Page 51 of Kill the Beast
“Here, let me help you with the door,” Ragnhild said, getting to her feet with a grunt and tucking her herb-collecting knife into her apron pocket. “You look sore.”
“Thanks.”
The witch waddled ahead and was holding the smithy door open by the time Lyssa got there. Together, they managed to half drag Alderic up the stairs, and Lyssa wrestled him over to her bed, dumping him unceremoniously onto it, his legs sprawling over the side.
“You’re bleeding through your shirt,” Ragnhild observed as Lyssa slid Alderic’s shoes off. His socks were pink and embroidered with white roses, because of course they were.
“Nothing the hot springs can’t fix.” She covered him with a blanket and said, “I’ll wake you in a few hours,” but he was already snoring.
He looked so different in the grip of sleep, younger and more vulnerable, and Lyssa felt a sudden fierce urge to protect him. To right the wrongs that had led to him dragging cold steel across his warm wrists, desperate for a way out.
I swear to you, I will kill it,she had told him.
It was the first time she had made that promise without thinking of her brother when she said it.
“It sounds like a lot has happened since you left us,” Rags said as they went back down the smithy stairs and out into the Wood’s unnatural summer. Nadia and Brandy were coming up the path,the little apprentice dragging Lyssa’s and Alderic’s packs behind her, and together the four of them went into the cottage, Brandy settling in his hearth-bed with a fresh beef bone Rags found for him in the cupboard.
Lyssa recounted—briefly—what had happened at the lake, leaving out everything Alderic had told her about himself and his past. When she got to the part about him saving Brandy’s life, the bullmastiff paused his chewing long enough to bark and wag his tail, as if he wanted everyone in the room to know how he felt about it.
“He’s a good-hearted man,” Rags said, and she and Nadia exchanged a weighted glance.
“What was that?” Lyssa demanded, looking between them.
“Nothing,” Rags said innocently.
“Nothing, my ass. You’ve got a twinkle in your eye. And why are you smiling?” she accused the little apprentice.
“I’m not allowed to smile?” Nadia’s grin stretched wider.
“Youneversmile. Rags—”
The old witch patted Lyssa’s arm. “Oh, relax, you brute. Nadia and I talked a great deal about Alderic while you were gone. We like him, that’s all. And it’s good for you to have a friend other than the dog.” Brandy yowled, as if he wanted them to know how he felt about that, too. Rags ignored him. “After what happened with Honoria, I was afraid that—”
“Al and I are notfriends,” Lyssa snapped, her hackles rising at the mention of the Hound-warden’s name. The reminder of past mistakes she had sworn never to make again. “Lady Bright, we barely know each other. We have a common goal, and nothing more.” She flushed at the knowing smirk Nadia gave her.
“Careful, Rags,” the little apprentice teased. “She doesn’t seem to like the ‘F’ word.”
“Oh, go choke on some birdseed,” Lyssa spat.
“Deny it all you want, girl,” Ragnhild said, pointing a gnarled finger at Lyssa. “I saw that look you gave him when you tucked him in. Something has changed between the two of you.”
Lyssa batted her finger away. “Yeah, well, we can’t put too much stock in what you see these days, Rags. Your eyesight isn’t what it used to be. Here.” She dug around in her pack for the canteen and the bag containing the ash twigs, and shoved them into the old witch’s hands.
“Water and wood,” Ragnhild said, inspecting them with an approving nod. “Now we just need earth in order to complete our elemental items. Then a faerie repellant, of course, and personal concerns…”
Lyssa winced. A faerie repellant. They might have been able to gather some iron in Bellgaard, if she hadn’t been so reluctant to make Alderic feel worse than he already did in that place. “Do you think we could get away with using ordinary iron?” she asked Rags. “I definitely have an emotional connection to killing faeries, and I’m not about to dig up one of the victims just to get some coffin nails.”
Ragnhild’s lips thinned. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It could work, but…”
“But the sword might not be powerful enough,” Lyssa said with a clench of worry in her stomach.
“It is likely too vague of a connection,” the old witch said with a sigh. “But if you must go that route, then you shouldbothgather some grave dirt—from two different victims—and contribute an extra personal concern apiece, in order to compensate. It’ll be risky, though.” Ragnhild seemed to notice Lyssa’s expression, and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Extra personal concerns might be a problem,” Lyssa said. She had no idea what she could possibly use forone,and now she might needtwo?
“You could make each other bracelets out of your own hair,” Nadia said with a smirk. “I’ve heard that’s all the rage right now. Would a token of undying friendship help unravel the glyph, Rags?”
Lyssa clenched her teeth. “Shut your mouth before I—”
