A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 1)

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Up ahead, around a large pine scantily clad with needles, I spotted it—a birch that didn’t seem to fit in with its peers. Just behind it was my destination. A horrible scream rent the air, also distant. It sounded like a human in peril, being eaten alive or gruesomely tortured, or a man with a paper cut on his finger. It was intense distress, in other words, needing help immediately, or death might ensue.

With the window broken, I could now hear the beast. Its puffs of breath in the quiet night. The simmering growl deep in its chest. Devious Rita liked to make the young people blush. She had a field day with Hannon. I was much harder to rile up, but I appreciated her efforts. It was another side effect of being trapped here—some people had just gotten…weird. I’d learned to just roll with it. But our kingdom had disappeared from the hearts and minds of the magical world. No one could come here even if they wanted to. Worse, no one could leave. Many had tried over the years. Or so I’d heard. I had been too young to witness any of this firsthand. I freed only the largest and healthiest of the leaves, being careful not to upset the seed pods that would ensure new life when the time came. As I went, I pruned any dead or dying leaves, of which there were very few.Walking would be a lot slower and not much quieter. The alternative to walking was to stand my ground with a half-starved body from years of barely getting by and a medium-sized, somewhat dull dagger. Nice odds. But from the way he said it, I knew Hannon was giving up the fight. He didn’t have any more steam to talk me out of going. I kind of hoped he’d try harder. Bah.” She swatted the air. “That’s what happens when you mate a woman who is too supportive. You make a fool of yourself.” Books lined the shelf in the tiny room, not much more than a glorified closet. I didn’t care. This was a place of refuge for me. A place of information. After a tough day, or a boring day, or really any day, I could come here and escape into another world and live a different life.

I bent in a rush, trying to peer through the deep shadows to find my knife, and then ran my fingers against the ground, searching. Dried grasses brushed my palm. The beast roared, making me jump half out of my skin. Fear doused me in adrenaline, and then I was running. Sprinting as fast as I could go. I crashed through the brush. Rounded a tree.I ignored the pang in my broken heart and tapped the counter. “Do you have a list, or should I guess what we need?” I thought about staying put, but it could wait me out. Or come in after me. It had an armored face, everyone said. A few vines and thorns wouldn’t trouble it. Before I could, the strange weight in my chest lurched. Lava spilled out and dripped down to my sodden core. I couldn’t stop a moan as an intimate presence feathered across my skin, as though someone were physically touching me with silky fingers.