Ruby & the Huntsman of Midnight by Susan EE

Author:Susan EE [EE, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: www.SusanEE.com
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

It took a moment before Ruby realized that the howlers were chained.

Large chains crisscrossed their hairy chests and were attached to their collars. They were leashed to pillars embedded into the ground. It limited their range so that the closest ones could almost reach the path, but not quite.

Ruby backed away toward the flower garden on the other side of the pathway. Gran kept walking, not even looking surprised at the monsters.

“Gran?”

“It’s best to walk fast past them. You don’t want to agitate them too much.”

It would be easier to just to go back the way they’d come. But Gran didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.

So Ruby raced past the gauntlet of twisted beasts to reach her grandmother.

As she did, she noticed details that she hadn’t seen before. The creatures were chained, but whoever had chained them had taken special care not to hurt them. The chains were buffered by leather crisscrossing their chests so that it wouldn’t dig into their skin.

The chains were linked to a leather collar, but the collar was loose. It looked like it was meant to keep the beasts from slipping out of the chains rather than to choke them. Each pillar had a bowl of water and a platter that was smeared with glistening blood. Raw meat—and recent, by the look of it.

Someone was caring for these beasts.

By the time Ruby made it through the gauntlet, Gran was already walking through a spectacular flower garden. Gran, being Gran, looked at the flowers with a professional eye.

It was an odd sight to see such delicate flowers growing next to a yard full of chained monsters. What kind of place was this?

Until now, Gran’s flower garden was not only the best one Ruby had ever seen, it had been the only one. But this garden took Ruby’s breath away.

There were flowers blooming here that Ruby had never imagined. They ranged from delicate pinks and violets to bold reds and purples. There were even blue and black roses tipped with yellow. Flowers of all shapes and sizes graced the grounds around the mansion.

The scent wafted to her. It was a wondrous scent that would make the richest noblewoman hunger to own it in a bottle.

“What is this place?” asked Ruby.

The front doors opened, and two intimidating men walked out. They stood at the top of the steps, looking more like dock workers than men who would come out of a graceful mansion. One was tall and broad and the other shorter and stout.

“I’ve brought her.” Gran walked up the steps to meet them. “We don’t have a lot of time, so talk fast.”

The two men looked at Ruby with cold eyes, taking their time. Something about their look made her grip her knives harder.

“So this is Silver’s granddaughter,” said the stout man. “She looks scrawny and scared.”

“Without her, you’ll have no mission,” said Gran. “So I’d be a little more polite, if I were you, Ketter.”

Ruby frowned. Gran’s voice had changed.

“Can she do this?” asked the tall man.

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