Black Briar by Sophie Avett Read Free Book Online Page A

millions and millions of webs. Searching for hers. The shining string that would lead him to where her consciousness had wandered off to. She wasn’t making it easy for him. The Dorn Turm, or so it was called by the creatures who hailed from this plane, was her kingdom. Her domain. Completely. It was a domed orb, protected with ancient magic the Hag taught only to her brightest and boldest students. It was nearly impenetrable.
     
    But Nova wasn’t without skill. Nor was he weak. He would be here soon.
     
    Very, very soon.
     
    The spinning wheel ground to a halt. Even now, she was tired. Safe and satisfied with her world and still her bones were lead, her feet heavy, hands and mind weary.
     
    “He doesn’t know when to give up and die…” She sighed and willed herself to stand. “Shall we teach the prince a lesson?”
     
    “Where the hell is my tea pot?” The darkling muttered, thrashing about in the small kitchenette wrapped around the north bend of the room. “Can’t find anything in this bloody tower!”
     
    Sybille threw open the doors to her armoire, perusing racks of all the dresses she’d always wanted but never had the money to buy. All her money went toward saving for the Hag’s dream of a hospice and sanatorium. With the exception of her sister, Dru, Sybille was Enid ’s only apprentice.
     
    It was the old woman’s dream that she would one day be able to open an independent clinic in the outer city. For that, she needed a certain kind of expertise, and that’s where the Briar sisters came in,   which is precisely why something as old and as wise—and vindictive—as Enid the Hag endured things like naughty nun-habits. Someone had to help that old codger fulfill her wildest dreams. And it would be her adopted grand-daughters. Believe it.
     
    The spindle witch yawned. “Your kettle’s in the oven.”
     
    “Oven?” The darkling crowed and glared at the puppy romping around his knobby ankles in pursuit of the frilly pink lapels of his dollhouse apron. His beady, yellow eyes narrowed as he pointed a bony gray finer with a sharp nail. “Out to get me too, eh?”
     
    The puppy’s rose ears flattened, head tilted with confusion. But alas, it only lasted a moment. She happily snapped her teeth around his finger.
     
    Good girl.
     
    “ Ravenous beast!” He swatted the pup’s nose and she hid her snout in shame. “That’s right, now help me find the sugar. Teatime waits for no…What is that? No, no, give me that—here, you can hold the spoon. Now then, where’s the… No sugar?” Dishes were heaved. Shattered against the wall. “I haven’t endured these kinds of living conditions since Hell!”
     
    He snapped his fingers and a squatting sugar tin appeared in his hand. It was Enid ’s sugar tin. There would be blood in the streets.
     
    “Where’s goddamn the milk? Who does the bloody shopping in this tower? Shoot that bastard on sight. Why, I…”
     
    Nova beat at the walls of her world. Reality wobbled around them and she carelessly plucked a gown off the leaning skeleton, and slinked behind an Arabian awning posted near the dragonhead vanity. “How did you get the puppy here anyways? I mean, I know you can be wherever you want to be”—her mouth crooked—“within limits, of course.”
     
    The darkling snorted and she snapped her fingers, obliterating the taffeta skirts in puffs of wired green magic. “I don’t recall freybugs having the ability to walk from plane to plane this early in life. Did you…?”
     
    “I ate it.”
     
    The puppy barked happily and Sybille threw up a swath of fabric like a bucket of confetti. “Liar.”
     
    A cloud of tattered spectral material snaked in the air and slithered around her mellow curves in the guise of a black, long-sleeved nightingale evening gown. Black lace draped over a plunging, off-the-shoulder neckline—arms completely covered in sleeves of velvet ribbon. They ended in a triangle, hooking around her