Page 15 of Beasts of Briar
I stared at them from across the fire.“Why are you here?”I asked with quick hand movements.
Driscoll leaned back on his hands, while Leoni sat cross-legged, studying me. “Because you’re about to use a dangerous weapon, and the effects could have horrible ramifications on all of us.”
I tilted my head, not sure what she was talking about. Yes, I planned to use the bolt to kill Spirit Shadow, but that would benefit everyone. I’d long known the shadow king was Spirit Shadow, one of the trapped seven spirits who had escaped his tomb sixty years ago and fled to this island, where he’d hidden away, collecting shadows and hoping no one would notice him. He’d been the reason my homeland of the star court turned intothe Wilds, the reason why so many of my people died. And I wanted to get revenge, yes. But more than that, I needed the nettle weed that grew on his castle grounds. His castle was the only known place in the world where this nettle weed grew. It would be the only way to break the curse trapping my brothers as swans.
“Bellamy?” Leoni asked, and my head snapped up.
“I’m going to help the world by killing him,”I signed.“He doesn’t deserve to live. When he broke free of his tomb in the star court sixty years ago, he tore through my home and killed nearly everyone.”
Only a lucky few had survived, including my father, mother, and brothers. I’d been tucked away in my mother’s stomach, growing and safe from the carnage, but I’d learned about it as I grew older. My brothers and father had told me how terrifying it was, the chaos of it all. No one in the star court had known what was happening, why shadows had descended upon everyone, tearing through my people and killing them before the shadow king flew up into the sky and then disappeared. It wasn’t until later when his open tomb had been discovered that the survivors put the pieces of his escape together.
“Yes.” Leoni nodded. “We’re not arguing that he deserves to die, but you cannot use the bolt. It’s too dangerous.”
My eyebrows scrunched together. Again, I had no idea what they were talking about. That bolt was one of the infamous weapons created by the seven spirits. It belonged to Spirit Sky, and it was rumored that those weapons were the only way to kill a spirit, which was why they’d been hidden away long ago by the spirits.
Driscoll threw up his hands. “We found out what happened to the Wilds. Why all of you got trapped after Spirit Shadow fled and why your home got all warped and weird.”
I scowled at that. His words about the Wilds were true, but I was still protective over it. I’d never known the star court. I was born into the Wilds. Into a land full of dangerous plants, creatures, water. Nowhere was truly safe in the Wilds. But it was still my home. And it had always been a mystery. No one who survived Spirit Shadow’s rampage knew why our home changed. Why trees started growing eyes and hands. Why flowers could suddenly eat people. Why all the elementals turned into strange creatures—everyone except my father, brothers, and me. Even my mother hadn’t been safe from whatever had cursed the land.
Tears pricked my eyes as I thought about her, the last time I’d seen her over fifty years ago.
“What are you talking about?”My irritation was growing and my patience was thinning.
“Long story short, the frost queen got a hold of Spirit Frost’s axe.”
I blinked. Another of the dangerous weapons created by the spirits.
“And she used it to trap everyone in the star court. That’s all she’d intended to do. She drove that axe into the ground, wanting to create a huge chasm around the star court so no one could escape. But the magic warped your land. Her use of something so powerful had unintended consequences. If you use that lightning bolt to kill Spirit Shadow, you have no idea the damage it could cause. Yes, you could kill him. But you could also destroy this entire island. The entire world.”
His words slammed into me, making me jerk back. Bloody stars. That couldn’t be true. But why would Driscoll lie? Why would he risk coming to the shadow court, being trapped here just to tell me false information?
“We’ll help you,” Driscoll burst out.
Leoni shot him a sharp look.
“We’ll help you,” he said again. “I know you have to get that nettle weed and make seven sweaters for your seven brothers from it.”
Leoni spoke out of the side of her mouth. “This was not the plan.”
“She’s not going to let us have that bolt,” Driscoll said, gesturing to the satchel tucked into my side. “So we might as well offer to help her and then we can keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t use it.”
“I’m mute, not deaf,”I signed.
Leoni heaved out a sigh, then gave me a weighted look. “How do you know the nettle weed is what will save your brothers? How do you know it will break the curse?”
So Driscoll hadn’t shared everything with his friend. He knew why. I’d told him when he was in the Wilds.
“I saw it in a vision. A lake near my home that told the future.”
I still remembered dropping into that icy lake, being so cold I couldn’t move, so sure it was going to swallow me into its depths. But instead, it had shown me glimpses of the future. I’d seen this island. I’d seen the nettle weed, and I’d seen myself knitting the sweaters and throwing them on the swans. I’d seen the swans transforming into my brothers. And I’d seen a weapon. I’d seen myself driving it straight into Spirit Shadow’s heart. The vision had been too fuzzy to tell what the weapon was, but after the bolt had been brought into the Wilds, I just knew. I knew that I was supposed to take it and use it to kill Spirit Shadow. My future had been foretold. Leoni and Driscoll could do whatever they wanted. But they wouldn’t stop me.
Nothing would.
I peered at them both as they stared into the fire. Breaking the curse would be easier if I had help. Far easier than them working against me. So maybe I could let them think I wouldn’tuse that bolt. I could let them help me save my brothers, and then I’d fulfill my destiny and kill Spirit Shadow like I was meant to.
“Fine,”I signed.
Driscoll looked from me to Leoni. “Did she just agree to working with us?”
