge of panic. Sometime during the night, the ragged ties holding the enclosure together had broken altogether. The corner gaped open, and the pigs were nowhere to be seen.

“Oh no, no, no!” she wailed under her breath as she glanced frantically around, hoping the animals hadn’t gone far. Surely they would be somewhere nearby, waiting for their breakfast.

A hasty search revealed no sign of them—only a scattered collection of tracks heading deeper into the woods.

Kasia mentally rescinded every complimentary thought she’d ever had about the wretched creatures and went looking for her employer. She found Gianessa standing in the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of tea with one hand while holding an open book in the other.

“Good morning, dear.” The older woman didn’t even look up, just set down the kettle, grabbed another mug, and poured a second cup. “You look cold. Have some tea.”

“Thank you, but I can’t,” Kasia said, with a regretful glance at the steam rising from the mug. “I’m so very, very sorry, but the pigs somehow escaped during the night. I’ll need to chase them down without delay. Don’t want to risk something else finding them first.”

“Hmm.” Gianessa set down her tea and took a good hard look at Kasia’s clothes. “You’re not dressed for running about in the woods. Take my old coat from the hook by the door. And my walking stick. If anything tries to eat you, just beat them with it. Oh, and Kasia…”

Her eyes unfocused suddenly, and her book fell to the floor. Her eyes seemed to stare off into some unseen distance while her tea steamed on, unnoticed.

After a few moments passed with no change, Kasia grasped the mage woman’s shoulder in alarm. “Are you all right?” It wasn’t like her employer never had these episodes, but they were rare, and they worried Kasia. What if Gianessa accidentally hurt herself or set something on fire and no one was there to help her?

The older woman suddenly jerked and looked back at Kasia intently. “Of course I am, dear. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I… uh… never mind.” Kasia bent down, picked up the book, and handed it back.

Gianessa reached out and patted her hand. “It’s been lovely having you here, Kasia. Just do remember to be careful in the woods. And whatever you do, my dear, beware!”

Beware? “Beware of what?” Kasia couldn’t help asking, stifling a surge of apprehension.

The mage woman blinked at her solemnly. “Beware of thorns,” she said in a hollow-sounding voice. “Beware of promises. Beware of kings!”

* * *

Well,that was odd. Kasia couldn’t help but feel disturbed as she stepped out, wrapped herself in Gianessa’s ancient, patched wool overcoat, and hefted the solid weight of the ironwood walking stick her employer used whenever she went into the village. It wasn’t exactly a weapon, but it would serve for defending herself against anything she was likely to find in these woods.

But what had Gianessa been going on about?

She would have to askaftershe located the missing pigs, two of which proved to have gone no farther than the muddy creek north and west of the cottage. Another was rooting happily under the oak trees a short distance away, but the fourth—a wily old sow—was nowhere to be seen.

Once Kasia managed to round up the first three (not without collecting an impressive amount of mud on her shoes and clothes), she mended the corner of the fence, took up her cudgel again, and tried to follow the muddle of prints left by the pigs’ escape. She lost the sow’s tracks in a meadow, then found them again after being briefly led astray by a deer trail.

The sow’s progress led deeper and deeper into the forest, and as the sun reached its zenith, Kasia began to wonder whether she ought to go back and come out again later with Rordyn’s help. He didn’t care much for physical labor, or for Gianessa, but perhaps tracking a pig through the woods wouldn’t offend his sensibilities too greatly.

She was just about to turn around when her feet led her between a pair of elderberry bushes and nearly ran her smack into the Hedge.

For a brief moment, she held her breath, more out of shock than anything else. She hadn’t realized she’d come so far. But at least her quarry couldn’t have passed the Hedge itself, so perhaps she could travel down its length, looking for any signs that the sow had encountered the Hedge and turned back towards home.

Kasia found it difficult to feel quite comfortable walking along next to the towering wall of firethorn. It was such a strange intrusion into her normal waking life—an obvious creation of magic in a world that refused to accept it. Like a silent war being waged where anyone could see, but most refused to look.

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