Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
BELLAMY
I sat in the garden, a basket by my side while Driscoll and Leoni sat on a stone bench nearby, watching as I cut the stalks of the nettle weed with a knife. The thorns poked my skin, and I winced every time I touched them. My hands were already turning red, little blooms of blood appearing where the nettles had jabbed me.
“This is painful just watching,” Driscoll said.
After I’d infiltrated Kairoth’s dream again, I’d fallen into a deep sleep, waking up this morning with Driscoll and Leoni pounding on my door, demanding to know what happened. Goji had been kind enough to pack us a basket of fruit and cheese to take to the garden. She’d said Master Kairoth gave us permission to cut the nettles, and I’d wasted no time rushing down here to get to work, my brothers on my mind.
I wished I could see them, could know they were safe. But one of Kairoth’s rules had been that I couldn’t leave his castle. I wouldn’t compromise this shaky agreement between us, no matter how uncomfortable it made me.
I swallowed back my tears, my hands throbbing as the poison infiltrated my body, already making my hands swell.
“So what did you find out?” Leoni asked.
I dropped a stalk into a basket Goji had given me, then signed, “He is suspicious about my powers.”
“Well, that makes two of us,” Driscoll mumbled.
I glared at him. “You know why my magic is the way it is. The Wilds. Even though I was in my mother’s belly when Spirit Frost’s axe was used, it still affected me, the same way it did my brothers and father.”
“Well, why didn’t you just tell him that?” Driscoll asked.
Leoni rubbed her temples. “Tell him and reveal Spirit Frost’s axe? That we know who has it and where it is?”
“Ohhhh...” Driscoll trailed off. “Right. Well, now he’s going to be poking around in your business. That’s probably why he’s letting you stay here, harvest these nettles. So he can discover your secrets.”
Driscoll was right. The god and I were playing a dangerous game, one where we both were trying to discover the other’s secrets. Or in my case, kill him for what he’d done. For destroying my court. Not yet though. First I’d need to learn his weaknesses. First I needed to save my brothers. That was the priority above all else.
I got back to cutting another stalk. I gripped it, holding back my tears as the thorns jabbed me, then sawed through it with the knife. And to think, this would be the easy part.
“How many of those do you need to knit a sweater?” Driscoll asked.
I shrugged. I didn’t know. I would work on Jorah’s sweater first, then go down the list of brothers, finishing with Soloman’s. I just needed the sweaters to fit over the swans’ backs. They didn’t have to be perfect. At least I hoped not.
“How does a sweater fit over a swan?” Driscoll asked. “I’m trying to picture putting a sweater on a swan, and I’m having a hard time.”
Leoni sighed. “They’re probably going to have an open front so she can throw them over the swans’ backs.”
“Ohhh.” Driscoll stroked his clean-shaven chin. “Yeah that makes more sense.”
I wished they would go away. I didn’t like how they just hovered, watching me, talking and chatting like we were all good friends. They weren’t my friends. If anything, they were here to watch me, to make sure I didn’t use that bolt. My gaze flicked to the brush where my satchel was hidden. I didn’t dare check that it was still there, not when Kairoth could be lurking, watching. Though Goji had told us that he slept during the day. So Driscoll’s theory had been right. He was a creature of the night. I must’ve crept into his dreams just before he’d been ready to wake up the previous two evenings.
I sucked in a sharp breath as a thorn stabbed my thumb, going deep into my skin.
“I’ll check with Goji to see if there’s any way we can make a salve,” Leoni offered.
“No.” I winced as I signed, my movements slower than normal with my swollen fingers. “It’s okay.”
Leoni looked like she wanted to argue, but she didn’t say anything.
“So what’s the plan?” Driscoll asked. “Spirit Shadow is suspicious of you and your powers. So what does that mean? We’re just here indefinitely?”
I bit back a cry and dropped a stalk into my basket. “It means we have time to figure out what his plan is and stop him. He’s collecting those weapons for a reason. We have to know why.”
Leoni translated and Driscoll gulped. “Great. Spy on Spirit Shadow. That’s going to go over well,” he mumbled.
Leoni nudged him. “It’s what you signed up for. Signed us up for. You really will go to great lengths to run away from a perfectly good relationship.”
He scoffed. “That is not what happened.”
“If you hurt Aron, I will cut out your tongue and feed it to you,” I signed.
Leoni smirked.
Driscoll looked between us. “What? What did she say? Did she say something about Aron? Did she tell you how that man is hung?” He waggled his eyebrows.
“She doesn’t need to.” Leoni shot him a glare. “You’ve talked about it nonstop.” She raised her nose. “She just mentioned that if you hurt her friend, she’s going to hurt you. By cutting out your tongue.”
Driscoll turned wide eyes on me, and I flashed him a vicious grin. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Did you just make a joke?”
I made one simple sign that I knew he would recognize. “No.”
He made a face at me. “I’m not going to hurt Aron. I just... don’t know if we’re right for each other.”
I didn’t want to get involved in this, but I sighed and signed, “If Aron is considering becoming king of the frost court like you said, then you had more impact on him than anyone else in his life. He wouldn’t even entertain the idea when I brought it up. You’re the only difference. The only thing that could’ve made him change his mind. You gave him confidence to see himself in a new light, to see himself as a leader.”
Leoni translated as I signed, and Driscoll looked away. “Great,” he squeaked. “That’s great.”
Something about this relationship with Aron was scaring him, scaring him so badly he literally ran away to the shadow court to chase me instead of face it.
Leoni gave me a look and a shrug as if she was thinking the exact same thing. So maybe it wasn’t just Kairoth I needed to figure out. Maybe it was Driscoll too.
“Did you have any hot boy toys in the Wilds? Or girls?” Driscoll asked.
I gave a shake of my head.
I’d had a few disappointing lovers. Some of them were elementals who’d been affected by the magic of that axe. But I suspected if I told Driscoll I’d had sex with a man who shifted into a horse, he’d have far too many questions that I didn’t feel like answering. The thought almost made me smile.
“Hey, look at that.” Driscoll pointed. “Your basket is full.”
I looked down, realizing he was right. My hands were puffy and red, the small puncture wounds already seeping a yellow pus. But my basket was brimming with the thorny stalks, and I hadn’t even noticed, the time passing quickly. This would be enough for today, especially as the pain really began setting in. My hands felt like they were on fire, like the poison was eating the skin away. But I smiled anyway. I was one step closer to saving my brothers.