The Iron Butterfly (Iron Butterfly #1)(10)

Joss looked horrified at the thought.

“Thalia, please don’t even think of paying us back, after what you’ve been through you deserve this. I’m only sorry we don’t know who did this to you.” I could tell by the look in his eyes that he meant it.

We may have only been a few miles from the inn, but it felt like a hundred. I was practically dancing in the saddle in anticipation of sleeping in a real bed and I could feel Gypsy pick up her pace. I was excited to see the two-story Ginger Dragon Inn. It was well kept with large stables in the back.

The stable boy eagerly took our horses and began unsaddling and wiping them down. After Darren made sure the boy knew his way around a horse, he gave him a silver piece. The boy’s mouth dropped open when Darren promised the same if he would give them each one treat out of his bag. He handed the boy his own leather bag.

The boy’s eyes grew wide at the silver piece, and nodded his head. “Yes sir, I’ll take care of them, sir. One apiece.”

“What’s in the bag?” I asked Joss.

“Carromint Cookies,” he grinned. “Darren makes them especially for his horse. I’ve never seen a man so peculiar about his horse’s treats, but he makes them from a secret recipe himself. This way, he guarantees his horse’s loyalty, and then they are less likely eat treats fed to them by eager children. Human food is not for horses. Gypsy is spoiled on his cookies and will throw a venerable fit if he doesn’t get one.”

Joss pulled his saddle pack from Anthem before handing his reins to the boy. “My horse Anthem likes them as well. They don’t taste bad either. I snitched one once and Darren caught me, and he about had my head. They taste like carrots and peppermints.”

I glanced at Darren’s strong back and pictured him in a kitchen with an apron on making cookies for his horse and it made me chuckle. This information, though bizarre, only made me like him more. Joss, on the other hand, wasn’t forthcoming about information about himself or his family. It was usually Darren feeding me tidbits and they were still very vague. Just then my stomach growled.

“Let’s get inside, Mara will get us situated.” Joss led the way while Darren gave final instructions to the stable boy and gathered our things.

Inside, the warmth enveloped us as a stout man with moppy brown hair greeted us. I discovered he was Bran, the Inn Keeper. I watched him exchange pleasantries with Joss with a few slaps on the back. Bran gave a toothy smile to Darren and nodded his head politely to me in greeting. The Inn Keeper’s features were bland and almost instantly forgettable, but his alert expression and hazel eyes belied a wise benefactor.

Bran led us upstairs to two rooms at the end of the hall that were adjoined by a door if unlocked from each side. The room was clean, with a fire in the fireplace already burning, warming the small room. There must have been someone watching us arrive to have been able to get the fire going already.

A blue, hand-woven rug covered the wooden floor and light white curtains over the shuttered windows added a touch of femininity to the room. A single wooden chair, a table, wash stand with a pitcher of water, towel and soap were all the contents of the room. My gaze drifted to the bed pushed against the wall, the soft clean mattress with a blue flowered quilt beckoned to me. A knock at the hallway door kept me from diving toward the bed.

It was Joss. “Bran’s wife Mara will have food ready for us as soon as you’re settled in.”

I looked at the bed longingly and then back to Joss. My sigh of remorse was interrupted by my growling stomach. “Okay, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. They don’t serve horse here, do they?” I joked. Joss grinned out of the side of his mouth, his dimple showing.

We went downstairs to a simple spread of more bread, this time homemade with honey drizzled on top, beef stew with vegetables and shepherd’s pie. I dove into the pie with a vengeance, eating, I believe, what attained to be about as much as a horse.

Darren kept giving me worried glances, but I ignored them and reached for more food. I ate a full loaf of the honey bread and finished with a pint of spiced cider, before Darren’s jovial mood turned somber.

“Thalia, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did you escape?”

Before I could answer Darren, a loud crash erupted from the kitchen, followed by a squeal of delight.

“JOSS! JOSS is here? Why didn’t someone tell me sooner?” Out ran a very beautiful girl with a sea of golden blonde tresses. She ran right to Joss and almost knocked him over out of his chair with her exuberant hug. Her green-gold eyes sparkled with happiness and she had the comeliest spattering of freckles across her nose. She was curvy in all of the places I wasn’t, and it made me all the more aware of my thin, half-starved state.

“I didn’t know you were coming this way. I would have been here earlier, diligently awaiting your arrival. Why didn’t you tell me?” she pouted. “I wouldn’t have been out running errands for Mama.”

“Hush, Vienna,” Bran berated his daughter. “Don’t bother them while they’re eating. Let them finish. In fact,” he glared at her, “go get them more spiced cider.”

She flew from her chair in excitement and returned shortly with more cider. She fluttered around Joss like a bee searching for nectar. I couldn’t blame her, from what I’ve been told, most humans react this way around the Denai. They are subconsciously drawn to the beautiful race and tended to fawn over them.