“You boys have doomed us all! She’s dangerous! Do not trust her!”
Hans scoffs, looking towards me as we run, branches scratching and roots tripping us. “You’re no more dangerous than me, Briar. Don’t let him get in your head.”
Despite his assurances, my stomach cramps. “If I’m not dangerous, why isn’t he coming after us?”
Chapter15
Dangerous Woman
HANS
It’s not a bad question.
I don’t want to voice it myself, but it seemed surprisingly easy to slip from The Banisher’s grasp once Briar used her power. What did he see that we didn’t?
Was that display of power enough to scare him off from forcing her to stay?
We’ve slowed our pace, her exhausted pants fill my ears, and her sweat drips down between her breasts. Her oversized trousers are stained with dirt and slung so low I can see the hollow that malnourishment has created between her hips.
Gerrit, still high and reeling from the adrenaline of the escape, has not spoken of the words from the Banisher, choosing instead to just coo platitudes at Briar. But ignoring the words altogether doesn’t seem wise.
As much as I have enjoyed my time with Briar, we have always had a right to be wary of her. What if she is a spider weaving a trap for us? She convinced us to free her. Who’s to say she won’t turn on us now?
She peers over her shoulder at me, and I am marveled by her beauty. Her wide, red eyes and lavender hair are inhuman but breathtaking. Her smile breaks my heart enough to push down any worries I have about her.
Of course, Briar is dangerous – anyone with that amount of power would be. What kind of person would I be if I believed her abuser over her? She has shown us, several times, who she is.
Her hand is on my arm, and I realize she slowed her pace to walk beside me. “Hey, Mister Kind Eyes,” she croons, making me roll said kind eyes.
I snort and hit her with my shoulder. “You trying to butter me up with sweet names?”
“Fine, you caught me,Hans. You seem worried.”
Where do I begin? How do I tell her that for the last hour, I have been questioning her motivations, questioningher, all because of a few words from the man who cared for nothing but destroying her?
“The interaction with the Banisher shook me,” is all I manage to say.
Her body shudders at the mention of his name, her eyes glassy with fear. “Me too. I’ve never heard him like that before. He’s never called me dangerous.” I look at her, trying to detect the veracity of her words. Flint stays near her feet, walking alongside Briar rather than me in an odd turn of events.
“I say I spent my whole life in that prison, but I don’t know if that’s true, Hans. I have no memories outside of that circle. That’s the only place I’ve ever known. But what if I had a life before then, and I did something to earn that home? What if I really am a monster?”
“She’s not a monster, Master,”Flint speaks into my mind, and I know it is only for me.
“How could you possibly know?”I make my face appear relaxed, casually intertwining my fingers in Flint’s coat so Briar is unaware of our conversation.
“Have I ever steered you wrong? Haven’t I always led you home?”
I absorb his words, and the realization hits me that Flint has always been my guiding path, and this is the first time I’m truly questioning him.“You said at the beginning you didn’t think she’d help us.”
“I didn’t think she would. But after meeting her and talking to the forest’s creatures, I know she’s not dangerous or evil. She was trapped and desperate.”
“You said the creatures feared her.”I feel like a petulant child, trying hard to avoid my fate, but I cannot help it. The doubt is consuming me, made worse by the sheer amount of raw power she channeled through me.
“You, too, would fear the one who brings evil into your midst.”
Gerrit stops ahead, looking around a clearing within the twisted Whispering Woods. Despite my affinity for natural magic, he’s grown more comfortable in the woods than I am. “This is a fine place to make camp,” he says definitively. The clearing is canopied by gnarled branches, reaching towards us like spectral fingers.
Briar shivers, bothered by an unseen breeze. Flint wraps around her legs, and she entwines her fingers in his fur. I watch her face relax, and a soft smile plays across her lips. Her bottom lip is plush, swollen and red from how she chews it when nervous. Her upper lip is thin. It almost disappears when she smiles, showing a mouth full of teeth that take up most of her face in that moment of joy.
