Page 113 of Beasts of Briar
“Where am I?” He looked down at our clasped hands. “What’s going on?”
Oh, Father. Maybe he was getting better, but not nearly enough. He still was having these episodes far too often.
“They’re coming,” he said with a shaking voice. “They’re coming.”
“Who is coming?” Leoni said.
I gripped my father’s arm tighter, wondering if he was remembering a nightmare, having an episode.
“Leoni,” Driscoll murmured. “Don’t feed into it.”
I was about to lead my father inside when, suddenly, feathers filled the night sky, wings flapping, swans swarming the terrace in a flurry of activity.
“They’re gone,” my father said with a shaky voice. “They’re gone.”
My gaze snapped to the swans, then to the unfinished sweater laying on the chair. Its arm was still missing. But?—
I scrambled to the other pile of sweaters.
“What’s going on?” Leoni asked.
“I think maybe it’s time,” Driscoll said slowly, looking between my father and the swans. “To break the curse.”
I grabbed the sweaters up in my arms but paused when a roar shook the terrace.
Driscoll’s head snapped over, and he ran to the balcony, looking out. “No way,” he said.
“What is that?” my father asked, eyes darting around frantically.
A smile spread across my face as I signed,“A friend.”
Aron satwith us on the balcony. The shadows were no match for his wolf form as he burst through the wall surrounding the abandoned village below. We’d watched as he ran through the village so far below, then bounded up the mountain path and toward the castle.
We had to reassure the pixies he was a friend and not a giant wolf coming to eat all of us, and now here he was. I could barely believe it.
His blond hair was longer, curling around the nape of his neck. He rubbed his strong jaw, blue eyes sharp and assessing.
My father had been so distressed by all of it, Jerome and Wesley had taken him back to his room, and I hoped he was sleeping now. Resting. I’d visit his dreams again later tonight.
The swans had calmed down, all of them sitting on the terrace, watching Aron. They knew him well. His arrival must’ve been why they’d been so worked up.
“What are you doing here?” Driscoll asked, staring at Aron with wide eyes.
“I don’t come with good news,” Aron said, his face severe.
I swallowed, waiting for the hammer to drop.
“She came for the axe.”
No.
“I don’t know how she knew it was in the frost castle,” Aron said. “But she did, and she took it.”
The edge of my mind tickled, something feeling fuzzy, not quite right. I gasped.“She’s been in my mind somehow. Digging through it. She found out from me.”
Now that I was saying it, I knew it was true, and my stomach dropped.
“Do you think Kairoth has found her yet?” Leoni asked, leaning against the balcony.
