Page 26 of Beasts of Briar
Ihaven’t written in quite some time, and I’m not even sure how to put into words what has happened in the last year of my life.
Where do I start? Khalasa gave me her favor a year ago, a sigil I could put on our door, on our land, that signaled her protection. Should anyone choose to steal from us, hurt us, hurt our land, it would incur her wrath. The gods gave out these sigils to their most devoted followers. I never expected to get one from the goddess of stars.
It worked. Looters stopped stealing our coconuts, bananas, our goats and chickens. I was thrilled. My mama even showed some hint of life again, commenting on how nice it was to no longer have thieves roaming our land.
Then I got another surprise one day. I was out on the farm, tending to the banana trees, when I looked up to see Khalasa standing there.
She looked so out of place with her flowing midnight gown, her glittery eyeshadow, and her red lipstick, standing in a field of dirt.
“Tell me another story, farmer,” she’d said.
I was so shocked I couldn’t speak for a full minute as she walked toward me. She stopped right in front of me, asking my name, and I’d nearly forgotten it. I managed to get it out, and even more shocking, I managed to tell her a story that day.
Then the oddest thing happened. She started coming back for more stories. Day after day, week after week.
I’d take her to my favorite place under a big palm tree right by the sea, where we could lay in the sand and look through the fronds up at the blue sky, the clouds, and I’d tell her all the stories my own papa told me.
She said she’d never met anyone like me, someone who made her feel human again. I’d certainly never met anyone like her. Sometimes we danced under that tree. Other times we just sat in silence. I surprised her with picnics or wine, even though she needed neither. She’d tell me her own stories, giving me a glimpse into the life of a goddess.
Then one day after I’d finished telling her a story, I leaned over and kissed her, half expecting her to slap me. Instead, she kissed me back.
I suppose I’d been falling in love with her over the months. It wasn’t something I wanted to admit. She was a goddess. Mortals fell in love with the gods and goddesses all the time. Not the other way around.
Yet she said she loved me too.
So that’s what I’ve been doing this last year. Working on my farm, caring for my mother, and falling in love with a beautiful goddess who loves me back.
Chapter Sixteen
BELLAMY
Igasped, eyes shooting open as I stood in the middle of the prison cell.
“What?” Driscoll asked, coming to a stand. “What happened?” He bit his nails. “What am I saying? We’re not free, which means...” He ran a hand over his tight curls. “You failed, didn’t you?”
“Is that true?” Leoni pushed herself to a stand. Her bun was now fully lopsided, sweat sticking pieces of her red hair to her forehead.
I swallowed.“It worked. I got into his dreams.”
“Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’?” Leoni asked.
I signed my next words slowly, carefully.“But I couldn’t sway him to free us. I think I angered him for attempting to manipulate his mind.”
Driscoll looked between us. “She’s saying all bad things, right?” Leoni nodded, and Driscoll swore. “So now instead of losing our shadows and having a chance at surviving all this, we’re going to die and fail miserably.” His gaze flicked down tomy side, and he lowered his voice to a whisper. “And where is your satchel?”
My hands automatically went to where it would be strapped across my body. In the midst of everything that had happened, I’d completely forgotten about it.“It’s safe. In the garden. I stashed it under some brush.”
“It’s hidden,” Leoni told Driscoll. “It’s safe.”
He rolled his eyes. “You don’t think Spirit Shadow sniffed it out and found it already?”
I hoped not. I’d already messed this up so badly. I didn’t need to give him another weapon he was searching for.
“I don’t want to say I told you so...” Driscoll started.
Leoni planted her hands on her hips. “You literally told us you would revel in saying exactly that.”
“Fine!” Driscoll burst out. “I do want to say I told you so. I told you. I told you both this would happen. I told you this was a terrible idea. I was right. You were wrong!”
