Gods & Monsters by Shelby Mahurin

Author:Shelby Mahurin
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 2021-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Sticks and Stones

Reid

My footsteps pounded in rhythm with my heart. Faster and faster. Faster still. My skin flushed with heat, with sweat, as I sprinted uphill, vaulting stone and fern. I’d only traveled this far north once. Right after taking my vows. My captain at the time, a weak-spirited man by the name of Blanchart, had been trying to prove his spine to the Archbishop. He’d heard rumors of melusines in the area, and he’d ordered my contingent to investigate. We hadn’t even found the beach, instead wandering for days in this godforsaken mist.

If the freckled witch spoke truth, Blanchart had been right. There were melusines in the area. After I dispatched the demon in question, I’d return and—

Scoffing, I launched from the path.

She was a witch.

Of course she didn’t speak truth.

Instead of plunging into the forest, I followed the tree line south. There’d been a hamlet nearby. My brethren and I had rented rooms there each night. Unbidden, I glanced down at my chest. My bandolier. The empty sheath above my heart. Pieces of memory swarmed and stung like insects. Leering faces. Bloodstained snow. Searing pain and painted wagons and bitter honey—

A tree had eaten my Balisarda.

I nearly stumbled at the realization. At the onslaught of images. They formed a picture riddled with holes, a puzzle with missing pieces. There’d been lavender hair. Starry cloaks. Troupe de Fortune. The words gored my mind with surprising pain, and this time, I did miss a step. I’d traveled with them, briefly. I’d thrown knives in their company.

Why?

Clenching my eyes against such riotous thoughts, I focused on the one knife that mattered. The one knife I would reclaim. I’d burn the whole forest if necessary. I’d hack the demonic tree down to the ground, and I’d dig until its roots became kindling.

Bas and his bandits attacked on the road, and Lou threw your Balisarda to protect me. Don’t you remember?

Oh, I remembered. I remembered the scarred witch, who’d slithered into our mists as a healer. I remembered the disgraced Bastien St. Pierre, and I remembered my own gruesome injury. I did not, however, remember their coconspirator—the freckled witch. The one who’d looked at me as if someone had died.

I’m your wife, she’d said, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. In the biblical sense.

Remember, Reid. She’d known my name. Called me by name.

If he doesn’t love me—if he doesn’t even remember me—what was the point in all this, Coco?

Blistering rage further quickened my step. The wind rushed past me now, burning my cheeks and numbing my ears. As if I’d ever debase myself with a witch. As if I’d ever marry anyone, let alone a bride of Satan. “Lou.” I sneered the name aloud, my breath catching around it. A hideous name for a hideous being, and Célie—

My God.

I’d left Célie alone with them.

No. I shook my head. Not alone. The crown prince, my brother—he’d been there too. He’d even shared some sort of absurd camaraderie with the creatures, as if they three were family instead of him and me.

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