Page 29 of Sinful Curses
“No. You’re the first we’ve ever seen. We thought we were the only ones in this realm,” Puth answered.
“Did any brownies make it to your town?” one of them asked hopefully.
“They weren’t there when we were,” Elsa said.
“I’ve never heard of a brownie being there,” Zeth told them.
All their shoulders hunched forward in disappointment.
“It’s no place for a brownie out there,” the woman said again.
“Do the scarog beetles come here once a year?” Sahira asked.
“We’ve never seen those monsters here,” Puth gruffly replied.
“Does something else come here to kill you once a year?”
They all exchanged looks before shaking their heads.
“Not once a year.” Then Puth pointed at them. “Unless it’s going to be you.”
Sahira held up her hands while Orin said, “No one is here to hurt you. And it’s not like we couldn’t easily kill you.”
“I don’t like you, dark fae.”
“Few do,” Sahira said.
He shot her a look, and she smiled as she batted her eyelashes at him. With her wiseass comments, she was starting to remind him a little too much ofhim.
He didn’t like it.
“Does that happen where you come from? The scarogs come in and try to kill you?” another brownie asked.
“Yes,” Zeth said. “Once a year, the beetles arrive, hunt everyone they can for twenty-four hours, and after that, if they haven’t killed someone, they hunt until they succeed.”
“That sounds horrible,” a brownie murmured.
“You should tell us more about your town over drinks,” the leader said. “It’s been a while since we’ve been in the pub, and now’s as good a time as any.”
With that, he turned on his heel and marched toward the pub.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Over drinks,Sahira and the others learned the leader of the brownies, Puth, was married to Eisel. They had eight children.
Sahira couldn’t remember the names of their children or most of the other brownies, though they’d all introduced themselves. Puth and Eisel did most of the talking afterward.
“What do you eat here?” Orin asked.
“We hunt small rodents and insects. Initially, the grain was good, but it eventually turned bad, and we had nowhere to grow any more.”
“You are small rodents,” Orin muttered under his breath.
She kicked him under the table. Yes, they’d stabbed him and threatened all of them, but he shouldn’t be such an ass to them.
He grunted and rubbed his shin while scowling at her. Ignoring him, she turned her attention back to Puth and Eisel; they sat on the bar’s edge with their legs kicking back and forth while they sipped whiskey from tiny thimbles they’d said came from the mercantile.
Many of the other brownies also sat on top of the bar. Some also drank from thimbles, others shared glasses, and some chased the children around while they laughed uncontrollably.
