Page 95 of Beasts of Briar
Leoni straightened, noticing my swelling hands. “Let’s get you some salve.”
“I’ll do it!” Driscoll jumped up.
Leoni tapped the jar sitting next to her. “I already have some here. Get back to reading.”
Driscoll dropped back down, shoulders slumping.
She patted the spot next to her on the bench. I stood and picked my way across the tangles of weeds and bushes, hands throbbing as I walked toward them and squeezed myself in between.
“You know the worst part about being here?” Driscoll asked, and Leoni groaned.
“Can you just stop? You’re being so grumpy lately.”
“The worst part,” Driscoll forged on, “is that there’s no good gossip. There is literally nothing happening in this castle. I mean, I kind of think Wesley has a thing for Goji. Or maybe Jerome does. But Goji is definitely not interested in either of them, so that’s not even good gossip. Can someone just do something interesting around here?”
I thought of the way Kairoth had used his shadows on me, how I’d wrapped my mouth around him just a few weeks ago.
“Wait a minute.” Driscoll’s tone changed, and I looked away from my hands, where Leoni was spreading salve, and up toward Driscoll’s frowning face. “Why did your cheeks go all pink just now?”
He pointed a finger at me, and I snapped my teeth at it. He yelped and withdrew it, and I gave him a satisfactory smile.
“You can’t hide from me.” He wagged his finger. “I can sense these things.”
That was ridiculous. Leoni continued to massage the salve over my wounds, and I winced at the pressure. It would take about ten to fifteen minutes, but once the salve started taking effect, it numbed my pain. Some herb Goji had added to it that I was incredibly grateful for.
Driscoll sighed heavily. “You’re confused. I get it. Leoni, explain.”
Leoni grabbed some cloth and wrapped it around my hand, leaving my fingers still free so I could sign.
“I’m sorry for the words that are about to come out of my mouth,” she said, sighing. “But Driscoll believes he has some kind of magical sense where he knows if people have had sex.”
Heat flooded my cheeks, and Driscoll gasped. Leoni’s mouth dropped open.
“Bloody earth. You and Kairoth had sex? And you didn’t tell me?” he hissed.
Leoni finished tying the bandage on my other hand.“We didn’t have sex,”I signed, my face on fire.
“Uh, your expression tells a different story. A satisfied story.” He shut his book. “Spill.”
I hesitated, but truthfully, it had been hard having no one to talk to about any of this. Kairoth had been gone, so it wasn’t like I could work through my feelings with him. I certainly couldn’t tell my brothers.
“He used his shadows on me,”I finally admitted.
Driscoll squeaked, eyes going wide as his hand floated over his mouth.
Leoni leaned over and waved a hand in front of his face. “I think you broke him,” she said.
Driscoll’s hand curled into a fist. “I’m going to need you to break down what you said into very specific details.”
“She is not giving us details.” Leoni shook her head, then paused. “But I do kind of want to know what it means that he used his shadows on you.”
I couldn’t believe I was actually talking about this. I especially couldn’t believe that I actually wanted to.“Instead of his hands slipping down between my legs, it was his shadows.”
Driscoll squeaked again. “I knew he was a shadow daddy,” he said. “I could just tell.”
“What is a shadow daddy again?” Leoni asked.
He waved his hand. “Something I just made up that sounds really sexy.” He pinned his gaze on me. “Was it good?”
