Belle by J.E. Taylor

Author:J.E. Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Beauty and the Beast Retelling, Fairy Tale Retelling, prejudice, redemption
Publisher: JET-Fueled Fiction
Published: 2022-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

I VENTURED OUT TO the back of the estate with a kitchen bucket and picked what I could of the yarrow between the layers of fallen leaves. At least snow hadn’t fallen yet, and it was easy to find the small white flowers that still bloomed. The ground moved ahead of me, and I instinctively pounced, dropping the bucket in the process. For the first time in months, an animal—or reptile, in this case—crossed my property within the magical barrier.

The problem with pouncing on the tail end of a snake was that the head could still strike. I had a hiss as a warning, and I reached my hand out, catching the fangs in the meat of my palm instead of my cheek, where it had aimed. I snapped my teeth on the snake’s neck, severing its head from the rest of its body before it could dislodge and slither away. There was no way I was losing this meal.

It took a second for the pain to register, and I grumbled at the head still stuck in my palm as the burn of the venom slowly spread through my hand.

“Damn it,” I snarled. I picked up the bucket and the rest of the dead snake, and headed inside as fast as I could. I needed the venom out, now. If I lost this hand, I would not survive.

“Adam?” I stumbled into the living room, setting the bucket and the snake on the floor near my chair as I tried not to let the rising panic cloud my mind.

He turned toward my voice, his face a mask of worry. “What’s wrong?”

I stared at the snake embedded in my palm and thought of a delicate way to say that I was hurt. He might never let me leave this house at this rate, judging by the fear present in his blind eyes. “I need your help. I seem to have a snake attached to my hand.”

He blinked rapidly, as if he were processing my words. “Is it poisonous?”

“It’s a copperhead. A pretty good size one, too, so it will make a decent meal or two”—or a dozen, if we’re cautious—“for us.”

His shoulders relaxed. “Did you get the yarrow?”

“Yes.” I still stared at the large head in my hand and the redness creeping across my palm as the poison spread.

“Okay, then try not to move quickly, but I need you to bring me some soap, some water, and the tools to grind the petals to make the paste, along with a couple clean rags. If you can do all that with keeping your hand lower than your heart, that would be good. I’ll clean your wound and use some of the yarrow paste on it as well.”

His calm tone made my pounding heart slow a little bit and controlled the rising fear. “I won’t lose my hand?”

Adam laughed. “No. Belle. It’s not like it was a rattlesnake. If that had been the case, I wouldn’t be so calm.”

This time his laughter didn’t trigger my defenses like his earlier cackle had.

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.