Page 111 of When Roses Burn

The excited cries echoed in my head, and while I was happy for this new intruder in my mind, I didn’t have time for its celebration. “Where?” I asked again.

“Straight ahead, fifty feet. Forty. Thirty. Oh boy, it’s fast and ugly!”

It closed in with a lethal speed that made the basilisk look slow.

“Twenty feet!”

My heart raced as, with the basket against my chest, I turned and sprinted to the right, toward the castle and away from whatever was about to eat us. I’d always been fast too, but even as my legs pumped and my lungs burned, I knew I didn’t stand a chance.

I’d only made it ten feet when a roar punctured the hush. Screw the mushrooms and my resolve to keep them!

Spinning, I went to throw the basket at whatever was closing in on us, but a hand snatched my wrist out of the air, and the basket toppled away. Pain flared through my arm as the monster jerked me around.

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

Briar

His orange eyes filled my vision, and my heart plummeted into my toes. I’d have preferred to come face-to-face with another basilisk, dragon, or sphinx rather than the beast standing before me.

I’d seen the beast before, but never like this. Fury emanated from every inch of Knox as he towered over me with my hand in the air, and all his very sharp teeth were revealed. The sound he released wasn’t animalistic; it was demonic.

Still, despite him blocking most of my vision and looking enraged enough to gut me, my gaze flitted nervously past him toward the woods. While the beast was clearly irate, it wasn’t big enough to massacre the trees.

“Knox, there’s something out there,” I whispered.

“There are many things out here, as you’ve been warned.” His voice came out as a guttural hiss due to his elongated snout. “Yet you still tried to flee me!”

I shook my head when I realized he misunderstood this whole situation. Zephyr floated behind me, but to the sprite’s credit, he didn’t turn invisible and fly away.

“Flee you?” I stammered as I tried to tug my wrist free, but it was useless. His hand was a vice that would never relinquish me.

“Should I bite him?” Gizzi asked as he scampered behind my neck and perched there.

“No!”

Although I was questioning if he might have to as Knox’s grip tightened. When a startled cry escaped me, his hold eased, but he didn’t let go.

“You want to run so badly you’d risk death to do so?” he snarled.

“I… I… I’m not running.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me!”

“I’m not lying!” I shouted. “And I’m tired of you accusing me of that!”

“Maybe now’s not the time to argue with the angry beast,” Zephyr whispered. “Oh shit!” The sprite blurted when Knox’s furious gaze swung to him.

“Did you help her escape?” Knox demanded.

“Leave him alone!” I yelled. “We’re not escaping; we came here to gather mushrooms.” I had no doubt he could rip off my head as easily as I could pluck a mushroom from the ground, but I wouldn’t let him kill Zephyr. “The willowcaps help strengthen my potion. I don’t know if you noticed this when you returned, but the plants are doing better. However, some of them aren’t doing as well as they should, and I was trying to help them!”

His eyes narrowed. “I did notice you willfully disobeyed the orders I gave Dromon about only giving your potion to the bleeding heart.”

My shoulders went back, and my chin lifted. It was impossible to look completely defiant with my hand in the air, but his words irritated me. “I’m trying to help the sprites and you.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“I don’t care if you asked for it or not. I am helping, and everyone else is happy for it… except you.”