Page 134 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
Donna eyed me one last time before whinnying loudly and nodding her head like a person might. The mare walked up and extended her face, lipping Marigold in the ear. The woman let her, frowning.
“You think they’re coming from the Hollow?”
Donna turned away and walked back to her shady spot.
“One more thing,” Marigold said.
Donna gave her a side-eye before settling back in to enjoy her noonday sun.
“It’s time you tell Brownie you’ve been working for us as an undercover contract delivery mare,” Marigold announced. Donna blew air out of her nose and started eating some grass. The human continued. “You’ve had long enough, and now it’s affecting poor Rufus too. We’ll give you some time, but this is your last chance. If you don’t say anything, we will.”
“I’ll agree to wait”—the words were dragged out of me by the expectant look of my future mother-in-law—“until the end of the Apple Blossom Festival. But no longer than that.”
Donna stared at us for a long time, but we held firm against the displeased horse. Finally, Marigold stated, “We are going to lunch, so we’ll leave you to think about things.”
Before I left, I said, “And Donna?”
The mare snorted. I didn’t know what that meant, but I continued. “Thank you for the poisoning lead. If you think that the poisoner is from the Hollow, then I’ll use every resource at my disposal to uncover the truth.”
Donna flicked her tail once then turned away and set to grazing. But I felt, somehow, that she was pleased I’d thanked her.
I followed Marigold back. Before we reached her house, I asked another question that had been playing on my mind. “What was the quest reward that convinced Donna to work for you? And have her come back for more quests?”
“Enchanted carrots, of course,” Marigold replied over her shoulder as she opened the door to her home and welcomed me in. “And a bag of golden-grade oats.”
I recoiled. “She’s been going behind her bonded companion’s back,for some carrots?”
Marigold didn’t seem to find anything wrong with this, stressing, “Enchanted carrots.”
I was risking another secret ruining my relationship with the most amazing woman on the continent … for carrots.
CHAPTER 82
Attacking the Beastman
Brownie
Bronwynn waited, pretending patience.
“We have discovered that one of our poisoners might be the one brewing up molten ash vane,” her father said slowly. “The timing of the assassinations matches with one of our deliveries.”
His eyes glanced at Rufus for a second, and she realized he must’ve already known and was waiting for her parents to tell her.
“Alright.” She shrugged.
It seemed bad … but a small part of her thought that ifsomeonewas going to flounce around the continent dealing out the most powerful poison known to kind, she would’ve been a bitoffendedto learn her family hadnopart in the party.
They were a centuries-old assassin guild, and she was proud of them.
She should’ve been more concerned since Rufus,one of the head investigators,now knew about their involvement … but again, why worry whenhewas calmly sitting beside her eating olives? He might have his perks active, but that was not the face of a beastman coming to tell her that he would be dragging her entire family before the Continental Council.
“There’s more.” Her mother pulled out their family crest and placed it on the table in front of them.
Brownie didn’t pick it up; she wasn’t an assassin.
“We would like you to take Rufus with you to the Hollow and introduce him to our people there,” Mama said, her voice unwavering.
The bard still didn’t pick it up. Brownie knew what holding the family crest meant—and that was why she’d never accepted the proof of her Stannard lineage before.
