Page 4 of The White Stag
I couldn’t remember ever fearing my monsters. Maybe that was stupid of me, but they’d always been kind, funny, and protective. They were built to terrorize people. Finnan’s horns were curved but sharp. His tail was smooth, and he only ever used it to comfort me, but there was a spike at its end. Cyrus had long, deadly claws that looked capable of tearing someone’s head off.
They explained to me that when we ran and were out in public together, they could make it so that they looked human to everyone else. I guessed they’d pulled that trick when they got here because I hadn’t heard anyone shrieking in terror.
Oh, but Ballard was screaming now. Finnan was holding him down and had his tail choking his neck. Cyrus got right up in his face and sat there slapping him until he woke up. Ballard took his time opening his eyes, but he took one look at Cyrus and started screaming like a toddler. Cyrus slapped him again.
“That’s annoying. Stop it, or I’ll rip your intestines out and choke you with them. I have questions.”
Ballard ate his screams, but he was now openly weeping.
“Did you assist Alastair Rex in keeping this beautiful creature a hostage here?”
“He paid me to keep her safe! She’s deeply mentally ill and gets confused a lot. It’s not safe for her to be out on her own.”
“Shut up. She’s no such thing. Reagan is a queen and utter perfection. You should consider yourself lucky that you even got to breathe the same air she did,” Cyrus growled.
“Please, I was only doing my job. I met Alastair when I sold him a suit. He offered me a job that paid a lot better than retail. All I had to do was care for the girl that was living with him when he wasn’t home.”
“You knew,” I hissed. “You knew I wasn’t crazy andenjoyedwhat you were doing. He hired you for a reason.”
“Do you want to hit him, lass? I can hold him still,” Finnan said.
“I finally stopped biting my nails and got them long and pretty. I’m not breaking one just to hit him. Do you have the tea?”
“No shit?” Finnan said. “You were trying to stop biting your nails the last time I saw you. Dinnae break a nail on this funt. Cyrus can hit him again for you.”
“We need to get out of here before Alastair realizes everything isn’t fine at home,” I said. “You’re going to drink all of this tea, Ballard.”
“If I drink the tea, do you promise not to hurt me?”
I didn’t know what was in that tea, but I thought Ballard did. Even if he didn’t realize Alastair was giving it to me to mess with my memories, he still really enjoyed this job. He liked the power trip of controlling every bit of my day and denying me anything I asked for.
“Drinking this tea is all I want you to do,” I said.
Ballard thinking I was batshit insane could work in my favor. Alastair told both of us this was just a soothing herbal tea. It was usually only ever given to me at dinner, but I knew Ballard had been told, if I was being difficult, to give me this tea. Ballard always called it my medicine when he’d bring it out. He probably thought I was crazy enough just to want to punish him by giving him my medicine, which he thought was harmless.
“Of course. I’ll happily drink your medicine.”
Dumbass.
Ballard chugged that tea like his life depended on it. I’d never seen it in action before. He could barely keep his eyes open after swallowing the last drop. Cyrus stepped back while Finnan carried him to my bed. Finnan looked every inch a Scottish hobgoblin as he straddled Ballard and whispered into his ear.
“What’s he doing?” I asked.
“Sin Eater’s tea messes with your memory, but someone has to whisper a new reality into your ear. Back when this tea was still legal, theyneverwould have trusted a hobgoblin with it, but if Alastair was going to break the law, we can unleash a Bauchan on his help.”
“Will it take long?”
Finnan hopped off the bed and struck a pose.
“We just ruined two people’s day for at least a week. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me bad vibes.”
Same. I never stayed anywhere long when I was younger. My monsters always told me when it was time to run. So it was high time they told me what I had been running from.
Oisin
What was going on in this big creepy house? It was basically a really plush jail. This was supposed just to be an in-and-out thing. We’d long suspected Alastair drugged Reagan to get her to leave with him. So when we finally found where he was keeping her, we scouted the property. We could barely see inside, but we saw enough to know he had the key ingredients for Sin Eater’s tea.
It wasn’t super shocking he was breaking the law and using mind control to keep her there. He’d pay for that as soon as we could make it happen. Our goal was to get Reagan the remedy, and then she’d walk out the front door with us. We’d watched this prison long enough to know that Alastair’s staff was all human. Easy enough to handle and walk out of the front door.
