Page 20 of A Beastly Court

The simpering look I gave him did not assuage his displeasure. With his frightening speed, he vanished from the east wing entrance and had my shoulders in a talon-like grip a blink later. “I do not expect them to understand some of the rules I set down, but they must be obeyed all the same. That wing is for you, Meadow. I will not have anyone contaminating that sanctuary.”

“Ossian, my friends wouldn’t—”

“They are beasts, Meadow. My subjects. They must remember that. And you are alone in that wing for a very specific purpose, remember? You must have a haven away from this all, a quiet place to reflect and meditate, otherwise you will never lift your grandmother’s curse in time. No. Exceptions.”

It was hard to hear and accept his words when his fingers were digging into my shoulders so hard I felt he was going to strip the flesh from my bones. “Are you done, or do you want to keep squeezing me like I’m a banana you want to eject out of its peel?”

He blinked first in surprise and then realization, quickly dropping his hands away.

“It doesn’t cost you anything to be nice, Ossian. Instead of threatening them, maybe treat them with respect? You’d get more flies with honey than tomcat piss,” I flung at him, storming off to find my friends.

They were milling around in the atrium when I arrived, the honey badger pacing back and forth on the sunlit stones and the porcupine frantically crocheting the rest of the tranquil mare’s mane.

Flora snarled at my approach. “Lowly gardener? I love gardening. If he thinks he can insult me by demeaning my passion, he’s dead wrong. How did you ever fall in love with that ass?”

I shrugged, used to her tantrums. “He stole my heart.”

“Well he should give it back!”

“Flora!” Daphne whinnied. “Keep your voice down.”

“I wouldn’t have to if he just let you out of this stony prison every once in a while,” she told me. “You’re paler than Daphne’s backside, and she’s pure white!”

Sucking in a breath, I fought for calm. “How about we not fuss about things we can’t change and have a nice visit where you three aren’t expelled from the castle and I have no more friends?”

“She’s right, Flora.” Daphne stamped a hoof. “So, how are you, dear?”

Winking, I strode over the cloch na wight. “Watch this.” At my touch, the trapped wight turned poppy red.

The porcupine squeaked in surprise. “That’s a red at seventy-six percent saturation!”

The mare and the honey badger gave each other a confused look.

Shari rolled her eyes. “That means she’s making progress unlocking that curse on her magic. It’s an exponential leap from when we saw you last week. What did you do?”

I beckoned them closer as if I was about to share a secret. “I borrowed the green life energy from the rambler roses in the little courtyard.”

“He actually let you outside?” Daphne squealed. “Oh, Meadow! I can only imagine how—”

“Hardly.” Flora swatted the mare in her foreleg. “The courtyards are barely outside. They’re no better than big windows to the outside world.”

“Don’t remind me,” I groaned, sinking onto the settee. Flora heaved her muscled bulk up beside me, and Shari slid down the mare’s shoulder on my other side, mindful to keep her quills to herself. “It felt incredible, but I was still trapped. Am trapped.”

Shari gave me a curious sniff, her bulbous snout quivering. “Cernunnos knows you’re a green witch, right? That you need the literal outdoors to thrive?”

“It’s Wystan.”

The three of them bristled, Flora snarling, Daphne neighing, and Shari fluffing out her quills.

“That nefarious wretch.” Flora’s claws burst through the damask upholstery of the settee, stuffing erupting from the holes like freshly popped popcorn.

Shari tsked. “Flora, your claws! Now I’ll have to repair that. Move.”

Without pausing in her tirade, the honey badger dropped to the floor as Shari pulled out a quill needle and began the process of matching thread to the colors of the fabric. “Preying on his own kind,” Flora spat, “why, he should be strung up on the parapet by his thumbs! Or his c—”

“Well no wonder Cernunnos has been such a slave to your security, dear,” Daphne soothed. “He cares about you.”

“I know that, but sometimes…” I sighed. “Sometimes I feel more imprisoned here than I ever did at Hawthorne Manor.” Another sigh escaped me. “So what news of the outside world?”