Chapter 59
Red hot anger and annoyance flashed through my body when I saw my brother on the ground and the patron lifting their foot as if to kick him since he was down on the ground because my brother didn't tell them what they wanted to hear.
"Don't you dare!" I all but snapped and moved from the shadows toward them, dropping my basket while I did so. I shoved them away from my brother and onto the ground before I stood over my brother protectively while I looked at the patron to see that it was a male.
I narrowed my eyes and bared my teeth while I looked at him, and the patron gulped and backed away from me, from us, not even trying to stand. "How dare you try to kick my brother."
"I-I'm sorry, Marini," the patron said, his voice barely above a whisper, and bowed his head while he moved away from us some more. He cleared his throat and tucked his hands behind his back while he bowed lower. "I-I thought he was lying."
"That does not mean you can still kick him," I snapped with a shake of my head. "Why didn't you just report it like you were supposed to if someone that isn't supposed to be here is here? That is what you have been told to do many times before."
"But the Witch-Master sa-"
I pursed my lips in annoyance. "I would take whatever the Witch-Master says with a grain of salt," I replied coldly, interrupting him. "If someone is here that doesn't belong, then find a way to contact me and no one else, not even Jonah, and let me handle it. Is that understood?"
The patron gulped and bowed lower, not looking at me. "Of course," he said, "bu-"
"But nothing," I said with another shake of my head, interrupting him. "You do not know who you will make mad if you do this again."
"Ma-"
I waved my brother off when he opened his mouth to say something, and Griffth hesitated and bowed his head while he closed his mouth, not saying a word.
"Stand up," I said, "both of you."
They both stood with their heads bowed and hands behind their back, looking very guilty. They didn't say a word, and I shook my head and pressed my lips into a thin line.
"He is still a member of my tribe," I said, looking at the patron, talking about how he was a member of the Hargen Tribe like my father before us. "We do take care of our own and do not want one of us to get hurt."
Griffth bit back a small scoff, but I knew that he rolled his eyes because he knew that I was talking about the Hardgen Tribe. He folded his arms across his chest and set his jaw but didn't say a word.
I looked at my brother when I heard that scoff because I instantly knew what he was thinking, and I did not like it at all.
"Do not think whatever it is that you are thinking, Griffth," I whispered hissed while I narrowed my eyes and scowled.
"We will talk later this evening about it. Is that understood?"
Grifftg pressed his lips into a thin line but didn't say a word. He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, and I bit back a small sigh while I shook my head and pursed my lips in annoyance.
"I am serious, Griffth," I said and walked over to him, knowing full well that the patron wouldn't do anything to us.
I pulled his hood down further, and he stood still while I did so.
"There is a lot of stuff that you do not know and should not know.
Most of it does deal with our tribe. "
"But you knew about this stuff at my age, Marini," Griffth said, and I could tell that we were going to have an argument over this later. He set his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "So why can't I?"
"Because it wasn't by choice," I replied, coldly. I licked my lips and glanced at the patron before I looked at my brother again. "I am grateful that it happened, but again, it was not by choice."
My brother didn't say a word and looked at the patron before he looked at me. He set his jaw while he stared at me, and I had no idea what he was thinking, what he was feeling.
I sighed and shook my head before I walked over to where I had tossed my basket, feeling a wraith nearby and watching over it, protecting everything that I had in it.
Especially the dagger...
"Thank you," I muttered under my breath while I picked up everything that had fallen from my basket before I picked the whole thing up and stood. "Is it still safe?" I asked, talking about the dagger.
The wraith nodded before bowing and disappearing from view, and I couldn't but sigh with relief before I made sure that nothing else was left on the ground.
"Who were you talking to, Marini?" my brother asked, curiously.
"A wraith," I said and looked at them, the man still with his head bowed and hands behind his back. I made my way to them while my brother's face grew pale. "I was talking to a wraith."
"Oh," he said and shifted on his feet. He cleared his throat and looked around before he looked at me again. His face grew paler, and I held back an eye roll and pressed my lips into a thinner line.
"There is no need for that, Griffth," I said coldly with a shake of my head. "They won't do anything to you, especially since they know who members of my tribe are." I looked at the patron of this place, and he bowed deeper, not meeting my hard gaze.
"May I ask why he called you "Balis," then?" he asked before he cleared his throat and shifted on his feet. "I have only known you as O-"
"Unfortunately, that is not something we can say nor discuss," I said, interrupting him with a shake of my head. "It is not the time or place to do so."
The patron of this place hesitated before he bowed, not pushing me. "Of course, Marini," he said. "My apologies."
I grunted just a tad and shifted my basket from one arm to the other.
"Had the Witch-Master talked to you before?
" I asked, remembering how he said that the Witch-Master had said something to him.
"I know that you said the Witch-Master said something to you, but I interrupted you before you could finish. "
The patron was about to shake his head no but stopped and then nodded in confirmation.
"He did," he confirmed before he cleared his throat and shifted on his feet.
"The Witch-Master told me to be more protective of this place than before," he said.
"He said not to allow anyone through the passageways that I didn't know.
He had said that you told him to tell everyone and to.
.. injure them if they do so before kicking them out into the open again as a warning to others to not enter. "
I scoffed a laugh and rolled my eyes, pursing my lips in annoyance. I grabbed my basket tighter, hoping that he wouldn't do it after today and hoped the others wouldn't as well.
It could start a war when none was warranted...
"The Witch-Masted lied," I said with a shake of my head, pursing my lips further. "I did not order such a thing and hope that you will tell everyone else and tell them that they will have to find me instead."
The patron nodded and pressed his lips into a thin line. "I will," he promised before he cleared his throat and shifted on his feet. "I want to apologize beforehand if someone does attack someone else even after I told them that you said not to."
I bit back a small sigh and shook my head, my head starting to hurt when a headache started to appear from nowhere.
"Don't," I said and rubbed my forehead while I shook my head again.
"Do not apologize. If they do, then that is up to them.
They will have been warned not to do it and not to listen to the Witch-Master.
If they decide to go against my orders, then they will face the consequences of it. "
"Of course, Marini," the patron said and bowed. He cleared his throat and shifted on his feet, looking around before he looked back at me. "Do you want us to tell you whatever the Witch-Master tells us?" he asked.
I nodded in confirmation, biting back a small sigh of relief. "Please," I replied before I cleared my throat and shifted on my feet. "Or if I am not able to be reached, then please tell Jonah. However, do not let the Witch-Master know that is what you are going to be doing."
"Of course."
I bit back a small tired sigh and moved a hand through my hair and across my face. "You are dismissed. Thank you."
"Of course. Thank you."
And without another word, the patron bowed, turned around in a different direction and left without a single glance back, leaving my brother and I alone and in a tense silence that could be cut through with a knife.
Oh for the love of the Great...