Page 18 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Hord grunted in agreement. His brow furrowed more.
"Curse? Gola Resh? Babadon?" All of it was so familiar. Infuriatingly familiar. I rubbed my hands over my temples. All the giddiness from before had faded, and everything crushed in on me. I had so many questions. Too many. "Brandt was talking about being cursed to kill me. I don't remember that happening. I don't remember…but it's familiar. What is it doing?"
"There are two curses at play," Kine started.
Hord held up a scarred hand, tilting his head. His square features had taken on a particularly grim cast. "Let's wait to tell her everything until we've confirmed she is who you say she is."
"What could we possibly tell her now that would help anyone? Even if she was just pretending to be Stella?" Elias demanded, his voice far sharper. His hand clenched into a fist, proving he was nearing the end of his patience.
Hord gave him a studied glare. "I do not know. This is far beyond my area of expertise, but until we confirm her identity, we should all be careful. You both should have offered a better solution before you brought her here."
"We would have come up with another one if we had had a chance," Elias snapped, "but as soon as she got here, he had us thrown in the dungeon for—"
"Stop. Just stop. All right?" Kine shook his head, releasing a tight breath. "None of that matters right now. We need to prove Stella is who we say, and Buttercup can do that."
"You were thrown in the dungeon?" My eyes widened. "Was it because I ran in that dark place?" My heart sank. Everything felt so wrong now, worse than it ever had on Earth. Maybe it was just because it had come so close to being right, and now…now, that had been torn away.
"Yes. No. Not exactly." Kine stumbled over the words. He raked his hand through his loose azure hair and shook his head. "I mean, there were concerns after you disappeared in the Shadow Hall.
Elias gave him a dark look, his expression tightening as if he disagreed.
"The king had his reasons for those decisions," Hord said firmly, "and we will not speak about what happened further, not until we know what we are dealing with. It is as simple as that."
"How far do we have to go?" Elias asked, clipping his words.
"Brandt brings Buttercup out here to her favorite meadow at least once a week," Hord explained.
Elias grunted at this.
Who exactly was Buttercup?
My head hurt. It was becoming so hard to think, and that gnawing need to return to Brandt somehow intensified. It swelled within me like a thirst.
"It's going to be all right, Bug," Kine said. "Seeing Buttercup again will do you a world of good. I bet you'll remember her in a flash."
"She isn't… She isn't a person, is she?"
All three of them laughed at this, their voices booming in the relative stillness of the night. The mood lightened at once.
"Not at all, and I trust her senses better than mine," Hord said. A hint of a smile returned to his face. He then stopped as the hill leveled out.
A flicker of excitement rose inside me as I looked in the direction he'd indicated. A large oak with branches wide enough to hold a whole house stood near the base of the hill beside a river. It wasn't just grass down here. The short grass turned into dense dark-green clover with little flowers, but instead of the delicate white globes on Earth, these were pink blossoms thatresembled rosebuds. Several had opened up, revealing delicate silky petals, each one half the size of a tea rose.
A deep, plaintive bellow sounded from the other side of a tree, rising above the river's burbling. A man in a uniform similar to the warriors who had come to our aid stepped out and away from the enormous trunk, holding a golden glowing lasso. He pulled it taut and called out something in a gruff voice.
That bellow was deeper than I remembered but so familiar my skin prickled in response. "Buttercup?"
Some of the darkness receded within me. My steps quickened.
Another low, grunting bellow followed.
"Koigrim," Hord called out. "Is Buttercup secured?"
The warrior stepped out into the moonlight. His green-and-black hair had been woven into a single-layered braid, though the sides of his head were not shaved. He tightened his grip on the glowing gold rope. "She's having a rough night, Arch General. Something’s got her all on edge. Like she smells something." He staggered to the side as another heavy bellow came from behind the tree. "Eid, hold her steady."
I quickened my pace, glancing about. The grass sprang back under my feet, erasing my footsteps as I hurried forward.
Koigrim frowned a bit. "Who's that with you?"
