Spin the Shadows (Dark and Wicked Fae #1) - Cate Corvin Page 0,6
they needed to thrive. As a tree-sister, wouldn’t I just try one bite?
I swallowed saliva again, imagining how fresh and tangy the juice of those berries would be.
I didn’t even realize I’d left the porch and high-stepped through the grass to the bushes until I blinked, and realized I held a clump of berries in my hand.
My stomach growled, twisting painfully. This morning at the bakery seemed like a long-distant dream, the day a blur of keeping my mind busy. I hadn’t thought of food or water in hours.
I picked one of the berries off the twig I held, rolling it between my fingers. Its ruby-red skin was dusted with gold that transferred to my fingertips, and a bead of juice welled out of the fruit and stained my skin.
I sucked the bead of juice off my finger without thinking, and every taste bud in my mouth suddenly exploded, clamoring for more. It was as tart and sweet as it’d promised to be, but it also tasted like sunlight and wine and spices…
I popped the berry in my mouth, followed by another. Then I tried one of the purple ones, licking the juice that rolled down the side of my hand. The purple berries tasted like the night felt, comforting and close, sweeter than the red with a floral tinge.
Before I realized it, I’d eaten every berry off the twig I’d plucked. It fell from my hands as I licked my lips, determined to get every last drop of faerie fruit. My stomach had gone silent, apparently happy with its tiny feast.
It’d been ages since I’d eaten faerie fruit. The apples of Emain Ablach were the same way, but berries didn’t tend to grow well on our island, not when the apple trees choked them all out. Besides, I loathed apples with a passion.
I’d eaten five of the berries. The bushes hummed in contentment, their leaves stretching towards me like they were trying to brush my skin.
One more, they seemed to say. One more, tree-sister.
“One more,” I breathed, plucking a purple berry from a branch. They were my favorite, suiting my rather dark mood and comforting in their syrupy sweetness.
I licked the gold from its skin and rolled the berry in my mouth, wanting to make it last. Not even Web and Peaseblossom could make a dessert that tasted like this.
I stepped back and lowered my stained fingers, determined to leave. I couldn’t stay here all night, no matter how plaintively the trees called to me, nor could I eat all the fruit. It wasn’t mine. I was just lucky I hadn’t been spotted.
Guilt welled up under the greedy satisfaction. There was just having a taste, and then there was stealing. I felt vaguely like I’d crossed into stealing somewhere after berry number three.
I tripped over something in the tall grass as I backed away and windmilled my arms, but that didn’t save me. I landed hard on my ass with a sharp “Ooof!”
The moonlight sparkled over the grass, illuminating what I’d tripped over like it was shining a spotlight. The tangy sweetness in my mouth went to ashes.
It was a foot. A foot, still wearing a leather sneaker, the laces tied… and the ankle ending in a ragged stump. There was no blood, but there was no mistaking the glint of ivory bone and the ragged flesh, either.
I jerked to my feet, almost choking on the last berry before forcing it down. I had to leave now. My instincts were right, this was the home of the Ghosthand Killer, and I’d walked right into the trap like a rabbit in a snare-
A hand clamped around my upper arm, holding me in place before I could bolt. My heart began hammering in my throat.
“Where do you think you’re going?” a deep male voice whispered in my ear.
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Before I could even think about yanking myself out of his grasp, I found my arm twisted behind my back, and he forced me to step through the high grass.
Towards the back door.
Who knew the Ghosthand Killer had such a smooth, smoky voice? It didn’t match the images I had in my head that went along with the blurry crime scene photos, the gray-skinned corpses with a hand burned into their chest before they crumbled into dust… on the other hand, maybe it made perfect sense.
He lured them in with his lovely deep voice, then sucked their souls out.