Among the Beasts & Briars by Ashley Poston

Author:Ashley Poston [Poston, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, Young adult, Romance, adventure
ISBN: 9780062847362
Goodreads: 50622362
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: 2020-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

22

Sweeter Than Sorrow

Fox

I WANTED TO grind my teeth through her. I wanted to tear her flesh off her bone. I wanted to snap her fingers between my teeth. I wanted—

I wanted . . .

I . . .

She ground her teeth in pain, her eyes bright with tears, and the hunger in me wanted to bite harder, to tear her flesh open and—and—

And . . .

I couldn’t. I was hurting her. And moment by moment, it began to hurt me, too. I loosened my mouth from her hand and sucked in a shuddering breath, and the hunger unhooked its grip, and I tasted her on my tongue. I knew the flavor, from before. The world came back into focus. Honey-bronze hair and a constellation of freckles across her heart-shaped face and lips, which parted into a smile as if—

As if she was happy to see me.

She smelled so nice, like a field of wildflowers, and—a dream. Of running through the Wilds, daisies underfoot, someone pulling my hand. The sun was bright through the trees, but even so, the wood was dark, and there was a sound behind us. It tore through the underbrush, snarling and snapping, and still the woman didn’t let go.

“Hurry,” she said as she pulled me through the wood. Her hand was tight around my wrist. “We can’t stop—we mustn’t stop.”

My feet were tired. I wanted to go home. I was crying.

The sound was an ancient, and it caught up to us. I knew it would. Somehow, I had seen this moment before, a hundred times it seemed. It was my fault, what happened next. She spun to me and took me firmly by the shoulders. Her hair was honey and her eyes were hazel, and she looked so familiar. “I need you to hide.”

“What about you?”

“I told my daisy I’d keep you safe—now go!” she cried, shoving me toward a fallen log. I crawled into its hollowed center, my hands pressed tightly over my mouth, to stay quiet—stay safe—no matter what happened—”

“Fox—can you hear me? Fox?” I heard Daisy call through the memory of the forest, and her face faded out of the darkness.

“You . . . you taste sweet,” I murmured, and my knees gave as I fainted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.