Unhallowed (Rath and Rune #1) - Jordan L. Hawk Page 0,34
for the distraction. “You know better than to run on the stairs. Now come here so I can prove to our guest you’re human children and not wild horses.”
They obeyed, staring at Ves with open curiosity. “Helen, Jossie, this is Mr. Rune,” Sebastian said. “Go tell your mother to set another place for dinner.”
They took off at full speed. Sebastian shook his head. “It’s chaos around here, I’m afraid,” he told Ves. “You’ll be driven mad if you stay for long.” But the fond note in his voice gave the lie to his words.
Ves wasn’t sure how to respond. He’d never spent much time around children. He and Noct had been each other’s only companions growing up. Neither had gone to any sort of school, and they’d lived so far out in the woods that only once had adventurous youths stumbled across them.
It was spring when the group of four boys carrying packs and hunting knives came upon them. They’d been playing in the glen at the foot of Caprine Hill, the tallest peak near Dunhollow, cradled and bolstered by the voice of the forest as it sang to them. Adults knew better than to stray anywhere near the area; it had the blackest of reputations in the region, and had even before Grandfather settled there.
Much later, Ves wondered why the boys had come to such a deserted area. Had they thought to prove their courage by climbing Caprine Hill and seeing the standing stones atop it? Perhaps they’d scoffed at the old tales of the thing that walked those woods and its thousand young.
They screamed when they saw Ves and Noct. Two broke and ran. One froze in his tracks. The fourth had a deeper reserve of either courage or madness, because he’d lifted his knife and ran at Noct, howling: “Kill it! Kill it!”
Noct had only been eight years old, and he’d screamed in terror. Ves was ten, but as big as a boy three years his senior. He’d managed to wrestle away the knife before anyone got hurt. All the boys ran, then.
He hadn’t wanted to tell Mother. But Noct was in hysterics, and Ves hadn’t yet learned to lie to her effectively. When she found out what happened, she’d stalked out into the yard with a knife of her own. There’d been chanting and then the sky grew dark.
“That takes care of them,” she said when she came back inside. “They won’t be carrying tales of us to outsiders.”
Then she’d beat Ves, because he could have just killed the boys himself and spared her the trouble.
Ves swallowed against the knot in his throat and looked down at the infant in his arms. A small frown tugged at her round features, as though something troubled her sleep. Then it smoothed away and she blinked open blue eyes. The shrill voices of the other girls rang from the rear of the house as they tried to shout over each other.
How they’d all scream if they knew. And Sebastian and Degas…
Well. If Ves hadn’t believed his mother before when she said outside folk would see Noct and him as things to be put down, he’d gotten proof that day in the glen.
“She likes you,” Sebastian said. At his words, the baby began to fret. “And there I go, waking her up.”
Ves held her out, and Degas took her back. She tangled one hand in his beard and began to wail in earnest. “There now, girl, what’s the trouble?” he asked, bouncing her.
A boy of perhaps eleven, wearing an apron, appeared in the doorway. “Mom said dinner’s ready,” he said, and gave a quick bob of his head to Ves.
“Thanks, Willie,” Sebastian said. He turned to Ves with a grin. “Come on—time to meet the rest of the family.”
Chapter 12
Dinner was a chaotic affair, as it always was in the Rath household. Bonnie had brought out the good silverware, presumably to impress their guest. Willie laid out the dishes of broiled fish, new potatoes, and preserved asparagus, with root beer for the children and wine for the adults to celebrate Pete’s return.
“It smells delicious,” Ves said, from where he sat beside Bonnie.
“Help yourself,” she replied with a smile.
He reached for the silver serving spoon—then dropped it with a gasp, snatching back his fingers as if he’d been burned.
“I-I’m so sorry,” he said, cheeks flushing. “Silver gives me a rash, you see.”
“Oh, dear, let me get the regular tinned steel for you,” Bonnie said, quickly removing his fork, spoon, and knife.