Savage Beasts (Monsters of Hearthstone Book 1) by Alexa Saint

Author:Alexa Saint [Saint, Alexa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty One

After winter break, everyone returns and I give a small sigh of resignation that my time spent in Craveborn’s kitchen, and luxuriating in hot baths is over. But, winter herself is far from over. In fact, she adorns Hearthstone like an elaborate wedding cake in swathes of white trimmed with frosted trees.

My foster mother never took me to the snow, but there was plenty of dirty white slush in the trailer park when I was growing up. Once, when I was little, I snuck out to the children’s park, almost to the other side of town, where the snow lay thick and clean. I remember playing in it; feeling its spiky chill against my skin, the way it crunched under my inadequate shoes and clumped in my frozen hands.

I think someone tipped off the police; that a child was playing in snow with barely a thread about her person. I remember the police that showed up were friendly and kind, and in the innocence of my much younger mind, excitedly got into the backseat of their cruiser, wondering why the lights weren’t flashing and the sirens were silent. They diligently brought me back to my foster mother’s feigned gratitude, and fake tears of joy at our reunion.

I didn’t get to eat for two days after that stunt.

But at that age, it was all a child’s ignorance. I just didn’t understand what I was or wasn’t allowed to do. I wanted to play in the snow, so I went, never thinking I would be facing her cruel wrath when I returned.

This year, however, I can enjoy winter’s mantle of powdery, crystal white without worrying that taking pleasure in one of life’s simplest occurrences would be met with anger and punishment.

Ever since the first flake fell, Horror has been begging me to go skating with her on the lake. The school grounds cover vast acreage, which includes a large expanse of water known as Bogbeast Lake, but to those of us attending Hearthstone it’s simply referred to as ‘the lake’. I wondered about who bestowed it with such a name, but apparently it freezes thick enough to walk on, or rather, skate.

“I haven’t got any skates,” I lament, dubious about the whole endeavor anyway since, for one, I’ve never skated in my life. And two, I’m always aware that by putting myself in positions such as this, I’m giving the Gods and Goddesses the means by which to do me harm.

“The school has a stash of loaner pairs, and I’m sure they’ll have a pair in your size. We just book them in advance. This weekend is meant to be gorgeous weather-wise; please can we go then?”

I roll my eyes and try to seek camaraderie in uncertainty with Lorcan, but he holds up his hands to shield himself.

“Oh, no you don’t, I’m not playing mediator here. You go or you don’t.”

“Lorcan,” I whine. “You don’t want to go either.”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be so much fun, I promise,” needles Horror.

I look to the ceiling; I have no hope.

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