Page 17

Chapter 17

Now That We’re Alone

GERRIT

E ven the chattering of the woods ceased as Briar told the story of how she woke up in a pile of a traveler’s blood, how she consumed his blood from his corpse and scooped what she could from the floor into containers to save for later.

I feel green after listening to it.

It’s hard to picture this beautiful, gentle woman as a monster that would go into a frenzy, blackout, and leave someone brutally slaughtered.

And then to drink from his corpse?

I can’t suppress a shiver at the mental image.

“You have to know who I was to believe me when I tell you who I want to be,” she says quietly. “I don’t know what I did to get locked up, but if that situation happened regularly, I can see why I was.”

“You said you lost control,” Hans says quietly.

“Well, what is that if not losing control?” she snaps. He winces. Neither means to hurt one another, but confusion blankets us like campfire smoke.

None of us know how to proceed. It’s clear that we were in greater danger than we knew the first time Hans had her feed from him.

Now that she’s eating regularly, are we in a better position? Is it less likely to happen?

“Who do you want to be?” I ask, dying to know.

“I want to be a person. I want a little cabin, a big garden, and friends. Maybe a lover or two, with a family, whatever that looks like for us. I want the most boring, average life you can imagine.” She wipes one of her eyes with the back of her hand. “I don’t want to be a ruler. I don’t want to call attention to my magic. Maybe I could use it to help people, if possible, but ultimately, I want to be human.”

Flint nudges her knee with his nose, and she weaves her fingers into his fur. She says nothing, but I can tell he’s speaking to her. Even though I can’t hear it, sometimes it feels like the atmosphere has a charge of magic when he does.

“Should we get moving?” I ask abruptly. I don’t know how to acknowledge her emotional declaration. “We don’t know if she’s going to be able to be in the sun, and even though we’re exhausted, we should travel as much as we can.” Hans and I have been working since last night getting ready, but Briar slept during the day. I doubt she’d rest now, so we should try to be productive since we don’t know if we’ll lose the sun.”

“What if Briar and I combine our magic to weave the trees tighter tomorrow for sun cover?” Hans asks, not moving from his log. “A little may get through, which will allow us to gauge how much she can take.” He scoots a little closer to Briar and leans his head against her shoulder. “I just honestly don’t know if I have it in me to go much farther, brother. After using all that magic, I need to recuperate. And we should let Flint hunt us some fresh meat. It’s been days.”

He makes a good point, but it still makes me queasy to be close to her circle, even if I would love some fresh food. Briar reaches her hand out, and I take it. She smiles softly and squeezes my hand. “I think we’re okay with stopping for now. Flint can scout us a way out of here while he hunts for you two, and we can make a plan for your father.”

Eventually, the two of them convince me to settle in for the night and Flint bounds off to catch us some dinner.

“Are you hungry?” Hans asks Briar.

She pales at his question. “After hearing that story, you still wish to feed me?”

He shrugs, snagging her around the waist and pulling her into his lap. “You’re dangerous, just like the Banisher said. That story makes it clear. But it also doesn’t change the fact that you have full control over yourself with us. I haven’t felt unsafe under your teeth once.”

She hums softly, nuzzling his neck, and nods. “I am hungry. But you expelled too much magic. I can’t feed from you until you’re replenished. I worry I take some of your magic when I do, and I won’t leave you without.”

I wrap my arms around her hips and pull her over to me, landing her in my lap. “Then use me.”

“I’ll ask you the same thing. Are you sure? After hearing that horrible story, you wish to share your blood with me?”

“Yes, witchy, I am sure. Because I know you won’t hurt me. You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

I believe the words in my core.

She says she lost control and slaughtered that man, but can that be true?

I cannot align that version of Briar with this one.

It just doesn’t make sense.

Nothing about her banishment makes sense.

The rumors spread about her around Greenbell to keep people from discovering her in the woods.

The power-sapping fairy circle.

The continued starvation.

“He’s trying to keep you weak,” I say quietly, the idea hitting me like lightning. “He’s trying to keep people away from you, reduce your power, and starve you so you’re not strong enough to escape.”

“I mean, yeah.” Hans’s voice is rife with confusion. “Of course he is. It’s a prison. He won’t want her powerful.”

“Right. But he wants to keep people from knowing the truth about her, so he makes up these horrid stories so they don’t go near her.” I grab Briar’s chin and whip her face toward me. “Because he knows that if people know you, they’ll want to save you. He needs you completely isolated.”

She nuzzles into my hand, red eyes half-lidded. “Why is this important?”

“Because you’re no longer contained. You’re no longer starving. And you’re no longer alone. You have everything he was specifically trying to stop you from having.” Hans is scratching his upper arm as he thinks about what I say. “What if you never killed that traveler? What if the Banisher did? Because that person was too close to you. What if the traveler could’ve saved you?”

“Oh, shit,” my brother’s eyes open wide, and he grabs one of the packs. “Wait a fucking second.” He finds the book that was in Briar’s home and starts to flip through it. “Here it is!”

He jumps to his feet, holding the book open in front of him, and he starts to pace in front of the fire. “It was there all along, right in front of our noses.”

“What is it?” Briar asks, sounding more hopeful than she ever has before.

He begins to read. “‘A succubus can feed in several ways, be it dreams of those around her, sexual energy, or life’s blood. However, those feedings are unsatisfying unless the donor has agreed to become a Complement to the succubus. A succubus’s Complement is a bond formed through emotional attachment with one person who can temper the harmful effects of a succubus’s magic. Without a Complement, a succubus is more likely to maim or injure the person she has chosen to feed from. It has been rumored that some of the more powerful succubae have taken two Complements, but it has never been confirmed. Without a Complement, a succubae can be so overwhelmed with their magic that it becomes hard to direct, making them markedly weaker than their bonded counterparts.”

He closes the book with a snap and drops to his knees in front of Briar, holding the book out to her.

“Don’t you see, butterfly? No one near you meant you couldn’t feed off of dreams. No one visiting you meant you couldn’t form emotional connections. The Banisher was afraid you’d form a Complement and be able to use your powers to break free of the circle.” He drops the book and takes her hands. “I bet you didn’t kill your friend. I bet your Banisher did because you were close to forming a Complement.”

My mind whirls at the information, but a rightness settles in my chest. “And he didn’t care to visit you until he got word that we were there. He wanted to make sure you couldn’t bond to us.”

Briar’s mouth gapes open. The night has stilled entirely around us, the moon high and bright, illuminating our quartet. I can’t take my eyes off the beautiful woman beside me. “You don’t think I killed him?” Her voice is soft and hopeful, her eyes lined with tears.

“No, it makes sense,” I answer for Hans. “If you are forming an emotional connection, it would help make your power more manageable, and it makes sense he’d want them gone. Up until you met us, how was your magic?”

She pulls her hair over her shoulder and plays at braiding the ends. “It wasn’t friendly. I could do small things, illusions, heating water, things like that, but anytime I tried to do something that could be considered big or impressive, it wouldn’t listen. I always thought it was not being fed enough. Do you really think my magic just needs to be grounded in a person?”

“Or persons,” Hans whispers. “What if you need two Complements?”