Page 48 of Taste of Thorns (The Firestone Academy #3)

Chapter Forty-Four

T horne

The lake is nearly a half day’s hike away and so we’re forced to wait until the following Sunday for our swimming lesson with Briony.

We set off early, before the sun has even risen above the horizon and the air is still bitterly cold.

The snow thawed days ago, but the ground is frozen solid and the usual freezing fog hangs in the air.

As we cross the field, the ravens wake, swooping over our heads and cawing at us angrily until we reach the shelter of the trees.

“Jeez, I hate those birds,” Briony says, wrapped up warm in one of Dray’s jackets, a hat from Beaufort pulled down over her ears and her hands lost in a pair of my leather gloves.

The girl is going to be spending time in an icy lake. We don’t want her freezing cold before we’ve even reached the water.

“Trust me, they’re better than bats,” Beaufort mutters.

“Snakes. Bats,” Briony says. “Beaufort Lincoln are you actually a massive scaredy cat?”

“Snakes and bats have a lot in common. They both hiss. They both bite. They both move in creepily erratic ways.”

“So you’d rather meet a demon than a bat?” I ask him.

“Fighting demons can be fun,” he says. Dray nods enthusiastically in agreement.

“Oh really,” Briony says, “because I remember you telling me how dangerous and deadly fighting demons was and that was the reason why shadow weavers had earned their right to live such gilded lives.”

“It is dangerous and deadly,” he says, “that’s the reason it can be fun. Bats and snakes are simply nuisances.”

“Your idea of fun is different to mine,” Briony says.

Beaufort smirks at her. “I’m not sure it is.”

“There may be a few common interests that we share.”

“Yeah, like you both enjoy it when you suck on his cock.” Dray laughs and Beaufort punches him so hard on the arm he spends the next ten minutes whining. When he eventually quits complaining, Briony asks,

“What are the demons like?”

“Like?” Beaufort says. “Have you never encountered one?”

“No. Only those monsters in the trial …”

She glances over at me but I keep my gaze locked straight ahead.

“Those weren’t real demons,” I say. “Real demons are much worse. Bigger, stronger, more deadly.”

“Oh,” Briony says, fidgeting with her gloves. “Don’t you feel scared when you’re fighting them, then?”

“Scared,” Dray scoffs, full of bravado, but I answer her question truthfully.

“If I had to face them alone, I would be. But I’m not when I’m with my bond brothers. I know they have my back. Plus, we’re stronger together.”

Her gaze flicks around us all.

“Do you think that’s the reason fate matched you together?”

“I think fate matched us together in order to find you, Briony,” Beaufort says.

Automatically, Dray snatches back the sleeves of his coat, but his wrists remain unmarked. He sighs pathetically.

“But how did you discover you were bond brothers?”

“Beau had one of his visions,” Dray tells her.

Our thrall snorts, then bursts into giggles.

“What’s so funny about that?” Dray asks.

“Did you ever consider that Beaufort may be playing all of us?”

“Me?” Beaufort says, pointing to his chest.

“Yes. Maybe he just wanted to hang out with the two of you, but because he’s a man, who couldn’t just say, ‘hey, can we be friends?’, he had to invent some mystical reason instead.”

Dray considers this scenario for several minutes, then shakes his head. “Nah, Beau’s visions are real. Most have already come true.”

“Like?”

“There have been a few,” Beaufort says. “For example, I saw that Lord Hamley would lose his position on the privy council. A year later that happened. I saw that Dray would break his arm falling from a tree – that also came true. There have been others too.”

“Hmmm,” Briony hums.

“What? All of a sudden you don’t believe me?” he says, sounding insulted. “I saw you were my fated mate and now I have the marks to prove it.”

She rolls her eyes. “I believe you, Beaufort.” She takes his hand in hers. “Are there any visions that haven’t come true yet?”

“One,” he says, his tone all of a sudden serious and solemn.

Briony’s eyes flick to him and she slows her pace. “What is it?”

“It was the first vision I ever had.” He scratches his cheek.

“It started back when I was a kid. I didn’t understand back then what it was.

I thought it was some kind of nightmare.

One that would flash into my head during the day as well as the night.

It was only later, when I got older and the other visions came, that I understood what it was. ”

“Beaufort, what is the vision?”

He halts, Briony’s hand still clasped in hers. “I’m out there, beyond the realm, in the land controlled by the demons. They’re swarming all around me.”

“And what happens? Is that it?”

He shakes his head. “Then there’s this light. Bright and dazzling and all-consuming. And then it ends.”

We’re all silent for a moment and the forest around us is silent too. Not a bird chirping or a branch rustling.

“Do you think that’s me?” Briony asks quietly.

“I don’t know what it means. But now I know what you can do, I think maybe yes.”

We break out of the trees just as the sun crests over the horizon and sends golden rays of light streaming through the mist that covers the moorland beyond. It’s beautiful and for a moment we all stand and watch the golden disc rise up from the underworld and into the creamy blue sky.

Dray stands behind Briony, arms wrapped around her waist, chin resting on her shoulder and I stand one side of her, Beaufort the other.

The landscape is peaceful. No noise, no danger, no interference. Just the four of us.

I wish I could take this moment and bottle it. I wish it could always be like this.

But then a distant bird squawks, the wind whips up and frisks our faces and we move on, passing the deserted railway station the other kids alighted at all those months ago.

We walk along the old train tracks, Dray handing out pastries from his rucksack and then passing around a flask.

“I’m beginning to wonder how I ever functioned without this stuff,” Briony says, taking a large gulp of black coffee. “I must have been walking around like a zombie most of the time.”

“See,” Beaufort says with a smirk, “I told you. There are some advantages to being our thrall.”

“There are a lot of advantages,” Dray says. “Do you know how many orgasms that girl has had in the last week alone?”

“Are you complaining, Dray?” Briony asks, holding the flask out to me. I shake my head and point to the ground. She places it on the frozen grass and I pick it up. The rim of the mug has a hint of toothpaste about it and I wonder if that is how her mouth would taste.

I peer at her lips. Rosy pink in the cold along with her cheeks and the end of her nose.

“I’m not complaining,” Dray says, devouring a pastry.

“I love making you come. I love eating you out. I love fucking you. They are my three favorite pastimes.” He stuffs the last bit of the pastry into his mouth, chews, swallows and licks his fingers.

“I also love how wet you smell whenever I talk like this.”

Briony sticks her tongue out at him.

After a while we leave the rail tracks, peeling off to the east, the land rolling up and down in shallow hills and then, as the sun reaches its peak in the sky, we spot the lake, dark and shining menacingly on the horizon in front of us.

Briony stops again, that color in her face from earlier draining away.

“It’s much bigger than I imagined.”

Beaufort rests his hand on her shoulder and kisses the crown of her head. “You’re going to be fine. You’ve been practicing those spells with Fox, right?”

“Yeeeessss,” she murmurs, “but I haven’t mastered them yet.”

“And that’s why we’re here. To ensure you can do this.”

It takes us another hour to reach the lake and we sit at its shore, eating sandwiches and drinking more of the coffee before we get started.

The wind whips across the surface of the dark water, and waves ripple on the shore beyond our feet.

In the center the water swirls in rapid spirals and I don’t think I’ve seen anything less tempting in my life.

“Do we have to do this?” she says, as the three of us strip down to the trunks we’re wearing under the layers of our clothes, then use our magic to create a layer of warm air around our bodies.

“No,” I tell her. “You always have choices, Briony. But if you don’t do this, you’ll be at a serious disadvantage come trial day.”

“Shit,” she mutters, and strips down to her own worn bathing suit, standing before us shivering in the cold.

“Briony,” Beaufort says, “can you do the spell? We can do it for you but I think it’s better if you try it yourself. We won’t be able to help you during the trial.” He throws a knowing look my way.

She squares her shoulders, letting her arms hang straight by her sides, and with her eyes closed, mutters words under her breath. Light sparks on the ends of her fingertips. But it takes her several more attempts before the air sparkles around her and she sighs in relief.

“Oh my stars, that feels amazing.” She peers at the water. “But do you really think it’s going to work in there?”

“Only one way to find out!” Dray cries, crashing straight into the water and diving under the waves. He disappears for several moments and then reappears, shaking his head and sending droplets of water flying. “A little cold, but not too bad.”

“Really?” Briony says, creeping towards the water’s edge.

“Cross my heart, Kitten. Come on in.”

Beaufort follows in after Dray, but I stay back waiting for Briony.

“And there could be creatures in the water?” she asks me as Dray and Beaufort start splashing their hands through the water, drenching each other’s faces.

“According to Tudor, there’ll be creatures in there during the trial. That doesn’t mean they’re in there now.”

“That does not make me feel any better, Thorne Cadieux.”

“Come on. May as well get it over with.” She keeps peering at the water, looking unconvinced.

“How about we do it together?” She glances at me, chewing on her cheek, and nods. “On the count of three – one … two … three.”

Together we run into the water. The force of it hits my legs as I sprint through, water splashing up my body and into my face.

The temperature isn’t too cold. In fact, with my shadow magic wrapping me up, I’m just fine.

I look across to Briony. She’s not screeching in agony or gasping for breath. Her spell must also have worked.

When the water reaches our waist level, we stop and Briony sinks even further in, lifting her feet from the ground and floating on the rippling water.

“This is actually kind of nice,” she admits, closing her eyes and drifting. Then suddenly she squeals and splashes around in the water.

“It’s just fish,” Dray reassures her. “Little ones. They’re harmless.”

“Aren’t piranhas little fish?” she says, continuing to splash around frantically.

“Yeah, but this water’s too cold for piranhas.”

“I bet the Madame will find a way to fill this lake with the things,” she says, finally relaxing and sinking her feet back down to the bottom of the lake.

“Okay, sweetheart?” Beaufort asks, with an amused half-smile.

“Just fine. But if one of those little terrors tries nibbling me, I’m going to blast it away with my magic.”

“Good idea!” Dray says.

“Right then,” Beaufort says, wading through the water towards her. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

“Got?”

“Yeah, let’s see you swim.”