Page 6 of Stolen Thorn Bride

“What, exactly, did they start?”

Rordyn’s lips pinched together.

“Just tell me, Rory. It isn’t like I haven’t heard the kinds of things they say.”

“They said Papa left because… because Mama went off with another man,” he burst out. “That he abandoned us because he didn’t want to be saddled with caring for…”

“For whom?” Kasia asked gently. Better that he get it out so they could talk about it.

“They called us ‘whore-spawn,’” he admitted in a low, shamed voice.

Kasia sighed. “So what happened next?”

“I hit them.” Her brother looked as if he could cheerfully have sunk through the floor.

“Where?”

“Right in the middle of the apothecary’s shop.”

Despite the gravity of the moment, Kasia almost burst out laughing. She’d meant to ask whether he punched them in the face or not, but one answer was pretty much as good as another in this case.

“Well”—she rose from the floor and went to stand next to her brother in front of the fire—“I suppose that means you’ll have more time to help me with the chores. And you can watch over Liam and Ellery while I’m gone.” She said it lightly, and held back from ruffling his hair as she would have done when he was smaller. There were only six years between them, but sometimes it felt like twenty.

“But Kasi”—his gaze turned pleading—“maybe it would be best if you stopped going for a while.”

“Stopped going?” Hands on hips, she regarded her brother with a growing degree of frustration. “To work? And why would I do that? How do you suggest we eat if I stop working?”

“Not stop working,” he clarified. “Maybe just find something a little less…”

“Shameful?” she snapped. “Scandalous? Is that what you mean?”

He turned red and looked back at the fire. “They talk about you, too, you know.”

Kasia froze, fear stabbing an icicle through her heart. “And what is it that they say?”

He mumbled something too quietly for her to hear.

“Spit it out, Rory.”

His chin lifted a fraction. “They say she’s teaching you her witchery. That maybe you oughtn’t be trusted with the care of children.”

What?

Kasia crouched down beside her brother until he was forced to look her in the eye. “Rory, do you believe them?”

“No!” he burst out. “Of course not, but if Papa were here…”

“Well he’s not!” Kasia interrupted, overwhelmed by a sudden surge of anger and desperation. Papa had left her alone to deal with this, and she was trying, but it was never enough. “He’snothere, Rory, and I don’t know what else to do. And if you believe nothing else, believe that I’m doing everything I can for us. Believe that Gianessa is a kind and lovely woman who has done nothing but her best to care for the people in this village. She does not deserve their judgment, or yours, and if anything ever happened to me, she is the first person I would tell you to go to for help.”

Her brother’s eyes widened. “Kasi, are you in some kind of trouble?”

“No,” she snapped, rising from her crouch and resisting the urge to snarl in frustration. “I just need you to hear me! No matter what anyone else says, mages are…”

She stopped, feeling defeated. What could she say that wouldn’t sound crazy? Everyone in Garimore “knew” that mages couldn’t be trusted.

“Mages are what?”

“No different from anyone else,” she answered wearily. “We all have our flaws, Rory, and no one asked us if we wanted them. We just do the best we can anyway.”

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