Page 51 of Wretched Thorns

Tara nodded and stood.

Rowena followed Celie toward the back hallway without explanation.

Jasper watched them go.

His mother moved beside Celie with the ease of long familiarity. Like this wasn’t the first crisis they’d walked into together. That realization sat strangely in his chest.

Behind him, a chair scraped softly against the floor.

Dex had started to stand with Tara before she rested a hand briefly against the center of his chest.

“Sit down, wolf. I can carry a fucking box.”

Dex sat back down with the expression of a man fully aware he’d just taken an order in front of witnesses.

Jasper caught his eye first and immediately lifted his eyebrows high enough to be insulting.

Callum snorted into his coffee.

Eli managed to hold onto his concentration for all of two seconds before the corner of his mouth broke anyway.

Dex looked between the three of them and sighed through his nose.

“Not one damn word.”

Jasper leaned back in his chair, grinning now. “Didn’t say anything.”

“Your face did.”

Callum lost the fight against another laugh.

***

Tara came back with the wooden box and set it on the kitchen counter.

She stood there for a second before opening it.

A small object wrapped in dark cloth sat right on top.

Tara froze.

Slowly, she picked it up.

Her eyes closed briefly.

“You finished it,” she said quietly.

Grandmère’s voice drifted in from the back hallway.

“Yes, is no good you runnin’ around without protection.”

Tara unwrapped the cloth in her palm. A small carved bone charm strung on a length of braided red and black cord rested in the center of it. The carving was fresh enough that the cut edges hadn’t darkened yet.

“Grandmère made the original of this for me when I was eight,” she said. “I gave it to Serena right after she left him. She kept it on her at all times.”

The kitchen went still.

“Is it possible she still has it on her?” Rowena asked.