Page 29 of Just Crumbs

I can tell Flint is talking to her, but he’s choosing to keep the words from me. A wave of jealousy fills me. Flint has always been my companion, my familiar, my friend, and now he’s sharing himself with someone else using the magic from my blood.

“Master.”

My head jerks up, and I find Flint staring at me, his yellow eyes digging into my soul. Gerrit has been making the campsite, building a fire, and dragging logs over for seats, but I have been standing, staring blank-faced at Flint and Briar.

Briar meets my gaze with hurt and fear in her eyes.

I feel my chest tighten as I look at her, guilt dropping my stomach to my feet.

It is imperative that I get out of this spiral and get my mind on something else. “We spent ages in the woods, going over it section by section, trying to find your home. Now that we have you, it won’t take long to get out and back to Greenbell,” I tell her. “And then we can see what you can do for Father.”

She drops herself on one of the logs Gerrit set up, patting it beside her. Her shoulders are tense, but her tone is kind as she speaks. “Yes, of course. Your father. We also need to plan what we will do when the sun comes up.”

“What exactly happens when you’re in the sun for too long?” Gerrit asks as he flops down on the other side of her. “Do you just burn really badly?”

She snorts and kicks the toe of her too-large boot in the dirt. “Yeah, that’s an understatement. My skin boils and sloughs off. It takes ages for me to heal.”

Flint wedges himself between my and Briar’s knees.“What if that was a curse of the fairy circle?”

“You think that’s possible?” Briar answers as I tell Gerrit what the wolf said. “I mean, weirder things have happened, I’m sure.”

“Plus, you’ll heal faster now that you can eat from us regularly, right?” My brother asks. “Is it possible you could travel during the day if you could feed from us regularly to heal any damage immediately?”

Briar’s eyes go whispy and far off. She tilts her head back, her face towards the full moon as if sunning herself. “It would be amazing to feel the sun again. I tried several times, but it wasn’t worth the pain. But if I could live in the day?” She sighs and leans her head on my shoulder. I melt under her touch. “I could maybe begin to feel a little more human.”

“But you’re not, human that is,” Gerrit reminds her clumsily. “Not that there is anything wrong with it, of course.”

“You’re right, I’m not,” she muses sadly. “But there are parts of me that long for a human existence. I have had centuries to decide who I want to be.” The stars twinkle in her eyes, and the campfire flame caresses her skin. “Do you want to know? In my wildest dreams, who I hoped to become?”

I nod at the same time that Gerrit answers in the affirmative. Even Flint gives an accepting little woof.

“Then I’ll need to tell you who I’ve been.”

Chapter16

The Dead Come Talking

BRIAR - FOREVER AGO

My stomach hurts.

It’s the only thought in my mind. I can’t even remember my name.

All I can conceptualize is that my stomach hurts.

“Awaken, demon,” a gruff voice shouts. “On your feet.”

Demon? Is that my name, then? It’s not very pretty.

I pull myself to my feet, my eyes adjusting slowly to the room I’m in.

The home I’m in.

It’s cozy, with several plush places to sit in the large room I’m in the middle of. I don’t know how I know this, but I can tell that this is the home of someone with a decent amount of money.

A man sits at the table, wearing black from his head to the floor, only showing the peachy pink skin of his scarred hands.

“To me, demon,” he barks. I scramble across the room, stopping in front of him.

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