Page 35 of Beasts of Briar
That’s what Solomon would say if he were here. I’d gotten hurt more times than I could count in the Wilds, wandering and exploring, going places a little girl had no business going. Solomon was always the one tending to my wounds. I had six other brothers to lecture me, to boss me around, and I think Solomon knew that what I needed more than a reprimand was comfort. So when I’d cry from the pain of my latest injury, hissoft voice would be right there while one of my other brothers chided me.
“Just breathe, Bell,” he’d say.“Breathe through it.”
After all these years, I could still hear his voice, could still imagine the way he’d be cradling my hand in his, keeping his tone soft and gentle. Exactly what I needed in this moment.
A sharp knock at the door broke through my thoughts, and I stood, walking over and hesitating. I looked out the window. The sun was still out, so I didn’t think it would be Kairoth, here to ask more questions, to find out my secrets. I bit the inside of my cheek and gritted my teeth at the pain that shot through my hand when I gripped the handle and opened the door.
Driscoll and Leoni stood there, a pixie fluttering between them. Not Goji. This one was male with dark, slicked-back hair and a thin mustache over his upper lip. He wore soft brown pants with no shirt, his wings flapping behind him.
“We’re going on a tour,” Driscoll said. “Jerome offered to take us.”
Jerome smiled and bowed. “Master tells me that you will be here for the foreseeable future. We have not had guests in ages. You have no idea how excited the staff is to have someone to serve.”
That sounded... awful. Like their entire existence revolved around others. I wondered if Kairoth had kept them captive, warped their minds somehow so all they wanted to do was work and serve. My jaw locked. I would find a way to stop him and not only get revenge for the people he’d murdered, but for all those he’d harmed, including these brainwashed pixies.
“Well, let me tell you,” Driscoll said. “I cannot wait to be served. Serve away.”
Leoni swatted him as Jerome chuckled.
“Wait until you try Cook’s boar. It is so succulent.” He kissed his fingers.
His accent was similar to Goji’s, so suave and lilting, like music. I could listen to them speak all day.
Jerome’s gaze landed on my hands, and he gasped in horror. “Madame, your hands. They’re—oh no. Did you fall into the briars in the garden? The flowers are beautiful, but there are awful thorns underneath.” He tsked. “I told Master Kairoth we have to take care of those vicious weeds. Someone was bound to get hurt, and now look what’s happened.”
I looked to Leoni and Driscoll for help.
“It’s kind of her thing,” Driscoll said.
“Her thing?” Jerome asked, mustache twitching.
Driscoll waved his question away. “She’s using the weeds for a project. A little craft project, if you will.”
Jerome looked horrified, and it was hard not to laugh at his utter confusion. He must think me mad. He wasn’t wrong.
Leoni looked at the pixie. “Do you have some kind of medicine that could treat her hand? A salve or something?”
Jerome frowned and scratched his head. “I don’t think so. We have no healers here. But I can ask around.”
“That’s not necessary.”I signed the words slow, trying to use my hands as little as possible.
Jerome studied me. “I’m afraid I don’t understand the language.”
“She said not to worry about it,” Leoni said, gaze fastened to my wounds.
I twined my hands around my back, hands out of sight. I didn’t need their pity.
“Okay, so does this tour include the kitchen?” Driscoll rubbed his hands together. “Maybe a snack, a little taste of Cook’s food?”
“I think we can arrange that,” Jerome said, waggling his eyebrows.
“Jerome,” a voice snapped, and I looked up to see another pixie flying toward us, this one with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and a severe look on his face. “I thought I told you a tour would be a bad idea.”
“Oh, here we go,” Jerome muttered as the other pixie approached.
He cleared his throat, his dark eyes landing on each of us, his scowl growing deeper.
“They need to know where to go,” Jerome said, clapping the pixie on the shoulder with a thump. “They can’t just stay in their rooms all day.”
